Last weekend, I was able to put those training wheels aside and be the lead for a beautiful wedding in Ft. Collins. Karina and Rich celebrated their vows in front of family and friends under blue but sometimes threatening rain skies. Rich who is in the Army at Ft. Carson had just returned from being overseas. In his dressed uniform, Rich looked striking watching his bride walk with her brother, who is also in the Army.

My photography services were a gift to the Karina and Rich from a family member – and I am so happy that I was able to be part of such a beautiful day!

A few of my favorites:

Thank you Karina and Rich for letting me photograph your wonderful day –

Your Life Photographer –
Susan B.

When you get the chance to work with an aspiring model – life and all around it falls into place.

Rae, a Legend High School Junior is just that person. She is currently signed with a local modeling agency and spends many weekends learning the skills and knowledge of being a model. When I offered a free photography session to the Legend Titan Band Silent Auction, Rae’s parents quickly out-bid everyone and won the session for Rae.

After school exams and waiting for some nice weather, I worked with Rae and her portfolio session. I love working with teens – and the excitement they are in when it comes to their Senior Session. It’s one of those many little items on their check-list that says “I’m a Senior, almost done!” When working with Seniors or teens, putting them into comfortable poses is part of the job. But when you work with a model, the game changes a little and placing them into poses isn’t required, because they basically know where to stand.

When posing a person, as a photographer, I have taken many workshops, classes, tutorials on how to make the subject look good in their photograph. Showing the curves in a woman, or the masculine parts in a man, there are tricks to achieving these looks and I work on them all the time when photographing any client. But when it came to working with Rae, I would ask her “ever hear of the ‘S’ pose?” and she would go right into it. Something she’s been taught as well as I have on how to make the photograph look amazing.

Rae was an amazing person to work with. She never said no to anything I suggested (sitting on a chair, upside down in a field of weeds) and was up for anything (posing near rock fountains getting soaked) and for that she had an awesome session.

Want to see more? I made a video of her best photos –

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thank you Rae – I wish you the best in your career and am proud to help be a part of it!

Your Life Photographer
Susan B.

So the night before he leaves for the Army, we gathered at one of our weekly hang-out spots… where Kyle and my children attend Boyscouts (Go Troop 88!). Yes, my daughter is a Venture. What is a Venture? Venturing is a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women who are between the ages of 14 and 21. Venturing’s purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Kyle and his family have become very close to our family and Kyle was close friends with Jennifer being a part of Ventures together.

Kyle, his sister, brother and parents came out to the Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church (PEPC), where we walked up onto the hillside and captured some great family photos –

And I always insist that if a mother is present during a family photo session – there has to be a kiss. It makes the Seniors giggle, a bit skirmish, but all the mom’s appreciate it. Most of the time it’s the Senior / Child that gives mom a kiss, but at this point in the session, Kyle’s allergies had kicked in and Mom was in tears as well so a close tight hug made the cut.

Kyle is doing well at Bootcamp right now, we have received letters from him already – and we know he’ll do fine as he learns the ways of the military. We wish him the best –

Your Life Photographer –
Susan B.

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”

– Roger Caras

When it comes to the family pets and photography – I say “The more the merrier!”

As a family of 4 who just put down our 2nd pet today and our 1st was 2 months almost to the day – thoughts that have been scrambling through my mind lately have been along the line “we should have done a family portrait”.

When Abby our princess Cocker-Spaniel became ill over the weekend in May, there wasn’t enough time to muster up a family photograph. She became ill within hours and moving her was not possible. I did instantly think of a few local photographers who have a love for dogs as we do that would come over within minutes to help us out… but the idea of knowing why we were taking this photo made this extremely hard on our family when we were still having problems with letting her go in the first place. So knowing we were within hours of losing her, I asked our daughter Jennifer to pose with Abby and it just became too hard for either one of us to follow through. We made Abby comfortable and we took some shots, but Jennifer was in tears and for days after-wards I kept wishing that we had done this much earlier when the dogs were healthy.

After Abby left us, we talked about doing a family portrait again but with Shadow, our loving Labrador. I nixed this idea within minutes because I didn’t think it was fair because Abby wasn’t with us. And for those who have pets, you know you just can’t do this. So once again, another family opportunity with the pet that wags their tail when we walk in the door, barks to protect us from the pizza man and loves to chase a ball and make us laugh – gone.

What made this hard on us – was we knew Shadow was going to leave us soon. She had actually been sick for a much longer time then Abby and so were preparing for Shadow to go and was blind sided by Abby’s sudden death. So when we knew this week that we couldn’t let her suffer anymore, I had our son Dustin go out with me and take some pictures with her one last time.

