Tags archives: photographer Colorado Springs

A modern-day Audrey!

photographer Colorado Springs

Have you ever wanted to be Audrey Hepburn, just for one day? Check out these fun portraits I did for a client who’s a big Audrey fan. The dress, tiara and cigarette holder are hers, but most of the other accessories are mine. I have an extensive collection of vintage clothing, jewelry and accessories, and it’s always fun when I get to use that stuff on a shoot!

photographer Colorado Springs
I’m sure you’ve seen the original inspiration for this image! It’s classic!

photographer Colorado Springs
In the opening sequence of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, Holly Golightly, after a night of partying, emerges from a cab in front of Tiffany’s. She holds a paper sack containing her breakfast, which she eats while gazing into the shop windows. You can see a still from that sequence HERE.

photographer Colorado Springs
Another image inspired by the opening sequence of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. (HERE‘s the film still.)

photographer Colorado Springs
Watch the opening scene of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” HERE to see the inspiration for this shot.

photographer Colorado Springs
This image was inspired by a 1953 publicity photo (HERE) from the film “Sabrina”. The client brought her own 1950s-era black phone.

photographer Colorado Springs
photographer Colorado Springs
photographer Colorado Springs

The Samadhi Center for Yoga

Colorado Springs photographer

A few of my favorites from my shoot with the Samadhi Center for Yoga last week. What an incredibly kind and positive group of people! Look for these photos and more on their new website in June!

Colorado Springs photographer
The owner of Samadhi, Annie. I just love her. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Colorado Springs photographer
Colorado Springs photographer
Colorado Springs photographer
photographer Colorado Springs
photographer Colorado Springs
photographer Colorado Springs
Not yoga. Break dancing!

photographer Colorado Springs
photographer Colorado Springs
A few of the gorgeous, glowing and very fit staff members at Samadhi. No photoshopping here — they really are this beautiful in real life!
photographer Colorado Springs

Amy & Tyler’s maternity portraits!

Colorado Springs maternity photography
I can’t tell you how excited I am about Amy and Tyler’s baby, because I’m the lucky photographer who gets to document his or her first year! I shot Amy and Tyler’s wedding in 2010, so I was tickled to hear their baby news. We did these sweet maternity portraits last week at Cheesman Park in Denver (all the while dodging the many spring sun worshippers playing hooky from school or work). It was so good to see these guys again, and Amy you are looking radiant! I can’t wait to meet your little one!
Colorado Springs maternity photographers
Colorado Springs maternity photographer
maternity portraits Colorado Springs Denver
Colorado Springs maternity photographer
Colorado Spring maternity photography
maternity photographer Colorado Springs Denver
Colorado Springs maternity photographers

A boy, his truck and his dog :: Kyle’s senior portraits

downtown Colorado Springs senior portraits
I’ve been meaning for a while now to post these senior portraits of Kyle taken in downtown Colorado Springs. I actually took them last fall, and they really needed to be shared with the world because I think they’re wonderful! Kyle brought along his truck, his dog Tucker, his euphonium (better known as a bari), and his color guard rifle. We had so much fun, wandering around downtown Colorado Springs taking his senior portraits. Kyle, you look great!
Colorado Springs senior portraits downtown
Kyle is in his school’s color guard, so we decided to try and get a shot of a rifle toss. It took several tries but I think it was worth the effort — this portrait is pretty cool!
senior portraits in downtown Colorado Springs
Kyle’s dog is named Tucker. He’s such a funny pup.
senior portraits in downtown Colorado Springs
This has got to be my all time favorite senior portrait. I love it. Tucker has such a cute expression on his face.
senior portraits in downtown Colorado Springs Shooks Run Park
senior portraits downtown Colorado Springs Shooks Run Park

How to make homemade pasta

how to make homemade pasta
I like to do the occasional blog post about cooking. It’s true, I mostly shoot weddings and portraits, but food makes a nice photography subject too. It never moves and never gives me any lip. And you get to eat it, which is nice. ;^)

