Solstice Eclipse

Very early this morning, my friends and I watched the first total lunar eclipse to fall on the winter solstice since 1638. We stayed up late drinking martinis and checking on the moon every 15 minutes until it was in full eclipse and glowed orange in the shadow of the earth. The evening started out quite cloudy, and I was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to see much, but by the time the eclipse had started, the cloud cover started to dissipate. By the end of the night, the clouds were completely gone and I managed to get a few photos with the eclipse and the stars. It was a beautiful event to witness, and a wonderful way to spend the last night with my friends before the group starts to go our separate ways for the holidays. If you didn’t have a chance to see what we saw last night, I hope you enjoy my photos. They don’t do it justice, but they are a good start. Happy solstice!

A RMNP Wedding

Back in June, I photographed Courtney and Paul’s wedding at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. The park was a stunning backdrop for the intimate family wedding. This video is a compilation of my favorite photos from that day. I hope you enjoy it, too. Happy Sunday!

Jerry's Kids

Last spring, I was asked to photograph a St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Denver. Unfortunately, I was already booked for that date, so instead, I donated a portrait package to the silent auction. The bash raised over $227,000 to fund research for treatments and cures of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), and I am happy that I could be a part of that effort. I have already put the 2011 event on my calendar, and will be attending to donate my time as the photographer for the evening.

In November, I had the opportunity to meet the family who won the portrait package at the auction last March. The Martin’s have two adorable sons, and we had a lovely morning working together on their portrait session. These photos are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them, too. Happy weekend!

Freakish Weather

It has been difficult this week to remember that it is almost the new year. The past few days have been tee-shirt weather. Not sweater weather, which is my favorite, or jacket weather, which would be appropriate, but actually warm enough to wear a tee-shirt without an extra layer on top.  But whatever the weather, it is the middle of December, and whether or not we are prepared for it, it will soon be 2011. It is almost the end of the first full year I’ve been in business, and it seems like a good time to look back on what I’ve accomplished this year. For the next few blog posts, I am going to be collecting and posting images from the weddings and portraits I have photographed in 2010.

For today, here are a few photos I took as a second shooter for my friend Heather of Photography by Heather Gray. Tracy and Taylor’s wedding was in June, but I was busy with my own wedding work, and never got around to posting any of the photos, so these will all be new to you. Enjoy! 

33 Million

When I was a kid, my parents brought my sister and I to see the AIDS quilt whenever a piece of it was in Vermont. We must have seen it three or four times, maybe more. If you have never seen the quilt, I recommend the experience. Each panel is 3’ x 6’ and was sewn by a person or group of people in honor of someone they loved who died of AIDS. The whole quilt, when pieced together, is large enough to cover more than 22 football fields, so it travels the country in pieces, and you are unlikely to see the same block twice. Even as a child, too young to really have a sense of mortality or an understanding of the disease, I had a clear grasp of the importance and solemnity of the experience. Reading messages written by strangers, addressed to loved ones who will never have a chance to read them, moves you in a way nothing else can.  

Yesterday was World AIDS Day, and I had my third opportunity to work with the Boulder County AIDS Project (BCAP). My friend Jenna works for BCAP and happened to mention that she would have a table on Pearl Street yesterday, and would be passing out free hot chocolate and candy canes to help raise awareness. I immediately saw a way that I could help, and the two of us created a plan for a photo project that would allow people on the street to get involved. We started at 8:00 a.m., and armed with warm jackets, gloves, and hot chocolate, we hit the street.

Volunteers and BCAP employees came and went throughout the day, holding signs, passing out red ribbons, hot chocolate, and condoms, and talking with people on the street about HIV infection and prevention. I came prepared with my dry erase board and my camera, and while we collected signatures on an awareness board, we also collected photos of people holding up messages.

I wish that I could work with such an amazing group of people every day; and I’m not just talking about the volunteers and BCAP crew. The individuals and groups who approached our table throughout the day covered a range of ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Some shared stories of his or her personal experience dealing with the disease and subsequent death of a loved one, some gave money, some just signed their names. There was a thrilling sense of community, of breaking down social barriers, of putting yourself out there with a bunch of strangers and finding a common goal in ending HIV. I don’t know how many signatures we collected, but I am willing to bet at least a few hundred. 

If you came to Pearl Street yesterday and helped out, whether by holding a sign, mixing packets of hot chocolate, or just showing your support by wearing a red ribbon, or if you celebrated World AIDS Day in some other way, thank you! (Special thanks to Jenna Borys for helping out with the photography.) And if you did not have a chance to be involved, please take a few minutes to watch the video we created and share it with your friends and family. If it can raise awareness or inspire action in just one person, BCAP and I will be grateful!