Next year John and I will be traveling the world for several months.  We’re saving up money, and most of our international dream destinations, for that larger trip.  So this year, in lieu of our regular international jaunt, we decided to take a more low-key vacation – camping in Wyoming.

Before this summer, I had never camped (at least not since I was old enough to remember.)  But for some reason, we decided a week-long camping trip in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks would be a fun adventure.  In preparation, we took a single overnight camping trip with a few friends a few weeks ago, and then set off for seven days on our own.

As it turns out, car camping is very similar to backpacking/hosteling, with the exception that while camping you can actually pay $2 to get a hot shower (unlike many third world countries we’ve visited.)  The bed is more comfortable, too.  So despite having little to no direct camping experience, our trip went off without a hitch.  We enjoyed the fresh mountain air, took a long 75 mile bike ride, floated on the lake in a canoe, and wandered the geological sights of Yellowstone.  It was a great, relaxing trip.

Here are a few images of the rocky Tetons and explosive Yellowstone.  (The last one was taken on my iPhone, so the image quality is a little lower than usual.)  I hope everyone had a happy Labor Day Weekend!

Wondering what happened to all the blog posts?

Ok, so maybe my Mom was the only one.  Still, I know I’ve been slacking on keeping up with blogging.  Mainly because I’ve been busy doing non-photography things.  Things like teaching extra yoga, helping out at my sister’s boyfriend’s coffee roasting company (say that four times fast), finding a new apartment, and generally avoiding my camera (with the exception of noodle photography, of course.)  Sometimes you just need to switch gears for a bit.

But now I’m bringing my focus back around for the start of my busy season.  Spring is in the air, my weekends are filling up with lovely shoots, and I’m back to my regularly scheduled blogging.  Plenty of interesting posts scheduled for the upcoming weeks – thanks for your patience!

In the meantime, here’s a random photo from our snowshoe trip to Steamboat in February (always have to have a photo!)  Have a great weekend!

There’s something incredibly peaceful about watching the sunrise over the winter wonderland of Breckenridge.  This was our view Saturday morning from the condo we spent the weekend at.  Not too shabby.

Last year when we visited Breckenridge poor John was ill equiped for our snowshoeing adventure.  A recent transplant to Colorado, he lacked snow gear, and had to hike around in jeans, a wool coat, and tennis shoes.  Needless to say, he did not fall in love with snowshoeing after that trip.  With a visit to Sniagrab this fall and a few well-executed Christmas presents, he was stocked up and ready to go this weekend.  It made a world of difference for our snowshoeing excursion – and I think he looks pretty cute in his snow pants :)

Happy Monday!

How does one blog about their own wedding?

I’ve been debating how to do this for a week.  Many of our favorites photos are here on Charlotte Geary’s blog – which I posted last week.  It’s difficult to add any photos on top of that without going full force into 70-80 photos of the wedding, which just feels like far, far too many.  The point of this blog, after all, is to show my work – not to display oodles of photos of myself :)  In the end, I’ve decided just to post this single image from our ceremony.  To us, the ceremony itself was the most important part of the whole event.  And I have to say, it was amazing.  Every part of our ceremony was highly meaningful to us, from the Celtic Handfasting Ceremony to the personalized vows.  I am so glad we took the extra time to be sure the ceremony went exactly how we wanted.

As for the reception, we had a more laid back cocktail style event that went over quite well.  The food was delicious, the gelato cart (which we had in lieu of cake) turned out fabulously, and everyone had a great time in the photo booth.  We had a very small wedding, with only 55 people in attendance, and I am so glad we did.  I felt able to talk to most everyone who came to celebrate with us, and I still had time left to dance with friends and enjoy the party.

If you want to hear more stories than that, you’ll just have to call me.  I’d be happy to share any anecdotes from the wedding if it interests you or would help in your wedding planning process.  Otherwise, I’m moving on to honeymoon photos starting tomorrow :)  Happy Monday!

I’ve gotten this question repeatedly, so I figure it’s worth writing about. Yes, I am changing my name.  No, my business name will not be changing.  Confused?

As many of you know, Carolyn is actually my middle name.  When I changed my business name from Six Eighty Three Photography, I decided to use my first and middle name for many reasons – one of which was that my last name would eventually change.  As a result, I’ve kind of taken on Tracy Carolyn as an alter identity.  It will have no reason to change, ever.  My last name is actually Lee, and I’ve been ready to get rid of it for years (sorry family), for many reasons as well.  Once I finally get all the paperwork filed, my new last name will be Larson.

