The Tanager Blog

Adam Huggins (below) is one of my best friends. We’ve known each other since our freshman year in college, and we really shouldn’t be friends anymore. Nothing personal. It’s just that freshman year was the only time in our lives that we lived near each other. He transferred to Wake Forest, and has lived in Birmingham, Richmond and now Nashville. Friendships normally don’t survive that, even in the era of Facebook. For God’s sakes: we were 18 the one time we hung out consistently.

I’m not bragging or trying to suggest that our friendship is made of brawn and steel. It is what it is. But somehow it’s stayed relevant and significant for both of us over the years (of course, a 72-hour trip to Hawaii to see U2 in 2006 — his idea, not mine — helped keep the glory days going).

So Adam is finally getting on with his life: he just finished his nine grueling years of med school and residency and is now a doctor — which means I expect to fly on his private jet to Ketchum, Idaho in the near future — and he met a wonderful girl, Tess, and married her in mid-August. Hailey and I flew up to Boise and drove to Ketchum for a spectacular four-day weekend to be a part of the festivities. Adam asked that I be one of his groomsman.

So as a wedding gift, we offered to photograph the rehearsal dinner, and these are some of those pictures. Adam was alright with it (he was hoping we’d get him a set of bamboo table runners from Crate + Barrel) as long as we enjoyed the evening at the same time.

First off, Ketchum is a gorgeous little town. It’s a special place for Tess, having lived there after college, and the way they did this wedding was perfect. They rented a big house for multiple families to stay in for the week, and then the backyard doubled as the ceremony and reception venue.

After we went through our ceremonial paces, everyone piled into a school bus for a one-hour ride north to the Galena Lodge for the rehearsal dinner. In the early evening light we passed through Hemingway’s country in all its glory — braided rivers, dense willows, robust pines and rolling mountains. Classic Idaho.

The Galena Lodge is a magnificent property. They ran carriage rides to the nearby ghost town on the hour, and the catering was pretty damn good.

Here are some images from the evening.

Adam’s Dad is also a doctor, and he gave a very moving toast to his son just before dinner. On a personal note, getting to know Adam’s family better was the highlight of the trip for me. Such a warm, kind, compassionate and generous group of people.

So as us groomsmen were standing around waiting for the ceremony to begin the next day, Adam brings up that he has an extra ticket to the U2 show, opening night, in Chicago, in early September. His friend Neil has to take a rain check and “it’s yours if you want it.”

“Thanks man,” I say. “Let me see what’s going on and crunch some numbers and see if I can make it work.”

This being Adam, yours if you want it quickly morphed into you’re coming, it’s been decided for you.

At the end of the night as we were saying our goodbyes and wishing the newlyweds the best, Adam shook my hand and said “I’ll see you in Chicago.” That’s Adam.

<<More on the Chicago trip in another post, but you can view video I shot of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” on my Flickr page.>>

Well, I’m back. Been a long while since I’ve blogged, in part because of how busy things have been at work, plus, my Canon 40D needed to go into the shop, so I’ve been on a bit of a shooting haitus. And I’m not talking about a three-day stint at Metro Camera Service in Englewood for a sensor cleaning. I had to ship it to Canon’s Main Service Branch in California to have the shutter mechanism fixed. So, all is better now, as these test shots of cabernet grapes and backyard carrots indicate. However, the situation pushed me off the fence on acquiring a new camera, and so, this Wednesday, according to UPS, I’ll be getting a Canon 5D Mark II as my main ax. The 40D, loyal soldier from trips to Italy and Mexico, will still serve me, but as the backup and as Hailey’s camera, too.

So, just to update things, I thought I’d get these pics of our bumper crop online. Hailey faithfully tended to a veggie garden this year, and along with cherry tomatoes, rosemary, oregano and jalapenos, we had great success with carrots from seed. On Saturday, we pulled 50 out of the ground, and only stopped because we didn’t want them wilting in our fridge. Best to keep the last 50 or so in the ground and harvest them for Thanksgiving. And yes, we recommend washing them before cooking them. Less gritty that way.

In late August, we hosted Hailey’s brother and sister-in-law, Jason and Ali, for a few nights. They live in Richmond, Virginia, and they visit roughly once a year now that Hailey’s parents live in Boulder. You know me and my pet portrait projects — while they were here, I asked them to pose for some photos in front of the white backdrop. Something playful and childish … like blowing bubbles. Why? Because we’re working on a series of white seamless portraits for the nursery.

