Fishin' & Horsin' Around

Max and Katie are a treat to be around. This photo shoot was one of my longest and most fun (!) ones to date. We had a rocky start and, sadly, some broken fishing gear, but once we got in the groove it was no holds barred! Max is probably one of the most fun guys I've ever photographed, always full of pose ideas and always "on." ("Katie, let's do a pounce face!") They can laugh and snuggle with the best of them, but one thing you may not be able to tell just by the photos is that this couple will probably help change the world. They have some of the most beautiful hearts and one of the most beautiful relationships I know.

*Sidenote: they're not kissing til they say "I do," so we had a lot of fun dancing towards the line this day :) There were a few times where I thought, "This is gonna happen right now! Right here on my camera!" But alas, they held strong.

This was my first photo shoot up at Eagle Lake Camp, which is very near and dear to my heart. The lake was frozen over... as were our faces, by the end of this shoot, but it was SO FUN! Max and Katie were such great sports, willing to take risks (the lake started to make cracking sounds while we were standing on it at one point, but they stayed and let me shoot!), and so ready to laugh and love on each other. I'm so excited to shoot their wedding in May!

Is This Burning An Eternal Flame?

Once again, I'm faced with having to boil down in a bite size paragraph or 2 something funny and meaningful about 2 of my favorite people on the planet. *sigh* Lauren & Andy, here's to you: You Rule. This is hands down one of my favorite couples in my life right now, and I'm so blessed to get to run around and take pictures of them. This was my very first Library Shoot! And, this is one of the few couples I have been around for their getting together, their figuring out how to be a couple, their fights, their hilarity, and best of all... watching them work as a team. Andy and Lauren probably love people better together than almost everyone I know. They are so inclusive, so ready to play a game (Ticket To Ride, anyone?) or share a pizza with anyone who's willing, so excited to get to know people ... together.

I would love to tell a story or 2 or 346, but there's just no way to boil down to an anecdote what these people mean to me and the excitement I feel about their upcoming marriage. Ok, ok, I think I may have one. Ha.

Lauren and Andy had just gone on their first date before Lauren's apartment (which is right next to mine) went up in flames. We sat all afternoon and watched it burn, except for my solo field trip to go buy Lauren some underwear and a phone charger, watched everything burned to ashes right before our very eyes. Her clothes, her bed, her movies, Ling Ling (her famous panda bear), everything! Somewhere in the middle of all that, she called Andy and let him in on everything. He said he'd come down and visit the next day and told her "I'm excited to come there and be your friend." WHAT??! "I know he didn't say the F word to you, Lauren," I said when she told me. "I can't believe he'd say 'friend' after everything." (they had had a small fiasco with figuring out whether they were more than friends or not, and we thought they were past that part!) And that night, talking to Lauren in my room was when I realized just how crazy we women are. I always had my suspicions, but this conversation confirmed it all. Here lies Lauren, after the burning of her house and her losing all her worldly goods. Who will have to deal with insurance companies and going through incinerated belongings in the next few days. Who is homeless. Who has 1 pack of underwear to her name. But what came out of her mouth to me that night? "Why did he call me friend!???!!" And all of us women know exactly what that's like!

Ha. And while that fire was big enough to demolish Lauren's entire apartment and all her possessions, it was a mere spark in the relationship between her and Andy. He did come down to visit. He was a good friend. And then he asked her to be his girlfriend, which is ... another funny story :) And the rest, as they say, is history.

p.s. - the 2 photos at the end are part of an homage to AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. Check it out and be amazed :)

Skattewhat?

I can't say enough wonderful & hilarious things about this family. I think the pictures tell you exactly what kind of family they are, and I leaped for joy in my heart when they agreed to let me dress them in charlie chaplin moustaches and drag a couch up to Garden of the Gods for a fun-filled photo shoot. One thing I hope doesn't come through the photographs is the temperature... cause I couldn't feel my fingers and my props were being blown about by ice cold gusts of hurricane. And I couldn't blog this without giving a shout-out to one of my best pals, David Rau, who single-handedly hauled that couch up the huge rock next to Balanced Rock. I did indeed bust out in choruses of "Whatta Man" while he made the trek up with a sofa on his back.