So I will now respond to Tracy Carolyn, Tracy Lee, and Tracy Larson.  A bit confusing for now, but I’m sure it will only get easier as the Lee gets phased out :)

Yes, I will be sharing more wedding photos when I get the files and have a chance to sort through everything, and honeymoon photos, too.  Patience!

Happy Thursday!

I’m back!  John and I successfully survived the wedding and our honeymoon in the Philippines, and now we’re back in town (a little jet lagged) and ready to get back to work.  I have so much to share in the next few weeks, but for now just a quick peek at our wedding photos.  The one to the right is one of my favorites so far (although I must admit I haven’t had too much time to go through everything just yet!)  Click Here to see a sample of our photos on the blog of our talented photographer Charlotte Geary.  Stay tuned for more posts to come – including honeymoon pics!

With just two days left before our wedding, I’m saying Adios to the office.  And I won’t be back for a bit.  John and I are getting married on Saturday here in Denver, and then we’re taking a delightfully long three week honeymoon to the Philippines.  So as of today, I am officially difficult to get in touch with :)

I may check email while I’m gone, but it will take much longer than the usual 24 hours to get a response.  Phone messages will not be picked up until I am over my jet lag and back in the office on December 5th.  Thank you so much for your patience while I am gone – I’ll have loads of photos to share when I return, both of the wedding and the honeymoon.  Stay tuned!

Our wedding is just one month away – time for a quick update!  I’ve been procrastinating on planning stuff for a while, but a big push last week got a lot of things crossed off my to-do list.  We did our tasting/walk-through, met with the officiant about our ceremony, I had my first dress fitting, completed my hair and makeup trials, John found a suit…we got a LOT done.  Still lingering is centerpieces, music selections, welcome bag assembly, and some other fairly minor details, but I’m confident we’ll get it done.  Oh yeah, and the whole knowing who is coming thing (RSVP deadline is today, hint hint.)

So while my wedding is drawing near, the amount of time I have left to shoot engagement sessions and family portraits is dwindling.  If you’re still wanting to schedule anything before the holidays, please get in touch soon.  My calendar is filling up quickly.

In case you never saw any of our engagment photos, taken by the lovely Charlotte Geary, here is one of my favorites.  Happy Wednesday!

We chose it because it’s the largest producer of coconuts.

Ok, not really.  But after this post about my craziness, we needed to make a decision.   I scoured travel sites looking for someplace with excellent weather, different culture than the South and Central American countries we’ve frequented lately, and enough interesting activities.  Options abound.  Something had to be the deciding factor.  So when I saw that the Philippines is the largest producer of coconuts, I felt like the universe had given me a small glimmering sign saying “Pick Me!”  And that was that.

You see, John has a thing for coconuts.  Ever since he had his first taste of fresh unhusked deliciousness in Guatemala, he can’t get enough.  He even buys them at home now and cracks them open with the blunt end of our chef’s knife (which terrifies me to no end, but that’s another story.)  Anywhere that produces that many coconuts is bound to make him happy.

So yesterday we FINALLY booked our flight – or flights, I should say.  It will take three of them, and over 23 hours, to get us there.  And that’s not including the time difference across the date line.  So we leave Tuesday and arrive Thursday (yipes!)  Whatever, I don’t care.  We’re going to have 18 days of surfing, hiking, SCUBA diving, and enjoying some well-deserved relaxation.

So I’ll be out of the country from November 16th through December 4th.  Please keep that in mind if you’re planning a family portrait session before the holidays :)

(By the way the photo credit here goes to John Pennock, whose image I snagged from lonelyplanet.com)

The Lady Gaga Pandora station seemed like a good idea.  I turned to Lady Gaga to spice up my editing soundtrack after exhausting my iTunes library and growing tired of the same old Pandora stations I usually listen to.  It was such a drastic change at first that I loved it.  But I could only take it for so long before I started wanting to tear my hair out – a stage I reached last week whilst editing.  No more.  Turns out I could not be romanced, Lady Gaga, thankyouverymuch.

I know I’m not alone on this – I often meet photographers who practically beg for suggestions of what to watch or listen to whilst editing.  So here’s a playlist I’ve been running with some success.  A little old, a little new, a little Bob Marley.  Because Bob Marley makes editing through the family photos just that much easier :)  Maybe one of the songs will inspire you to create a new Pandora station of your own.  I’m hoping someone will share their favorite playlist in return – I still need some new music myself, and I’d like to keep all of my hair intact :)