Wedding St.Louis Missouri

This was the wedding we shot in St.Louis Missouri in October this year. It was great to photograph such a fun couple and wedding party! Congratulations Jon and Gina!

Introducing Tyler!

Photo Class 1

I have been teaching a photo 1+ class here the last 3 weeks and the last 2 weeks have been in the field to hands on training and teaching how to see and use light to their advantage to enhance their images. Here are a few taken from the last week natural light (outside) and from tonight's studio setup (garage) .

-J

Kaitlyn is here photographing Shane experimenting using a reflector and some shade


David and Lea watching and shooting a different angle


heres the set up


Lea is directing Christina on how to turn her head.


here is a close up of Christina being photographed by Lea

Kris Smith High School Senior 2010

We had the pleasure of photographing Kris Smith a high school senior in colorado springs and wanted to do his senior pictures at the Garden of the Gods to show his love for the mountains and nature. Thanks Kris we had a great time photographing you and hope you have a rock'n final year at high school!

-J

junk yard fever!

Natalie works with the camera.

Our little lighting assistant is moving right along and now working with lenses and cameras! good job Buggie!

new lighting assistant!

Natalie has been quite a help on our senior sessions this summer so I thought I would show you guys that child labor is a big deal around here. Natalie's is setting up a light for our next shot. thanks Natalie!

-J

Senior Photography

Here is a sample of some of our seniors from our 2009-2010 season. We can't believe summertime is almost over, we have had so much with all the seniors this summer. Good luck guys and gals as you enter your final year of high school as it does go fast!

-J

Ashton 3 months

We had a pleasure of photographing one of the cutest babies in the world a little bit ago and Ashton was his name. We always love to take on special requests and this time we got to use his beautiful bedroom for a few shots. Thank you Tommy and Heather!

-J

Got Milk??

We recently did a commercial shoot for one of our families, the Fowlers. Carissa and I are both all about cloth diapers and their many benefits for the little ones. Carissa feels so strongly about them that she's created a full length educational DVD for families to learn all about cloth diapers. The DVD is in final stages, and our shoot was to capture a cover image. Her website is still in the finishing stages, but feel free to check it out here. She'll come to see the images this next Monday, so we can't show you the shot yet (3 babies involved!!), but we wanted to share a couple of our Natalie, who we volunteered as another child for the shoot. These were during her "drink break" and were especially cute and funny since we had her in the cow print diaper!!

-L

Chris Carrell Falcon High School ... 2010 GRAD

Chris we had a blast with you on the very long but very rewarding senior shoot. Feel free to share this video with your friends and family to show them a bunch of favorites! Enjoy the rest of summer!

It's a BOY!!

We are so excited to announce that Natalie is having a little brother come November! We had our "Baby Cakes" party last Wednesday after having the big ultrasound earlier that day. The tech sealed the gender in an envelope which we then took to a friend who frosted the middle layer of our baby cake with pink or blue. The outside of the cake was just white, so it wasn't until we cut the cake that we found out it's little Tyler in there!!

-L

Cutting the cake...


Excited reactions around the room...


Our baby cake...

Top 5 Honors for the Fox A-List for Colorado Springs!

We were recently nominated for the Fox A-List of Wedding Photographers for Colorado Springs. We are proud to announce that we came in 4th, all thanks to our fantastic families we have served in our first 3 years here! You can visit the link below to check out the results and see our reviews!

Fox A-List Winners

Twin Lakes Colorado!

We did a wedding a couple weeks ago now in the grand town of Twin Lakes, Colorado and on our way back home Lindsay said "is that a BEAR?" I quickly looked and said YES and stopped the car as fast as a honda civic can stop, jumped out popped the trunk, unzipped my camera bag and pulled out my camera trying to get the right exposure all in about 30 seconds before the bears were spooked enough and chugged their way back to the trees. I wrapped off like 4 or 5 shots and these were the best that I got from the road side.

-J

ps. these are black bears, since colorado does not have grizzly bears yet...

We had the absolute privilege to do the cover photography for Ricky Swuem, an amazing jazz saxophone player who just received his first recording contract under Origin Records! He recently had his first of 3 CD release parties down in Old Colorado City. We had such a great time and so enjoyed meeting his wife, Julie. His music is just great and all original. Check out our video of favorites from his whole session as well as the pictures from the CD release party!

-J & L

Congratulations, Michael & Jenine!!

Michael & Jenine were married June 6th, and we just saw them last night for their cocktail Viewing Party! We had a fantastic time with them and their friends, Dan & DeeDee! Michael & Jenine's wedding was at the Black Forest Bed & Breakfast. It was this perfect, rustic, very Colorado place with the most perfect view of Pikes Peak from their outdoor ceremony site. We absolutely have loved our time with them. They decided to have a special moment just between the two of them before the ceremony which gave us the opportunities to get all these fantastic bride & groom pictures with them off site. We have so many favorites from their day! Enjoy some of our favorites in the slideshow!

-J & L





Colorado Springs Classifieds

Senior 2010!

We just got back from a very fun and very long senior shoot, this is Chris from Falcon High School looking forward to graduation this next year 2010! We had a great time photographing you Chris. Here is a couple of the very last ones of the day.

-J

Arizona Trip

We were able to travel to Tucson to spend some time with family there, and we thought we'd share with you a few favorite images that Jon captured on our trip!

-L

Sunset in Saguaro National Park...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

A big "Happy Father's Day" to all our Dads out there! We are so blessed to know so many of you here in Colorado Springs and into Denver! We hope you all have a wonderful day and know how much you mean to each of your families! A special thank you to our own dads, Bob & Mike, and I want to thank Jon for being such an amazing dad to our Natalie!