That’s right: Hailey and I are having a baby. March 4 is the due date, and we’re determined to have the little one surrounded by our loved ones every night.

Uncle Jason and Aunt Ali are naturally playful (heck, we even bought the bubbles at the grocery store on the way home from putt-putt golf).

The bubble gun came with a blue hippopotamus-type creature who exclaims “bubbles make me silly!” when you squeeze its stomach. This provided a good ten minutes worth of laughs from Jason.

Right now Hailey is beginning to show and the baby is making a few moves of its own. In 10 days, we find out if it is a boy or a girl. It gets more and more real with each passing day. I’ll do my best to make sure this doesn’t become a baby blog, but rest assured, this will be one of the most photographed kids in history.

We’ll be seeing Jason and Ali again for Christmas in Richmond, along with Hailey’s parents, her grandmother and her aunt and family. Should be an extra joyous occasion this year.

And here is the final set from Jacqie and Ken’s wedding. You can see parts 1 and 2 here. We did portraits at the church and then moved to their reception at The Ridge at Castle Pines North. Beautiful spot.

Congratulations to both of them. It was an honor to photograph their wedding … here’s to many happy years to come.

(Click on each image for a larger view)

Jacqie and Ken were married on August 12 in Castle Rock. Here is part 2, with images from the ceremony and immediately after.

At my wedding, my brother’s words to me before walking down the aisle were “on occasions like this, there’s no difference between the sacred and the profane.” Things don’t go perfectly, and that’s part of the fun. I love the spontaneity of shooting a wedding, and the pictures above capture one of those moments. During the ceremony, a bridesmaid’s hair clip got caught in the maid of honor’s veil. It brought a few chuckles in the front pew, and a round of smiles from Jacqie and Ken.

I’ll have more portraits and images from the reception later this week.

Jacqie and Ken got married on August 12th in Castle Rock, and Hailey and I were honored to be their photographers. You may remember their engagement setting at Confluence Park back in March. At that time, it was clear these two were meant for each other. Both were easy going, funny, and full of laughs, and amazingly enough, that’s exactly how they were on their wedding day, too.

Here are images from before the ceremony. I’ll devote posts in the coming days to the service, portraits and reception.

As with all of my posts, you can view a larger version by clicking on each image … especially handy for the huge bridesmaid collage I have below.

Ah, summer. You roll in all seductive and lazy in early June and spoil us with rain, greenery, bursts of sunlight and the desire to barbecue everything in sight. You treat us well, and then seemingly overnight you abandon us to the moodiness of fall. We didn’t know what we had until we lost you.

Summer’s end is certainly weighing heavily on me these days. Not that I can’t handle the cold — it’s that I can’t handle the torrid pace of life. September: it’s next week. My God.

It’s been a snap-happy time for me and my shutter release. There was the trip to Steamboat Springs for the Balloon Rodeo, the remarkable reunion of the Reitzugs, a portrait session with Michaelanne Dehner, and three weddings (only one of which I’ve had time to post just yet). In the midst of it all, I managed to go backpacking zero times. I’m fairly certain I won’t even get a chance next summer either, but “woah is me.” I live in Colorado, one of the world’s most beautiful places, and I’m healthy and so is Hailey, and the future: oh, it couldn’t be brighter.

So, without more rambling, here are summer’s loose ends of photographs — little spare bits that didn’t quite fit into the story line of any blog posts, whether past or future. At the top, glacier lilies near Buffalo Pass. In early July, I went hiking with Tim Lamberton (below right) and bagged my 21st wilderness area — the midway point to bagging all of them in Colorado.

At left is me at my favorite place in Colorado — Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. We stopped there en route to New Mexico for the family reunion. My cousin Nick, his wife Guilia and their adorable son Lorenzo (below) paid us a visit for a few days before hand, and since they were coming from Rome, well, how could you not see the Great Sand Dunes? We had to go, and Lorenzo had to fulfill his playing-in-the-muck quotient for this trip to America.

Once in New Mexico, we did countless things — among them the ambitious white seamless project, but we also did a half-day bug hunt with the fourth generation. That’s my nephew Isaiah (below right), pointing at the grasshoppers. The Nuggets jersey? His favorite piece of clothing. He doesn’t know who the Denver Nuggets are, let alone the first thing about basketball. He loves it because his favorite food is chicken nuggets. I love that boy.