I enjoy the creative process of cooking but find that my ambition sometimes outweighs my abilities. About three years ago, Pat gave me a traditional pasta maker for Christmas, a gift I had specifically asked for. But upon examining the thing, I found myself too intimidated to use it! It just looked so… complicated. And so it sat in a cupboard for all this time, until my good friend Angie Schwickerath of the Red Rolling Pin volunteered to come over last month and show me how to make homemade pasta. As it turns out, it’s not exactly rocket science. In fact, it was easy! (Kind of like playing with Play-Doh, actually.) There are only two ingredients: flour and eggs. Angie walked me through the slightly-messy-but-very-simple process, and of course I photographed every step of it (except for the photo of me, at the top of this post, which Angie took — I look so serious!). It was a ton of fun, and now I finally know how to use my fancy-schmancy pasta maker! Here’s how it’s done…
how to make homemade pasta
Angie is a professional pastry chef and expert home cook. She’s my kitchen spirit guide. That book she’s holding is Marcella Hazan‘s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”. Angie swears by it.
how to make homemade pasta
You only need two ingredients to make homemade pasta: for each person you’re serving, use one cup of flour (just regular wheat flour, nothing fancy) and one egg. I let the eggs rest outside of the fridge for a couple of hours to come to room temperature. If you don’t have time for that, you can fill a bowl with warm water and let them sit in it for a few minutes.
how to make homemade pasta
You also might want to have one of these all purpose dough scraper thing-a-mabobs on hand. Angie picked this one up for me at Ace Hardware on the way over to my house. I think it was $1.99 and it’s made by Oxo. You can get them practically anywhere that sells kitchen stuff, like K-Mart, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, et cetera.
how to make homemade pasta
The first step is to dump the flour onto your work surface and make a “volcano”, complete with a “crater” in the middle. Break your eggs right into the crater. Don’t be shy. The volcano won’t mind. [NOTE: do yourself a favor and wear an apron. There is no escaping the fact that you’re going to make a mess. That’s part of the fun.]
how to make homemade pasta
Now grab a fork and whip those eggs! Show ’em who’s boss! You can use your shiny new all purpose dough scraper thing-a-mabob to keep them from running all over. Things may be a little slimy at first, but once the yolks and whites start incorporating into the flour, it all comes together nicely and starts to form a dough.
how to make homemade pasta
Once the eggs and flour have combined, dive in there with your hands and start kneading, folding over and working the dough. You’ll want to keep adding extra flour to your work surface, but don’t worry, it will incorporate itself into the dough as you continue to knead.
how to make homemade pasta
Once the dough has a leathery texture and looks like this, you’re ready for the next step.
how to make homemade pasta
Cut your dough into smaller, manageable sized portions using your shiny new all purpose dough scraper thing-a-mabob. Hopefully you’ve got your pasta maker already assembled and clamped onto your countertop. Set the rollers to the widest setting, and run a chunk of dough through it. Fold the flattened dough in half and run it through again; then repeat this step a few times. Now adjust the setting to the next smallest notch, and run the dough through again, making it even flatter. Now adjust the setting to the next smallest notch, and… you get the idea. Obviously, your dough is going to get flatter and flatter throughout this process. Once it’s flat enough for your tastes, set it aside and start on the next chunk of dough.
how to make homemade pasta
Pretty soon you’re going to have a bunch of Very Flat Dough, and it’ll look like this. While it’s hanging out awaiting its fate, do what Angie’s doing in the background: add the attachment that makes the noodles (I don’t know what it’s called — noodle maker?) onto the pasta maker. Let the Very Flat Dough rest for 10-15 minutes before the next step.
how to make homemade pasta
Now all you have to do is run the Very Flat Dough through the noodle maker part of the machine, carefully catching and guiding it as it comes out the other side.
how to make homemade pasta
Ta-da! Now it’s pasta!
how to make homemade pasta
Hang the noodles on the handy dandy pasta drying rack that your boyfriend also gave you for Christmas ;^) …By the way, it only takes a few short minutes to cook pasta this fresh, unlike the boxed stuff you buy in the store. There is a HUGE difference in the flavor and texture. It’s yummy!
how to make homemade pasta
Angie’s well-worn copy of “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”. Marcella Hazan is to Italian cooking as Julia Child is to French cooking.
how to make homemade pasta
The finished product: dinner! Sorry for the lame photo. At this point I was no longer interesting in making photographs. I was interested in eating ;^)

Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! If you have any questions about the process, leave them in the comments and I will let Angie answer them for you! Ciao!