Thursday, January 27, 2011

Get the Job Done: Downtown engagement session

This Saturday I will be shooting an engagement session with Gina and her fiancee Vachon tomorrow afternoon! I'm very excited about this opportunity to work with Gina because even though she already had plans for someone to shoot her wedding, she still booked me to photograph her e-session. And that will provide exceptional exposure for my studio because she intends to send out the photos with her invitations and thank you notes!

I will be shooting the couple in downtown Denver, near Civic Center Park and a few other key places near the 16th Street Mall that I've been scoping out for a few months.

Here are samples of some of my favorite e-session portraits:

Harriet and Peter
Harriet and Peter are nose to nose in this adorable engagement session photo.

Adrian and Sherif
Adrian and Sherif hide under an umbrella during their rainy engagement session at a Denver University garden.

Kim and Mike
Kim and Mike's engagement portrait session near Denver's South Platte River in Lodo chronicled their favorite shared activities as a couple.

Jessaca and Nate
Jessaca and Nate are framed by a water fountain during their engagement session taken at a Denver University garden.

Krista and Scott
Scott takes Krista for a ride in this fun shot taking during their engagement portrait session at a Denver University garden .

Then on Sunday, I will be attending a Valentine's Day themed Digital Photography Lighting Basics Workshops with Bill Murphy, one of my favorite photography instructors/ This will be my second year attending one of Bill's high key sessions, and I hope I will be able to use some of the images to update my boudoir portfolio.

Here are some photos I shot at last year's meetup:







Tuesday, January 25, 2011

An Aside: Best compliment ever!

Helen Richardson/The Denver Post: Alic Nemirovskiy bakes fresh rye bread at The Bagel Store on South Monaco Parkway.

Today I got an amazing compliment from an equally amazing photographer that really helped it hit home for me just how far I've come. I ran into Helen Richardson today, a staff photographer from The Denver Post and someone who's work I've admired for many years. She told me that she was talking about me to other staff photographers, saying namely that she thought I was probably making more money at photographer than they were! After assuring her that wasn't the case since I'm not full time, it sunk in that this celebrated photojournalist had been talking about ME...to the rest of her colleagues who are equally fantastic photojournalists!!!!

Helen is interested in doing more freelance photography herself outside of her day job at the Post. You can find some of her most recent published work here. She asked me about my pricing structure and what kind of work I do outside of my normal full time job at the Denver Post. She took the time to look at my work on my website and was amazed that I had done so much shooting!

I can't tell you how much this five minute interaction brightened my day and encouraged me to keep going. This will be my fourth year as a freelance photographer, and I know I've come such a long way and still have much more to learn. I think many of my print colleagues at the newspaper thought photography might be a passing phase, especially since the joke is most print journalists long to be a photographer and most photographers long to be a print journalist. But this was not just a hobby for me. Photography has become an integral part of my life and my camera is just as much an extension of me as my pen is when I'm interviewing sources or writing an article. To have someone of Helen's caliber notice my work and compliment me on it was amazing, generous and just plain cool! It's always fun for me to be able to "talk shop" with Denver Post staff photographers and totally understand what's being said or done.... and not just be faking it! I can't wait to see what new stuff I learn this year, and thanks Helen for your kind words and support.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Get the Job Done: First Special Event Assignment of the year!


I'm excited to be kicking off 2011 with my first special event assignment, a company awards banquet for Eaton Metal Products Co. at Denver's prestigious Brown Palace Hotel. Eaton fabricates a vast line of steel plate product including heat exchanges, reactors, storage tanks and heavy weldments.



The grand, expansive atrium and lobby with a sweeping staircase offers unlimited spots for the numerous group shots I've been asked to shoot. I have a few ideas for the group shots that I hope will work.



Yesterday I checked out Ellyngton's, the restaurant where the awards banquet and dinner will be held, so I could see what kind of lighting I and my second shooter Jason Peckovitch of Illusive Dreams Photography will be working with. A row of windows surrounding the restaurant should bring in some great natural light until the day gives way to evening. Wish Jason and I success!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Rest in Peace: Cristal Newell



This post has been a long time coming. But I couldn't find the words until the pain wasn't so fresh. I'm crying even as I write it, but the tears are healing instead of being filled with anger, confusion and all the emotions that overwhelm when someone you love suddenly dies.

My friend Cristal Newell passed away in September 2010. She and her husband Marcus were wheeling their 4x4 Jeep on a Colorado trail when a freak accident forced their rig over a cliff. Cristal, who was behind the wheel, was thrown and perished. Marcus himself nearly died when he ran down the cliff trying to reach her. Cristal was 33, the mother of Tristan and Liam and the owner of Mile High Mutts, the doggy daycare where I've been taking my dogs to socialize and play for nearly six years.



I can remember meeting Cristal when I wrote an article in the Denver Post about the numerous dog daycare centers that were popping up all over the Front Range. Out of the many owners I spoke with and centers I visited, there was something about Cristal's no nonsense approach that made her seem more real to me. I knew I could trust my dogs with her, my beloved Isis and Raina who were just about three months old when I started taking them to Cristal's center. Over the years, we became friends. She was the first person I turned to when something would happen with my dogs and her calm demeanor always kept the fears of this new doggie mommy in check. One of the last emails I received from her was a "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" retort when I told her I had gotten a third dog. She said I was crazy, but she already knew that, and I know she also understood my desire to want to rescue a dog because I still felt guilty about purchasing the other two at a pet store.

Cristal was hilarious, definitely one of my homegirls, and was always aware when I would come into the daycare downtrodden, probably upset over yet another dating relationship that bit the dust. When one of my bosses knitted a scarve and hat, I bought it knowing it would be perfect for Cristal because it would make her blue eyes sparkle even more than they naturally did. I felt honored when she told me it was her favorite and she would come to work wearing it.



A couple years later when I started my photography, Cristal and I bartered a month worth of free daycare for some free family portraits. My fans might recognize this photo of Cristal and her family that graces my business logo. There's was one of the first family portrait sessions I ever had, and it was great!



When I learned of Cristal's passing, it would be those photos that would help start the healing process for me and so many of her friends and family. I had given Cristal and Marcus a CD with all the images, but the CD couldn't be found. So I uploaded all the images to my website and gave the link to all her loved ones so they could download the images for free whenever they wanted. It was amazing to see my photos in such a different light....as a source of relief and good memories in a time of sorrow. It really just impressed upon me that photographers aren't just shooting pictures, we are creating histories, a record of people's lives. Cristal was so alive and lovely in those photos and that's exactly how people wanted to remember her, smiling and happy with the people she loved the most.





Her family honored me even more when they printed out the images and included them in a collage that people could view during Cristal's funeral. People were coming up to me and saying "thank you...I can't tell you how much those photos helped me." They helped us connect and grieve together.

To all of my photography colleagues, please never forget the power of your imagery. Not just to win awards or the accolades of peers, but to be evidence that someone lived. Marcus has this photo of his family framed and hung near the door of the Mile High Mutts daycare center. Every time I drop off my dogs, I stop and caress this photo. I love you Cristal, rest now my friend.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Congratulations to Patience and Jack!

I'm pleased to announce Patience and Jack, one of my wedded couples, are now the proud parents of their first child! Daughter Isabel was born a healthy 8 pounds 6oz. I photographed Patience and Jack's wedding at about the same time last year and had plans to complete some maternity photos for the couple as well, but illness and the busy holiday season prevented that. Now I hope to have the joy of shooting some newborn and family portraits of the newest Reuter family member. I am honored to be able to capture such wonderful and intimate moments in the lifetime of one family and look forward to memorializing more.











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