And finally, a few golf shots from our recent trip to Idaho for Adam Huggins’ wedding. That’s Adam (below left), teeing up on the eighth at Sun Valley’s amazing golf course.

The views from the course — like this one from the second tee — were astounding. I love Idaho. Plan to go back when we have kids.

And as for golf course photography … yeah, I could definitely get into that.

Thanks for letting me have an indulgent and aimless blog post. Coming up: more from Adam and Tess’ wedding, a trash the dress shoot with Jodi and John, and a whole slew of great shots from Jacqie and Ken’s wedding.

(Click on each photo for a larger version)

Last week I was able to get a post up on my Mom’s amazing family, The Reitzugs — mainly, generations 1 and 2. Well, they’re back on the blog, this time, generations 3 (which I belong to) and 4. Rather than try to make sense of this massive family tree, I’ll just do this.

ABOVE: Elsa, daughter of my cousin Holly Rydel … I think I’ll entitle this sequence After Effects of a Blue Raspberry Lollipop.

ABOVE: Aidan, Jimmy and Nick Reitzug, sons of the oldest cousin in my generation, Joe Reitzug and his wife Stephanie.

ABOVE: Mark, Peter and Damian, three of the four Leonard boys (their brother Andrew, couldn’t make it to the reunion due to his house selling). As you can probably note from their choice in sunglass styles, they’re all outdoor-active types. Mark and Peter schooled me in soccer on the final night and they were, um … well, my teammates.

ABOVE: Mr. Andrew Gunnison Day. My nephew, my bud, and popular star of such previous blog posts as Us Kids Know and Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitchers.

ABOVE: Byron Lillie and Kate Balerud. Kate took the 40D from me at the tail end of the photo shoot and did a sequence of shots of Hailey and I jumping in the air in front of the white backdrop. Through no fault of Kate’s, they will not be posted on this blog. Let’s just say that I look like a complete bozo.

ABOVE: Alex Reitzug, son of Aunt Maria, trampoline extraordinaire and a fellow photog.

ABOVE: Isaiah and Jeremiah Day, my nephews. See also Us Kids Know and Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitchers.

ABOVE: Amy Bierman and Randy Rydel (left); Rebecca Reitzug (right). Amy and Randy are roughly the same age as Hailey and I, and we spent a good deal of time hanging out with them at the reunion, including two memorable meals in downtown Santa Fe. I also got to know Rebecca better this go around … we’re about 10 years apart, but with each reunion, those age gaps matter less.

ABOVE: Quinlan and her mom, Mary Beth TeSelle. At left, Quinlan is showing off her fabulous Fourth-of-July-themed rub-on tattoo.

ABOVE: Nick and Guilia Reitzug with their son Lorenzo (left); Stela Reitzug (right). Nick and Guilia live in Rome, and were kind enough to host us for a few nights when we visited last year. This year, we got a chance to reciprocate in Denver, and carpool down to the reunion in New Mexico (with a stop at the Great Sand Dunes). My cousin Stela is headed to Kosovo right now for missionary work. She’s originally from Albania, so the trip is holding great significance for her.

ABOVE: Elsa with her grandpa Mat (left); my mom Angie with her oldest brother Henry (right). OK, so this isn’t generations 3 and 4 as promised, but I had to include them because they are two of my absolute favorite shots. If you are wondering where my preoccupation with cameras comes from, look no further than the ‘Zugs.

And finally, I have to include a shot Hailey took of me with my mom Angie and brother Ben. Dad had to return to Denver the day before, so we’ll have to do a reshoot to get the true family portrait.

As soon as the family book and family tree are done, you know me, I’ll get another blog post up. I loved this gig, and am looking forward to shooting more family reunions, especially with the white backdrop.

Contact me if I can offer this service at one of your own family reunions.

(For a larger view of each photo, click on the image)

I’m finally getting around to posting images from a very personal project I did over the Fourth of July weekend, something that had been a year in the making. Hailey and I were in Los Alamos, New Mexico for the Reitzug Family Reunion, a once-every-threeish years kinda event that centers on my mom’s incredible family of 8 siblings (she has three sisters and four brothers) plus all their kids, grandkids and now great-grandkids.

The Reitzugs, in many ways, are a classic American story — a family of German immigrants who sought opportunity in Indiana in the 1950s. My grandparents endured WWII in East Prussia, as well as the economic difficulties immediately after in West Germany where they settled. Knowing this backstory — and seeing where the family is today — is part of what makes these reunions so extraordinary.