Long story short: this family rules. Each one so unique. Each one so beautiful. Each one SO FUNNY. We should all wanna be Skattebos.

What's Wrong? (inspired by Highlights Magazine)

Photographing bed & breakfasts has its upsides, for sure - staying in beautiful inns for free, getting to sample their delicious menus, shooting in my sweatpants... the list could go on! But, since one of my favorite magazines as a child was Highlights (y'all remember that one?), which featured an illustration on the back called "What's Wrong?" where you were supposed to spot the weird things going on... fish with sunglasses, mohawks on chimpmunks, birds swimming... you know, the usual. The not-so-upside of b&b photography are the mishaps, but I just realized they would be great material for the "What's Wrong?" game, so I've included a few here to show the not-so-polished side of the work. Who knows? Maybe you'll get a toy if you can find them all...

I Fancy This Inn!

The town of Greeley has never conjured up images of class or elegance for me. When it comes to mind, I tend to think of the lovely people I know who live there and... well... the cow poop (I had to say it). But the Sod Buster Inn (website under construction by Acorn) has really turned me around! Now, when I think of Greeley, I think fond thoughts of one lovely couple from Britain who is changing my mind and bringing an uptown feel to one of Colorado's more blue collar towns. This couple is a TREAT to be around and their inn is beautiful - with 10 rooms to share! The shoot was a bit long – 11 hours – but I never got bored and never bruised myself :)

Here's what I wrote in my journal the day after the shoot:

I love this place! I love Derek & Stephanie; they're just lovely. This inn is beautiful, they are beautiful, and I had a beautiful time. I hope this one succeeds! They just moved here 12 weeks ago from England to start this inn, but they've lived all over – Japan, Nigeria, Greece, Indiana, and England. I've never been treated so graciously and like "part of the family" by any innkeeper before. Stephanie bought lunch for me yesterday, she helped me behind the scenes as my "flunkie," and after the shoot was over the poured a glass of wine for the 3 of us to sit down and toast to celebrate! Then, they insisted on me having dinner with them! So lovely...

And here's what I had to say in their guestbook upon checking out from my (11 hour!) photo shoot:

WOW. I have stayed in a lot of B&B's and taken lots of pictures. And I may take the pictures, but you, Derek & Stephanie, take the cake. Your hospitality was above and beyond. I can tell you really care about the people who come through the Sod Buster, and that makes me know that people really will leave as your friends. I know I am! Much love to you both. If kindness and hospitality make a business successful, this should be a Fortune 500 Company :)

Long story short: go visit these people. You won't be sorry!

Look Out For #4!

I don't even know where to begin with this precious family... they are wonderful and giving and hilarious and creative and inappropriate (in the best ways possibly) and snarky and share their food with me and let me stop by whenever I feel like it and just flat out A+ The scene begins with Clay, Krista, and their 3 beautiful children–Noah, Sadie, and Seth.

And then there was Piper.

I first found out about Piper when sitting down to watch 500 days of Summer with Krista near Christmas last year. "I hope I'm not pregnant," she said, as she took another sip of wine. "Could you be?" "Well, yeah..." (I only questioned it because I knew that her husband had gotten the old "snip-snip" just a few DAYS before) I told her to call him and tell him to pick up a pregnancy test on his way home. "No... I will just wait."

The next day I got a text from her that read "Ummm, can you say 4?" :) And she surprised everyone on Christmas by putting a note about little unborn Piper in Clay's stocking. Then came summer, and then came Piper. I am so excited for them to have a 4th because a) they are really special to me, b) the more Enochs in the world the better, and c) Krista really wanted another girl before they were done with the childbearing years! I'm so glad to see how God has blessed this wonderful family, and I'm so glad they got a baby so well behaved and CUUUUUUTE.