We were able to get some quick shots in, Shadow the over-eager dog wanting to get her bark in… and when going through photos of Abby, the first time in months – I’m glad I was able to get the photos we needed for memories, but sad that we never had our family portrait with them… Shadow had been with us for 9 years, Abby for 5, they were our family.

So when it comes to your next family portrait – don’t forget the family pet. Remember… they are family and you may never know when the next great opportunity will be to have them be a part of the family photo. Just let me know you want them to tag along and I’ll accommodate and pick pet friendly places for our location. All family pet session’s with Susan B. – will have 10% of print orders sales donated to the Dumb Friends League located in Denver.

Your Life Photographer –
Susan B.

Sable and Molly – we miss you Sable.
Abby’s photo – taken by Jennifer B.
Shadow’s photo – Susan B.

Book now by June 30th and if you purchase from the Longs Peak Collection (a value of $450.00) receive 8 more wallets (64 total), 7 5×7′s and 4 web sized images for your Facebook / MySpace page. On the Mount Evans Collection (a value of $650.00) receive 16 more wallet photos (112 total), 16 5×7′s and 8 web sized images for your Facebook / MySpace page. Gray’s Peak Collection (a value of $950.00) – more and more wallets – 16 additional wallets! (136 total), 20 5×7′s, 4 extra pages on the coffee table album, 15 web sized images for your Facebook / MySpace page. Book your collection now!

Is your school listed? If so – be the 1st from your school to be photographed with Susan B and the CLASS of 2011 COLORADO HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS!

Castle View High School
Chaparral High School – ANNE!!
Douglas County High School
Highlands Ranch High School
Mountain Vista High School
Ponderosa High School
Rock Canyon High School
Thunder Ridge High School

Elbert County Comprehensive High School

Englewood High School

Sherdian High School

Aurora Central
Gateway
Hinkley
Rangeview

Cherokee Trail High School
Cherry Creek High School
Cherry Creek P.R.E.P. High School
Eaglecrest High School
Grandview High School
Overland High School
Smoky Hill High School

Arapahoe High School
Heritage High School
Littleton High School
Options High School

Coronado High School
Doherty High School
Mitchell High School
Palmer High School
Wasson High School

Not listed? Let’s add you now!!

Being a part of OpLove has been very humbling to me. I am former military, I was a military wife, I’ve been through the long deployments, it’s not easy, and it’s not easy when your spouse is at war. So after having a beautiful session with Natasha the day before, ready to enjoy my Memorial Weekend with the family… early Sunday morning I check my email and find a message from Tasha, “He’s coming home, can you photograph his arrival?” With a quick approval from the family, I called her back and said “YES!”.

I have to laugh at this part, because when I called Tasha, she was in the middle of cleaning the car. I remember this all so well. We, as military wives, have what seems like forever to clean the house, wash the car, keep our lives functioning while our husband is deployed… it really does feel like forever, but when you get word that he’s coming home, all of sudden – NOTHING IS DONE! And the time between you finding out he’s coming home to his actual arrival is so short. Thisshort. No space. No time! So it becomes this mad rush to get the house tidy, the car cleaned, the KIDS CLEANED! It’s worth the chaos, but it can be comical sometimes.

So she gives me the details of his arrival and tells me where I need to be and when. She’s concerned that it’s late at night, around 9pm and I’m fine with that. It’s a holiday, I can sleep in on Monday. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. My day seems to drag, but I’m sure on her end, with also the arrival of her in-laws, there just wasn’t enough time… then she called me later in the afternoon and said “his flight was delayed to 11pm, can I still photograph the event?” I’m thinking, I’m really going to get to sleep in!

I arrive to Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs late in the evening and walk into the Rec Center to where they will arrive. The Rec. Center is crowded with bleachers with other families waiting for their loved ones return. I meet Tasha and her adorable daughters and in-laws. We have an hour till her husband’s (Captain Brandon) arrival. I ask how has this deployment been, their first military separation and she thought she had done pretty well. She kept busy with the girls and was active with other wives on the base. I talked with the girls and asked what the first words would they say to daddy, and there was no thinking on this “I Love You Daddy!”

Then at 11:00, the music “I’m Proud to be an American” starts to play – and the crowd goes wild. Minutes later, an officer walks out alone and walks to the center of the room and the crowd goes even crazier with screams and shouts. I’m told that this is the Commanding Officer of the group and so we know they are here… and seconds later with a puff of fog, rows and rows and rows of our finest military marched into the room. Trying to capture Tasha, the Girls and the in-laws and get the military walking in is just amazing, even through my own tears.

