I’m trying to catch up on the backlog of fun images I created last year but haven’t shared yet, so let’s start with Eric and Melissa’s cute couples portraits in downtown Colorado Springs! I love their style They wanted some nice pictures for their Christmas card, but a couple of funny images too. Let’s just say they embrace the cheesy side of the 1970s. Ha! We started off in Monument Valley Park for their pretty pictures, then went downtown for the kooky ones. With puppies Lucy and Larry in on the action, it made for a super fun portrait shoot!
Engagement Portraits in Colorado Springs :: Diana + Cody
Check out these adorable, vintage themed engagement portraits! I just can’t even with these two. I mean look at them, they are too cute! Cody and Diana are finally tying the knot next month after many years of togetherness, and I for one can’t wait. They’re such a perfect match for each other!
Diana will be wearing her grandmother’s 1940s wedding gown on their big day. I’m told it’s beautiful and perfectly preserved, and she will be the third bride in the family to be wearing it. I love traditions like that. In keeping with the 1940s idea, they wanted their engagement portraits to have a retro vibe. I hand picked some of my favorite locations for this shoot, including the old Tasty Freeze on North Weber and the fascinating, underappreciated Trolley Car Museum in Roswell. I think these settings made a perfect backdrop for their cute pictures! Also, Diana is a fan of vintage style, and she has the perfect, va-voom hourglass figure to pull off 1940s and ’50s fashions like this wiggle dress. She looked fantastic! Meanwhile, Cody looked pretty cool himself in his newsboy cap and suspenders. Great styling all around!
I think Cody and Diana’s fun, upbeat personalities and obvious chemistry really shine through in these cute pictures. How can you not smile when you’re looking at them? I can’t wait for their wedding, it’s going to be such a blast!
Ute Valley Park engagement portraits :: Christina + Josh
Check out these cute Ute Valley Park engagement portraits! This cute couple is getting married in August, and I can’t wait. I took Josh and Christina’s engagement portraits on one of those perfect, sunny days that we sometimes get in the middle of winter. They wanted a very outdoorsy, Colorado-y look to their pictures, but they also wanted some dressier, more urban ones too, so we started in Ute Valley Park and then headed downtown. I just love how these came out! I can’t wait for August 5th!
My best 12 images of 2016!
I shot my first wedding of 2016 on January 1st, and my last one is this afternoon, December 31st. It’s been an amazing year! I also did tons of portraits: newborn babies, families big and small, couples, high school seniors, and even a dog or two! Here are my best images of the year, month by month. If you’re one of my lovely clients and you don’t see your picture here, don’t feel bad. I chose my best images of the year for this list, not my best clients! (You’re ALL the best!) Not counting yesterday’s wedding and the one I’m doing later today, I delivered 6,840 wedding images and 1,181 portraits in 2016, not to mention all other jobs I did, like head shots, commercial work and fashion stuff! Needless to say, it was tough narrowing all of that down to just 12 images! Enjoy!
What to wear for engagement portraits
My clients often ask me what to wear for their engagement portraits. Good question! After all, it’s not like posing for engagement portraits is something you do every day! Also, we live in such a casual world, I think some folks just aren’t all that dialed in to clothes in general, especially coordinating outfits for two people for the camera. What looks good in pictures? Since the question comes up fairly frequently, I decided to do some mock engagement portraits in Colorado Springs, here and there around town, featuring both what to wear and what not to wear. My friends Stephanie and Luke (who are actually already married) gamely volunteered not just to pose for these portraits, but also to let me go “shopping” in their closet to pick out the wardrobe. Though they both have great taste, neither of them claims to be a slave to high fashion, and they didn’t go shopping for this photo shoot. Instead, I chose from clothes that they already own and wear. I put together three “don’t” outfits and three “do” outfits, and even though bad weather chased us all over Colorado Springs, I think we got some nice “engagement portraits” to demonstrate what to wear.
I hope that helped inspire you on what to wear for engagement portraits! To recap:
- Steer clear of blousy, shapeless clothes. Garments that hug the figure are much more flattering in pictures.
- Stay away from logos and text.
- Patterns both large and small are generally a bad choice.
- Very contrasty outfits can be distracting. Stick to medium-to-darker colors. Avoid pastels.
- In pictures, solid colors look much better than patterns. Texture (such as lace) adds interest without being distracting.
- Jewelry dresses things up!
- Pair bright colors with neutrals.
- Ladies, even though it’s uncomfortable, I can’t say enough for good foundation garments such as Spanx. It makes an amazing difference! Also, make sure your bra fits properly. Go to a reputable department store (I usually go to Dillards) and get fitted. It’s worth the time and effort. You’ll see.
- And finally, dress up a little! These are your engagement portraits and you’ll be looking at them for a long time to come. Choose a selection of outfits from casual to dressy. You’ll be surprised at how great you look!
And now, since they’re such a cute couple, here are a few more portraits of my hot models, Stephanie and Luke. Enjoy!