portraits

Portraits in Paradise

I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just down the road from my home is the breathtaking Paradise Valley. I call it my studio… where miles and miles of the mighty Yellowstone River careens through the valley, surrounded by mountains and capped with the ever changing big Montana Sky. Add a sundown like none other and you get perhaps as close to heaven as you can without actually leaving this temporal place on earth.

Last summer I spent a couple of hours with a returning client that wanted to take advantage of a summer day making photos in a couple of locations including an sundown dip in the Yellowstone, a baptism of sorts.

It was breathtaking!

So, whether you are planning a wedding, a surprise proposal, an elopement or simply portraits in a place you will never forget, give me a call or contact me via this site. I’ve lived here over 30 years and I have access to many amazing vistas and ‘secret spots’ both public and private in which to photograph. Enjoy the view!

Senior portraits

What a great photo session with Toby! We hopscotched around around the calendar to find a date to make our schedules match with some decent weather. Winter has shown it’s frosty face earlier than usual, but at last… a window of opportunity. As it turned out, we landed on an afternoon that was pretty amazing. Toby has some serious modeling potential in front of the camera! This looks more like a magazine shoot than a senior portrait session.

Thanks to Toby’s mother Anne for carrying camera gear up the hill, holding a light stand against some serious wind and being such a great assistant. She was implemental in the success of this photo shoot.

And then right at sunset, their dogs got into the action and I grabbed the fleeting moment that you just can’t plan or pose. That is what I love to do!!!

Enjoy the view!

wedding anniversary photos

Daniel and Serena married a year ago May 12th at the Deep Creek Range in Paradise valley. I got a call from Daniel on Friday last week and he was looking for a photographer to meet him at the venue on the anniversary of their wedding and surprise his 7 month pregnant wife with a photo session!

Of course, I was all in for such a surprise. Daniel and I chose a time in the morning on this Mother’s Day. As I had hoped the sun was warming and bright yet a bit softened by very light clouds in the area. It made for the perfect environment for this beautiful celebration.

Portraits, women, yoga and horses

Portrait: A Glimpse of the Soul

Making portraits is very personal to me. There is no crowd of people, nor grand wedding event in the process. In this case, it’s just me and the yogini, a gorgeous horse and our amazing Wranglers, Molly and Henry Glenn. I love the experience, it’s subtle and moving to me on a soul level. Perhaps it’s a lot like yoga for this photographer’s brain and soul.

Today I sat down and reviewed portraits of the ladies of Big Sky Yoga Reteats and Cowgirl Yoga from the last two years. These images made me grateful for my profession, the path that I have both chose and was led to in this life! Spring is right around the corner and I am looking forward to meeting and photographing many new friends!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Portraits in Paradise

Saturday, I had the pleasure of shooting with a young lady that left Montana at the young age of 14 to study ballet abroad. She is now an amazing professional ballet dancer who lives in London and performs all over the world. Maria Sascha Khan, an extraordinary woman and multi talented being! Maria and I spent a little time on the phone to talk about the vision of the project and agreed on the shoot date. Fortunately when the day came, it was sunny, relatively warm and gorgeous. We started in the Paradise valley and then headed south to visit a ranch in Mill Creek. The final location was a little school house near the border of Yellowstone Park where she attended grade school. The final images were taken in the last few moments of light on the porch of the school, now the home of a kind couple that allowed us to make photos on their property.

It was a wonderful experience. Such a treat! And, my applause and many thanks to Maria’s mother Teresa Khan MacKay who brought her styling skills and intuition to the table and younger brother Master Nicholas MacKay for all the support, creative input and moving image capture. Such a great team. I hope to work with them all again soon.

enjoy the view!

Nicholas shot video and stills and was an excellent creative co-director

Meet Leo my new friend the French Bulldog. He is quite famous on instagram. Check out and follow the adventures of “Theatre_Dog”

A Montana bride’s photo session

Two weeks before the wedding

Ok, so… let’s take a step back two weeks before Ms. Marta’s September 4th wedding. Now, let me tell you, Marta is a southern Belle and she had her heart set on a bridal portrait session that would drop the jaws of her family and friends. Soooooo, ‘Bride to be’ Marta and her good friend Brianna met me at the Yellowstone Valley Lodge for an evening bridal portrait session… sans ‘husband to be’. It was a gorgeous evening. The bouquet had been forgotten back in Livingston and we had precious little time to fetch the bouquet. While the btb readied her self, I drove up and down Hwy 89 until I spotted some nice looking wildflowers, grabbed a handful and raced back. Brianna fashioned them into a fitting bouquet.

All that to say, sit back and check out these amazing moments in Paradise Valley. I love these images. Oh yeah… and I forgot to mention that she found this antique slip for some really special photos.