Tags archives: downtown Colorado Springs engagement portraits

Couples Portraits in Downtown Colorado Springs

couples portraits in downtown Colorado Springs

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!

couples portraits in downtown Colorado Springs

couples portraits in downtown Colorado Springs

Engagement Portraits in Colorado Springs :: Diana + Cody

Colorado Springs engagement portraits

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!

Colorado Springs engagement portraits

Colorado Springs engagement portraits

Ute Valley Park engagement portraits :: Christina + Josh

Ute Valley Park engagement portraits

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!

Ute Valley Park engagement portraits

Ute Valley Park engagement portraits

Ute Valley Park engagement portraits

downtown Colorado Springs engagement pictures

downtown Colorado Springs engagement pictures

downtown Colorado Springs engagement pictures

My best 12 images of 2016!

Colorado Springs wedding photography

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!

January: Gundega and Rolly’s wedding at the Pinery.

senior pictures Colorado Springs

February: my good friend Janet’s daughter, San Clemente, CA.

Edgewood Inn wedding Woodland Park

March: a woodland-themed styled shoot done in conjunction with Rhonda Nichols Floral Design and Bridal Elegance, at the Edgewood Inn.

Colorado Springs family photographers

April: Stephen with his newborn daughter Bricole, only a few days old.

Colorado Springs engagement portraits

May: couples portraits in downtown Colorado Springs with Susan and Casey.

gay friendly wedding photographers Colorado

June: Jennica and Mackenzie’s happy, happy, happy wedding at the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel. (And “happy” is an understatment!)

Garden of the Gods Club wedding

July: Shelby and Christian’s crazy bash at the Garden of the Gods Club and the Briarhurst Manor.

Hillside Gardens wedding

August: a sweet moment between Kelly and her new mother in law, at Hillside Gardens.

wedding photographers Colorado Springs

September: a very excited Valerie gets ready to walk down the aisle at a private residence in Monument.

October: Tanya and her sweet pup, Lola.

family photographers in Colorado Springs

November: the Emery family!

Cliff House wedding Colorado

December: an image I took less than 24 hours ago! Here’s Maura and Wes having a romantic little moment before their wedding ceremony at the Cliff House yesterday afternoon.

What to wear for engagement portraits

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)

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.

Obviously, Luke’s outfit here is a great big “don’t” — it looks like he’s dressed to mow the lawn! But what’s so wrong with Stephanie’s outfit? It’s actually cute, but not the right choice for portraits because her blouse too, well, blousy. It doesn’t define her shape, and because of that it adds ten pounds. As a rule, for portraits you should stay away from clothing that has any kind of writing on it, like Luke’s shirt, anything that’s pastel or white, like Stephanie’s blouse, and definitely avoid anything that’s voluminous.

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)

These outfits are much better! As you can see, Stephanie is much more slender than what her roomy blouse in the first picture implies. Both of them are dressed in darker colors from head to toe (an excellent hack to make you look taller and slimmer), and Stephanie’s fitted black lace top has a nice texture without being distracting. The addition of a simple necklace dresses it up. Good looking couple!

Stephanie’s wearing a cute maxi dress, but the pattern on it is huge and distracting. So is that big stripe across Luke’s chest. His trousers are baggy and a bit wrinkled, and his shoes are too dressy for the rest of his outfit (the brown color also jars). Even though they’re somewhat color coordinated, Stephanie and Luke are clashing like crazy here.

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)

Look at them now! Stephanie’s maxi dress is strong on texture rather than pattern, and Luke’s pale yellow shirt is a great foil for her choice of deep blue. They look fantastic!

This is Stephanie’s favorite shirt on Luke, and he definitely looks handsome in it. But it’s a bad choice for portraits because the large, contrasty check is just too distracting. Of course the small pattern on her dress doesn’t help, either, and the horizontal nature of it tends to make her look wider than she really is. Also, her bra straps are visible through the sheer fabric over her shoulders. This dress is fun and flirty in person, but a bad choice for portraits.

Wow! Pairing a solid, bright color on Stephanie with neutral grey and black on Luke makes all the difference! Her simple cocktail dress is sexy and trendy, set off by some cute heels and a slim belt. Hot couple!

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!

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)

Colorado Springs engagement portraits by Tamera L. Goldsmith (www.clickphotography.net).

What to wear for engagement portraits (www.clickphotography.net)