A wedding in the Colorado mountains - Thomas and Jessica

What's better than an outdoor wedding?  An outdoor wedding in the mountains!

I took a quick trip to Colorado recently to photograph Thomas and Jessica Ciaramitaro, who got married at Treasure Mountain Bible Camp near the town of Marble.  They've both worked at the camp for a few years (they met here) and the mountains made a stunning backdrop for their warm, family-filled wedding day.

Thomas has been a friend ever since he was...well...let's just say it was such a long time ago that I used to carry him around and watch him and my younger siblings play in the sand together at Del Valle reservoir.  Our families have shared many of the ups and downs of life and had lots of goofy adventures together (high-altitude pancake-flipping contest, anyone??).

It was tremendously special (and yes, just a teeny bit funny) to photograph this wedding!  We had a grand time doing their engagement portraits and the wedding was even better.

I love seeing Thomas and Jessica together.  She's sweet, relaxed, adventuresome, and a lot of fun to be with, and the two of them complement each other perfectly. They're clearly best friends for life!

(Did I say adventuresome?  Most definitely...you should have seen these two pull off their shoes and wade through the creek for this photo!) (And yes, I was standing knee-deep in the creek right about now...it was worth it!)

 

Jessica really wanted to get married in cute boots.  So Thomas surprised her with these...she was delighted.

 

 

Getting ready for that waterfall photo above.  Oh yeah!

 

We rode up to the waterfall spot in Ruby, the camp truck.  (It was really, really bumpy in the back.  Just saying.)

 

Thomas and his mom

 

Plenty of personality here!  You really have to view this photo close-up to get the full effect...zoom in!

 

Hayride up to the ceremony spot

 

 

Outdoor reception...we are all so grateful for our answered prayers about the weather!  Here at 8600', the weather can change rapidly.  The forecast called for rain, but after a brief shower around 2pm, the weather was sunny with pretty clouds (as you can see) for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Then, not five minutes after Thomas and Jessica left, it began to pour!

Thomas and Jessica, may God bless you with many, many years of loving God and each other!

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty... 

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer

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Slightly random post!

This morning I was doing some digital housecleaning, and found that I never posted the last few photos from the Yosemite Landscape Workshop last March.  I got sick in April and a whole lot of things went by the wayside...as you can see, only one blog post made it out that month!

So in an effort to mend my ways, here are those last few Landscape Workshop photos. :)  Enjoy!

Erin, on the snowy meadow boardwalk leading across the valley to Yosemite Falls

 

Sentinel Bridge

 

Erin again...because she's cute :)

 

Amanda, across the river at Happy Isles, hard at work with a rock-o-pod ;)

 

I love the bright green moss and the soft green-brown tones in the water and rocks.

 

  

Moss macro...there's such beauty in the tiny details.

 

Sometimes getting The Perfect Photo means getting into some interesting shooting positions... 

Pretty wildflowers along the road, on the way back to the Bay Area

 

Playing paparazzi in the grass...Bethany probably has a very similar shot of me... ;)

 

We finished our trip in San Francisco at the Bay Bridge, the Presidio, and of course Ghirardelli.  Here's a fun sight at the Presidio:

 

Yay for some really awesome photographers!  :)

 

Parting "Blue Hour" shot...I just love the light at this time of day...so much gorgeousness.

That's all for now, folks!  This weekend I'm excited to be photographing Byron and Rebecca's wedding in Canada, so stay tuned for highlights from that.  There's also a slide show in the works from another recent wedding and some new website developments that I'm *very* excited about...more on that soon!  :D

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

I'm back...

And I really haven't disappeared or fallen off the face of the earth -- although I did hike past tons of cliffs this week!  I was backpacking in Yosemite with my family.  :)  Lots of catch-up to do today, so this has to be short.  But I've got to share just one or two photos with you in the meantime!

There were tons of wildflowers because we had such a late spring this year.  These are called "Shooting Stars" and they were sprinkled all across the edge of a meadow where I was hiking yesterday.

My mom was reading in her tent one evening as I was getting ready for a star trail shot...frankly I think this one came out better than the star trails!  ;)

I have to run -- that's all for now -- but there will be more later!  :)  Back to work!

- Kelsey


Discovering beauty...

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Some Texas "lilies of the field"

Hey there faithful blog readers...I have a TON more Peter and Mandy photos coming...I promise!  I'm just trying to crawl out from under the deluge of stuff demanding my attention right now.  Can't be everywhere at once, unfortunately.

So in the meantime here's something pretty to make you happy.  I found these on the way to the airport after Peter and Mandy's wedding.  Chris won the Kind Brother of Photographer Award for the day and stopped the car so I could grab some photos!

With our friend Rob Bennett, who came to Bonham for Peter and Mandy's wedding too.

He's a fellow photographer, and a Nikon shooter, but I don't hold that against him.  :D

Hehe.

And with that...I'm off to bed.  Wish I could sleep for a week, I'm so tired.  Have a great Friday night, folks!  I'll be back in the blogging business very soon with more images of Peter and Mandy's lovely day!

- Kelsey


Discovering beauty...

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More about that "new best friend"!

I have a few more Yushu photos to put here, but I'm still in love with that 50mm lens, and some recent photos are begging to be posted!  :)  I went jogging one late afternoon this week, and the light was so pretty, I just had to come back for my camera.

In case you wanted to know, the above image was taken at f/1.4.

Here's a photo from the same spot with a different aperture, f/5.6.

It's easy to see the difference in depth of field:

This last one wasn't taken with the 50...but it's too pretty not to share.  :)  I love these little violets.

(FYI, there was a foot photo that almost made this post, but I thought better of it...haha...aren't you a little sick of seeing my silly feet??)  :D

More photos later -- Yushu, portrait session, a wedding, skiing, and some photos of the unbelievably gorgeous things happening in my mom's garden right now.  The weather has cooperated unusually well this spring and everything is just bursting with beauty!

Later...

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

Visit my website  |  Contact me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Become my fan on Facebook