Waiting for Daddy to arrive – it’s 10:30 pm, well past the girls bedtime – so a power nap was in order.

Waiting for the military to arrive – the song ‘I’m Proud to be an American’ had just played, it was time to open the doors…
the buses had dropped them off, they were on the other side, they were lining up in information

and with a wooosh of fog – the doors open and a stream of 4 lines – in formation they marched through the doors..

Mom was really cool all up to that moment. She told me later that she kept thinking she was taking it ok, but the minute the doors open – and she saw him walk in, she teared up… and then so did I.

When the military saluted – so did the little one.

And there he was. How he was able to maintain that cool look seeing his family across the stands…

The Commanding Officer with the troops

Grandpa, Grandma and the oldest looking on at daddy.

Daddy is home!

Welcome home Brandon – I am so happy that you came home safe and thank you for your service to our country.

Tasha – thank you for letting me photograph your wonderful moment.

Your Life Photographer -
Susan B.

Natasha brought some photos of her husband Alex who is deployed at this time. Getting Lil’ A to show me the picture was a challenge – but we got it!

Natasha brought along some boots, and we put her dog tags that has Alex and Natasha’s wedding anniversary and love notes that say “Will Wait” and “True Love” on them…

And another picture of Alex – Thank you Alex for all that you do! I salute you!

Recently I was thinking of what I could add special to my Senior packages that would make your year a little more memorable. I thought about my own Senior session, and it reminded me of my family photo session. A part of my package, I was offered one mini-session with my family that gave us 1 free 8×10 photo from that session. A few months later after I had my personal photos taken, my family went back to the photographer, he posed us in about 3 spots in his ‘outdoor/indoor’ studio (it looked outdoors – but we were indoors) and we were done.

Laugh at my family photo if you will (Hey, I have!) – but it’s the only professional picture I have of my dad. I laugh at the glasses – these weren’t our frames, we borrowed them from the photographer because during that time getting the flare off the glass was nearly impossible so he gave us frames that closely matched up to our own frames without glass in them. They told us to match closely in color with our clothes, my dad wore very neutral colors so we basically dressed around him.

This is one of my most cherished photos of my family, and like I said, one of the very few photos of my father, let alone professional photos of my father – and I would like to offer this to you, Seniors of Susan B. Photography, to have your family photo taken before you graduate from school. A treasured photo for years to come.

Lindsey selected a 5×7 card that was front and back. We selected some of her favorite photos from her recent photo session, she gave me her school colors for Chaparral, and her mom supplied me a photo of Lindsey when she was younger (still cute as ever!) and the time and date for her open house. This was printed on pearl, which gave it a metallic / shiny effect card, supplied with return printed address envelopes.

Kyle selected a 5×4 card that folded. We once again selected some of his favorite photos from his Senior photo session. The black and white large photo was his Senior photo used for his year-book, added with time and date for his open house. This was printed on glossy paper, supplied with envelopes.

Interested in other products?
Other items in the Susan B. line are:
Photo Albums in a variety sizes
Prints in a variety sizes
Cards for any occasion
Canvas prints in a variety sizes (coming soon – ask for details!)

Would you like to be a featured Senior? Book Your Session Now!

If you have been a long time follower of Susan B. Photography, some of you saw the photos I posted of my sister, her daughter and husband who was just months away from being deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months. It was this organization that I recommended my sister to get in touch with a photographer in Texas to have their photos done, that she decided that she wanted me to photograph their memories.

So I was excited to become a part of this great organization as of lately. I believe in supporting our military, and if I can help out by photographing a family for a love one who is over-seas, then I feel that I have brought the family a little closer together and help the gap of missing our loved-ones with images.

Last Saturday, I met Jasmine and her adorable 1 year old son ‘Lil Z (name protected online). ‘Lil Z was just roaring to go once he was where we decided to have his photo session – in an open field, with a running brook, stepping stones, waterfalls, bridges, the works. Everywhere was something to point at, pick up, pull at and had to be touched with his tiny little hands.

Jasmine’s husband is currently serving with the Army from Ft. Carson, Colorado. Jasmine and Lil ‘Z were so much fun – open for anything when it came to photo opportunities. I want to thank Jasmine for letting me photograph her and her adorable son, who must be a handful right now in his growing stages! Being able to capture Lil Z’ so that we can send her husband a nice 8×8 book while he’s deployed makes me feel so proud that I’m able to offer a service to our military.

A big thanks to Jasmin’s husband – Willie! Thank you for your service to our country. We are proud.