portraits

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.

marriage and maternity photos

Recently I was speaking with an old friend that I have photographed with over the years and the subject of maternity photos came up. She was all about it! So we put our heads together and agreed to plan something SOON. Well you know how that goes! We all three are busy people, and the ‘soon’ kept creeping away from us. Finally, we stopped our busy lives and made it happen. Sean and Brett met me at my studio for a jam packed hour of photography, and then we switched gears and headed to the river to catch the late evening light on the Yellowstone. Walking out over the rocky shore line, into the water on slippery rocks, with camera in hand was a bit tricky. I know the same was true for my young pregnant friend. Sean was a huge help in the studio and in the water! The experience inspired the desire for more shoots like this, and the images are breath taking! Thank you Brett and Sean… and ‘happy baby’! Enjoy the view.

Studio Portraits and beauty

I had the pleasure of shooting for a beautiful friend and client of 13 years. Brett called a few weeks back and was looking to freshen up her modeling portfolio photos. After many emails back and forth, and a couple of phone calls we put the project into motion. She and her husband Sean came over to the studio on a Saturday and we had a great time burning up 4 solid hours of work. It was the best studio workout I’ve had recently and I loved every minute of it!

After many months of outdoor weddings, engagement photos and surprise proposals in Yellowstone and around Montana it was great to get back into the studio and tap into my years of studio work.

Next please! smiles… Larry

Not only was Sean a tremendous help in the studio, he’s quite the handsome dude!

Yellowstone Proposal in fall colors

This adventure all started with an inquisitive email about 4 weeks ago. Dustin was exploring the possibilities of proposing to his girl friend in Yellowstone Park in October. This time of year housing and other businesses in the park begin to shut down their services. Dustin and Sarah are in residency in the process of becoming Physician Assistants and spending a period of time in Montana studying and practicing in a nearby clinic. Dustin thought it to be the perfect time to surprise Sarah in our country’s first and most magnificent national park. And… that’s exactly what he did.

Dustin had many insightful questions about how this works and what his options were. Then there came the issue of fitting their schedule into mine and also with respect to the quickly changing weather!

Finally last Thursday we nailed down all the details and the plan was put into action. On Saturday I positioned myself unbeknownst to the bride to be, at one of my favorite and spectacular locations and awaited their arrival at the planned time. The viewing platform had a dozen or so people who had made the trek down the steep trail to see the falls up close and personal! When Dustin and Sarah arrived there were 15 or so people milling around and taking pictures of each other in front of the falls. When Dustin saw his chance he coaxed Sarah toward the rail. When he start talking to her closely, everyone on the platform went quiet and watched intently, and when he proposed folks cheered and clapped shouted encouragements with joy! It was crazy good!!!

So the rest of the story and a witness to their love for each other is right here, captured in these photos.

Dustin, thanks for finding me! It was a pleasure to shoot for you two!

Thanks to Dustin for making this image of me…
IN MY HAPPY PLACE!

Paradise Valley spring engagement

Spring weather has been trying to overcome the grip of Montana’s long winter. Some evening are in the 30’s and days have varied from 52 to 85 degrees F. On this day the temps were very comfortable and the breezes ruled every moment of this engagement shoot with this handsome couple. I’ve been working with Mike and Anna to find a good mutual time that worked for us and … the weather. We started talking about a year ago and finally the timing was right for this photo shoot. It wasn’t just ‘right’ it was ‘perfect’ and the photos tell the story of a relationship that has been abiding and growing for 12 years. NOW… the wedding is in the works!!!

Congratulations to Mike and Anna. Enjoy the view of the amazing Paradise Valley on this gorgeous breezy spring day in June.

Oh, and the day would not have been complete without the presence of their wonderful canine companion BO! My new doggie buddy. What a ham!

Couples portraits, Valentine’s day

Valentine’s day portraits are great fun, especially when it’s totally spontaneous! I was hired to shoot for a corporate annual report and I needed a good assistant that was good with people and lighting. So, I called my friend Camden Miller a few days in advance and he was happy to jump in. Camden is a fine young videographer and image maker that I had met a wedding over a year ago. I knew his skills would be a perfect fit and he could add some video content if my client so desired. His only condition was that he could be free at 4 pm to meet his sweetheart for a Valentine’s day date and evening dinner. I said, ‘fine, no problem’, knowing that we would most likely be done by then. If not, I would just be left with the lighting take down and toting the gear to the car. As it turned out that was not the case.

The shoot came off without a hitch and when we were all loaded up, Camden asked if I would stick around a bit and make some images for he and Jessie. So… sure thing! Hence the impromptu mini session in Bozeman, the results of which I absolutely adore. It was 20 minutes exactly and Jesse and Camden were amazing to shoot with. Then when we were done, Jesse asked to take a picture of Camden and I. Nice shot Jessie!

‘bada bing bada boom’ Enjoy the view!