Behind the scenes, part 1

At the end of every wedding season, I post a series of photos of us in action at weddings. I love going through all the pictures and seeing how much fun I had throughout the year. 2010 was particularly memorable, because it was my busiest year ever, and because I’ve been pregnant for most of it. The pregnancy didn’t slow me down. Neither did a sprained ankle – in this picture, I had sprained it about two hours earlier, but the wedding day adrenaline made the dance floor as irresistible to me as always.

For photos from previous years, scroll through the blog posts here: Behind the Scenes

Here are pictures from the first half of 2010! Some of these photos may look familiar, because I’ve shared a few of them in posts about my pregnancy. But most are new. Pictures from the second half of the year will come later this week. 🙂

In January, I had the incredible honor of photographing the birth of baby Ellie. Afterward, I had a chance to hold the beautiful little girl.

Here I am with baby Ellie and her mom, Traci. Traci had given birth about an hour earlier and looked amazing.

In March, I got ambushed by guests at a wedding in Vail. Obviously I wouldn’t have wanted to be rude by turning down the nice gentlemen.

In April, Mike and I headed to Lake Tahoe for Amanda and Stephen’s wedding. This picture cracks me up, because I have a stunning lake to use for portrait backdrops, but I am posing the bride and groom under this cement staircase. But they trusted me, which enabled me to get some soft light for close-ups like this one. Don’t worry, we still took lots of scenic portraits like this.

Here’s Mike, getting a cool angle of Amanda’s veil. You’ll see that “rolling on the ground” is a common theme in these behind-the-scenes pictures. The best angles aren’t always at eye level. 🙂

Mike and me, enjoying beautiful Lake Tahoe.

One of my favorite photo shoots of the year was Carrie and Pete’s engagement session. I’d never done a photo shoot on a farm before, so I was surprised/delighted/freaked when Chuck the cow followed me around for several of the pictures. She was right behind me for a while, so at one point I turned the camera around to capture the hilarity of the situation. The look on my face here says it all!

In May, I traveled to England to photograph Ali and Howard’s wedding. This getting ready photo was a first for me – the handsome best man getting dressed is my husband Mike!

Check out this cool English wedding venue! They don’t make ’em like that in the States.

My friend David Pearce drove all the way from Kent to help with with this wedding. I see that even well-mannered Brits aren’t afraid to roll on the ground at a wedding!

Of course the ground is the only place to get an adorable picture like this one of Ali and Howard’s son, William.

Howard was the best man in our wedding and is like a brother to Mike, so now Ali is family, too.

The two best men and their ladies. Unfortunately I was wearing my photo garb instead of a cute dress like Rosie’s.

During Mike’s best man speech, he said some wonderfully romantic things about being married to me. Bride Ali took my camera away from me so I could stop and enjoy the moment. 🙂

Mike likes to remind me that not all old, pretty buildings in England are castles. I don’t care what he says… this was a castle to me.

In June I photographed a backyard wedding at Carissa and Adam’s farm in Colorado. Since it took place at their house, their affectionate cat was a part of the day.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t resist a cat. Especially a friendly black cat!

Later that month, Jesse Starr began shooting with me. He has such a great way with kids!

This year I photographed the weddings of several photographers, including Vie. I walked into a room before the wedding and found Vie and Jesse talking shop. It’s hard to stop being a photographer on your wedding day!

I have no clue what Vie was doing back there, but I’m sure it made Nichole laugh, and was therefore perfect.

By late June, I was three months pregnant, and my stomach was starting to pooch out a little bit. I was wearing Sea-Bands to help with the morning sickness. I’m not sure if they worked, but I got through all the weddings just fine, thank goodness.

I loved the texture of Emma’s gown, especially when the light would shine through it. (Edited to add: here’s the picture I was taking.)

Here I am at the Air Force Academy Chapel, taking this picture of Emma and Kyle.

Stephanie caught this picture of me grinning in response to Emma and Kyle’s adorable strawberry cake topper.

Stephanie Brauer and me

When Emma’s mother found out that I was pregnant at the end of the day, she sent me home with a whole box full of desserts. I was so happy that I asked the lady at the Broadmoor Hotel’s front desk to take a picture.

In early July, I could still lie on my stomach, which was a great perspective for this photo of Jamie.

Just another day in Colorado paradise.

I like to make myself useful.

I look at this picture now and can’t believe that I thought my stomach was sticking out a lot then. I look like a waddling watermelon these days.

Here I am, making myself useful again. I really should ask a florist to teach me how to fasten boutonnieres the right way. I just taught myself one day, in response to frequent requests for help.

Jesse and me on the Keystone gondola, on our way to a wedding.

With Kasey and Dave at the top of the mountain in Keystone, setting up this picture.

The life of a traveling photographer sounds more glamorous than it is. Here I am, shooting while in a toilet stall. 😉

With Chris and Dave, at the top of the mountain in Keystone, setting up this picture.

By late July, I was definitely showing.

In early August, bride Sarah smuggled her cat into the church while they were getting ready. As I mentioned earlier, I can’t resist a cute cat.

After the ceremony, we took Sarah and Mike to the Garden of the Gods to take scenic portraits like this one. It was on these rocks that I fell and sprained my ankle. I stood up, kept shooting, and then called Mike from the car on the way to the reception.

During the meal, I sat down with an ice pack and laughed it all off while waiting for Mike.

Mike hurried over with Tylenol and ankle braces.

The ankle braces, combined with the adrenaline rush of the wedding, kept me comfortably on my feet the rest of the night. As I mentioned earlier, the wedding was so much fun that I even danced.

4.5 months pregnant.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my behind the scenes photos!