-L

Business Expo 2009

We participated in the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at the Phil Long Center in May! This was our second year to participate, and as always, it was a great time to meet other great businesses and people in our community. This year, we expanded and offered professional headshots at our booth to anyone who wanted one. Natalie came with us and was quite the trooper! The Expo lasted from 10 am-6 pm, so it was quite a long day for her to be away from home. It was inevitable that she'd need a nap, and we got creative with a "bed" for her...



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Our booth...


Thanks to everyone who stopped by to visit with us that day! Also, we have joined the Chamber of Commerce and look forward to new opportunities as part of that community!

-J & L

An Announcement!

We wanted to share with all of our fantastic families our news that a new little baby will be arriving to our family around November 20th! We are very excited!! We'll be finding out the gender ahead of the birth this time, so we'll keep you posted in the coming weeks!

American Family @ the Sky Sox game!

Dave Karstens of American Family Insurance and Jonathan Betz Photography host a night at the ball park, the Sky Sox ball park that is. We were in the American Family luxury suite box with all you could eat burgers and brats! We had a great time with Dave and Nancy Karstens and all of you guys who came to enjoy the game with us! If you were thinking about getting a new insurance quote for health, life, car, or your tractor just call Dave at the office and he will be sure to give you a quote for your needs. We have worked with Dave and his staff for a couple years now and really enjoy seeing all the 1st class service they provide to their clients. Give them a call at 719-636-3336 or check out the website at www.davekarstens.com

Thanks again for a great night!

-J

Chad & Christine!

Tomorrow marks the BIGGEST day of their life and we are blessed to take part in it! Thank you guys for trusting us with your memories! See you tomorrow!

-J

Holdeman Family

We had a great time with the Holdeman family for their session! We'd had another spring snow which added such a fun feel for their session! We are so excited to see them again May 16th when we photograph Christine's wedding!

ProFusion for Pro-Photographers

Brad Walters invented this speedlight diffuser for pro-photographers to have a better quality of light when shooting strobes on camera or off. It's very easy to use and makes a huge difference in your light for only weighing in at a mere 2 ounces! Check it out and pick up a couple at the website here I just had my 31st birthday this last week and thanks to Brad I am now the proud owner of a ProFusion!

-J

Danny MacAskill - Artist on Wheels!

This video truly says that if you work hard enough and you are persistent enough you can do what EVER you want to. Watching Danny MacAskill is an inspiration to me to become the best I can be from being a husband, father, business owner, and photographer. I have to raise the bar with my skill,craft and art to be someone better than I thought I could EVER be. I could watch this video 100 times over and it would never get old. A true artist on wheels! cheers to Danny!


-J

New Website is LIVE!

We jumped the gun a few days early and pulled the trigger on the launch of our new website! It's LIVE so go check it out and let us know what you think?

-J

Rowan!

3 months old and little Rowan was the cutest thing to photograph, everything from his tiny toes to his little smile. Cute!

New website coming April 21st!

here's a preview of our new website, stay tuned for the unveiling of our new site!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! This year I got to photograph The Thorn at New Life Church. It's a dramatic play of the life of Jesus.
These are some of the images I took. If you want to see the rest you can see them on my facebook here


-J

Jordan's Senior Pix!

Falcon High School Senior Jordan was a brave soul to bear the 12 degree weather while we did his senior pix. It was SO cold and he was brave enough to go out with only a tee-shirt and jeans on! Jordan also introduced me to free running which is a very extreme way to run and jump off buildings and run up and flip off trees. Thank you Jordan for a great day!

-J

800 person group shot!

This post is more for our professional photographers out there but feel free to check out how this photographer took all the preparation steps to get the shot right the first time and not keeping 800 people waiting. Nicely done!

-J

Colorado Springs Kadets Tennis Team

Norwood Family Portraits!

Hey guys I wanted to thank you for allowing us to photograph your family. We had a wonderful time with you guys and look forward to seeing you all soon! Feel free to share this video with your family and friends.

-J

mr. owen at 9 months old

Here is Owen at 9 months old having a blast in his new home playing in the dining room! We had a blast photographing him, he did so well! When you have a happy kid you can't go wrong with getting great smiles and fun laughter! We love what we do SO much and can't imagine this life with out cameras and photographs.

-J

Keith & Sheryl e-session

Keith & Sheryl saw us at quite a few bridal shows this winter, and it was fun to get to photograph their engagement session! They chose to go to Garden of the Gods, and we had such a great time with them! They are a fun, vibrant couple and will be getting married on the Air Force Academy golf course in June. As you watch their video, you'll be able to tell that all of us just couldn't stop smiling and having a blast the whole time!

-J & L

Professional Photographers Beware!

Professional photographers beware, there is a new cat on the loose and now you must compete with uncle Joe, digital Debbie and now Cooper the cat! I first saw this cat on Animal Planet the other night to see where your cat goes when no one else is around.
It's a cat's eye view on life outside the house! enjoy!

This past Friday I had the chance to volunteer and provide photography for the St.Baldricks Foundation! It is a great organization that focuses on kids who have cancer, the organization is the world's largest 100% volunteer-driven fundraising program for childhood cancer! You can find out more here . Teams, groups and individuals raise and donate money to support the cause and then get their heads shaved bald! There were a team of Colorado Springs photographers who volunteered their time to help make this day great! Ted Mehl another Colorado Springs photographer of A Better Image was the team organizer for the event and it was such a blessing to be able to provide for an organization like this. Thanks for making this a great day and we are looking forward to next year!

-J&L