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Paradise Valley in Gold

In the course of a year there is rarely a day when the Paradise Valley is not spectacular! Whether it’s the freezing temperatures of the dead of winter, a rainy day in spring or even when the smoke of a fire far away puts a golden filter on everything. On this day it was a bit smokey with a late afternoon sun.

This couple brought their own brightness to the valley and nature shown kindly upon them. The wedding is coming right up in August in a high mountain valley near Big Sky. I can’t wait!

And… after we had said goodbye and I started my drive up the valley, the entire sky began to light up! I pulled over immediately, grabbed my camera and trotted out to the highway in hopes that my clients were following the same route. Soon they came rolling up and I waved them over to capture this most amazing sunset! SWEET! I love it when that happens! Magic!!! I can’t wait to see what their wedding day will bring!!!

Yellowstone Proposal in July

This cover shot depicts how photographing a surprise proposal often plays out! The valiant partner is already on one knee while the other has got the camera stuck to her face in amazement capturing images of the magnitude of this huge water fall! In this case, with some quick navigation skills I jockeyed my way into position around the small group that has gathered to see the falls.

Tanner reached out to me many months ago to begin the process of planning his big surprise in Yellowstone Park. On the day of, there was a little confusion regarding the exact location, but thank God for adequate preparation and planning, excellent maps and some sly text messaging. Fortunately we connected before I got to deep into Yellowstone, as the cell service in the Park is sketchy at best. The end result was she said ‘YES!’ and they were a very happy, happy couple.

She had visited Yellowstone when she was young and she wanted to have some images in a place that her father had taken her to. So, off we went to the LaMar Valley to finish up the photo collection.

Congratulations to this newly engaged couple!

And then… the wedding!

Such a wonderful summer of weddings, surprise proposals, sunny warm days and time by the river at the magnificent 320 Guest Ranch!

It was an honor to photograph for this couple and their families. Thanks to my famously talented friend Carlie Breen Auger for shooting with me on this momentous wedding day! Carlie, I could not have done it without you!!!

I was happy to set my feet on the ground at the 320 Guest Ranch and do what I love to do! The crew at the ranch made us all feel like we were right at home!!!

Mother and Daughter portraits

Being a father of two daughters made this photo shoot especially enjoyable.

My good friend Margaret (and partner in many photographic escapades) asked me to photograph she and her college bound daughter Morgane. Of course I was ‘all about’ that and we made plans for an evening above the Yellowstone River near my home.

The light was fantastic, the river was full and rolling through the valley below as the mountains filled the entire eastern view of Paradise Valley. Picturesque??? You bet! Enjoy the view…

Margaret is a highly proficient yoga practitioner and teacher who created a yoga retreat that takes yoginis all over the globe … a yogini for sure! I have been honored to work with Margaret for a couple of decades capturing many yoga retreats and meeting hundreds of wonderful souls. However on this day, I was capturing Margaret and her daughter Morgane who is taking off to college in the months to come.

Morgane grabbed onto one of my cameras and in an instant the tables were turned. She handled my Nikon D like a pro!

Cheers to Morgane! ‘You go’ young lady and create the life of your dreams. With best wishes, warm regards and many fun memories. Larry, Heather and all the Stanley family.

Rainbow light proposal

It was a surprisingly brilliant morning after some snowfall the night before in Yellowstone National Park. As I entered the north entrance and headed into the higher altitudes en route to the falls, the roads were slick with a frosty covering and the peaks had a fresh white highlight as the sun made it’s way over the ridge.

My clients arrived soon and the big surprise was about to unfold. I was in position, posed as another tourist dude with a camera. As the couple were nearing the edge of the overlook, the lady who was about to get the surprise of her life, looked right at me and held her phone out, and asked ‘say, would you mind taking some pictures of us?’. I was about to respond with ‘sure’ and started to approach them with my camera dangling from my hand, with wrist strap secure. Just then the gentleman called her back and brought her face to face with him and proceeded to take a knee. The camera phone remained in her hand and the other hand raised to her face in shock and immense joy! It was an amazingly beautiful moment as I banged away capturing all of the excitement and emotion. Truly a surprise… shock and awe proposal!

Afterwards, we had a good laugh about it as we ventured off to other places in Yellowstone. We headed south from the falls to one of the highest places in the park that you can drive to, above Yellowstone Lake, stopping here and there making some historic images, capturing the early days of a their life together.

We ended up here on the shore of Yellowstone Lake where the winds had blown ice off of the lake onto the shore line creating a 7 foot tall iceberg! It didn’t take much to get them to climb up for a cool, COLD photo!