This family never ceases to amaze and humble me with their togetherness, their charm, their love and their deep friendship with one another. I’ve oriented this post on the siblings, the eight children of Nikolaus and Elisabeth Reitzug, my grandparents. My next post will open it up to the fun and shenanigans we had with my cousins and their kids.

Above is my Uncle Mat (left), my Omi (center) and Uncle Rick (right).

This is Omi, my loving and kind grandmother. As I schemed out this portrait project over the last few months, this image of her was exactly what I was hoping for. A portrait of the Reitzug spirit — confident, charming, fun loving, good natured and compassionate. When it was Omi’s turn to step in front of the white seamless backdrop, she hammed it up a bit and gave me that smile she’s known for. This was about midway into the shoot, and by then nearly the entire family was gathering around to watch, laugh with and tease one another. It truly lightened the mood and made for an unconventional family portrait session.

Above are the two oldest siblings, my Uncle Henry (in the left photo) and Aunt Monika (in the right photo) with their spouses, Anne and Ed, respectively. Henry is my godfather and did a reading at our wedding. He’s an incredible individual who has volunteered with Northwest Medical Team, an organization that does similar work as Doctors Without Borders. Last summer he was in Darfur for a few weeks.

Monika and Ed live in Massachusetts and have four amazing sons spread out around the world. You’ll see a great shot of three of them in the next post.

Above left is my mom, Angelika, with my brother Ben. At right is my Uncle Rick with his wife Mary. Rick is a professor and is a passionate advocate for the rebuilding of New Orleans. He’s made several trips down there to volunteer in the clean up and rebuilding efforts.

Continuing down the line we have my Uncle Mat (left, with his wife Connie) and our reunion hosts, my Aunt Maria and her husband Bill. Both Mat and Maria were frequent visitors in Denver when I was growing up, so its always fun to reconnect with them at these events. Maria’s oldest son Alex is also a passionate photographer and he spent a weekend with Hailey and I in 2008.

Also last year, when Hailey and I went to Seattle, we were able to have dinner with Mat and Connie one night. They’re an extraordinary couple: two people you could chat with for hours. At this reunion, we dined out again with them, this time with their son Randy and his wife Amy, as well as Peter, one of Monika’s sons (are you confused yet? That’s really my goal). It was an epic two-hour dinner at my favorite place in Santa Fe, Cafe Pasqual. Look it up if you’re ever down there.

Moving along, the seventh sibling is Marcy, pictured here with her husband Gustavo and son Jacob. Gustavo is Ecuadorian, and at the last reunion, he gave us some perspective on the country we were about to visit in spring. This go around, we let him know how that trip went. I haven’t blogged much about Ecuador, mostly because I set the blog up more than a year later. It’s where we photographed the tanagers. Anyhow, Gustavo is always the star during the traditional Reitzug Reunion soccer game, although this year (sorry Gustavo) he might have been shown up by my cousin Stela. (Once again, are you keeping track of all these names?).

Finally, there is my Uncle Chris, the youngest in the family. He’s pictured above with his daughter Emily, and at right is his wife Sherri and their son Zach. I love that shot of them. For some perspective, Chris is a year older than my Uncle Henry’s oldest son Joe. There are pictures of the two of them, uncle and nephew, playing in the sandbox together. Again, I know that this must be confusing … all the more reason to do this kind of project and bundle it into an interactive family tree so that it makes sense. Not that I’m promoting a new product from the folks at Tanager Photography and HeyDay Creative or anything—

Chris deserves a huge thank you. On Saturday evening, his last evening at the reunion, he asked if I was going to set up my photo booth and do this project. I’d been on the fence about it all night — people were all spread out, and the kids were all ecstatic at the pile of Legos Maria had provided at her house. Bottom line, I didn’t want to bother people and I was psyching my self out. The whole project seemed overwhelming, and I was having too much fun just conversing with folks.

But Chris and Amy (my sister-in-law) gave me a nudge and offered to help set up and wrangle people together. It got the project off the ground, and I was able to photograph the few people leaving the next day. On Sunday morning, after that initial ice-breaker, I set up the studio all over again and everything just clicked. Most of the images in this blog and the next post occured in a one hour span before church.

So an enormous thank you to Chris and Amy for the big nudge to get going on this project. And a huge thank you to the entire Reitzug clan for diving head first into it. I really appreciate it, and hopefully, when the family tree and bound photo book is all done in the autumn, the Reitzug family will, too.