About Becky

Wanna get to know me a little better? Here are some of the common questions that people ask me via email or at consultations:

What’s your favorite cupcake flavor? Oh my goodness….how can a girl decide?! I pretty much love any flavor that is fruit oriented, like lemon, raspberry, strawberry etc., but my all time favorite flavor is red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Yum yum!

How long have you been photographing weddings?/How many weddings have you photographed? I am currently in my 4th year of being a full-time wedding photographer and I would guess I’m getting close to 100 weddings. I have loved every minute!

What kind of gear do you use? I’m a Canon girl. I LOVE the rich skin tones and vibrant colors that Canon lenses produce, so I think I’m going to be a Canon user for life. If you really want to know exactly what gear I shoot with, here’s the list:

• Canon 5DmarkII
• Canon 5D
• Canon 50mm f/1.2L
• Canon 16-35 f/2.8L
• Canon 85mm f/1.8
• Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L(IS)
• Canon 430ex flash x2
• Cybersyncs (off-camera flash triggering system)

In addition to all that, I have an abundance of batteries, memory cards, more batteries and more memory cards. =)

Does your husband photograph weddings with you? Yes! David is a very talented photographer (there are times when I must admit that his images are better than mine!) and when he’s not skiing, mountain biking, climbing 14ers or doing something else in the mountains, then yes, he often comes with me to photograph weddings as my second shooter. So if he happens to be at your wedding, you’re lucky!

Do you only photograph weddings? Yes. I strongly believe that people should do what makes them happy for a living. Photographing weddings makes me happy. So that is what I do!

Do you have insurance and do you pay taxes? Yes and yes! I think it is so important to run a business with integrity and for that reason, I do everything legitimately and legally. I carry both business liability insurance, indemnity insurance and equipment insurance. And I pay state and federal taxes.

How many weddings do you photograph each year? My first two years in business taught me a lot. One major thing I learned was about how many weddings are ideal for me to take on. Both of those years I took on so many weddings, I was exhausted by the end of it! Since then I’ve decided to take on 15-20 weddings per year. This has given me a lot of breathing room and has allowed me to focus more on my client’s happiness, my marriage, my family, traveling and my own happiness. So far, so good!

Where is your favorite place to photograph a wedding? I am a Colorado girl to my core. I grew up in mountains and I go there every chance I get. I ski, I camp, I hike, I snowshoe, I backpack, I love all things in the mountains of Colorado. So any time I have the opportunity to photograph a wedding at a ranch, a lodge, the top of a mountain, the middle of a pine forest, a creekside, or aspen grove for a wedding, I’m a happy camper. =)

How long have you been married? David and I have been married for 5 years and have been together for almost 9! We were married on September 2, 2006 at the Historic Pinecrest in Palmer Lake, CO. It was absolutely the most joyful day of my life!

What is your philosophy about wedding photography? How do you approach a wedding? I learned from the very beginning that weddings are very complicated things; full of emotions, family, craziness, laughter, good friends and a whole lotta love. They are unpredictable and somewhat uncontrollable (unless you hire a wedding coordinator!) There is absolutely no way I could try and control a wedding day.

Because of this, I take a documentary approach to weddings. I am simply an observer. I do not meddle. I do not intrude. I do not get in people’s way. I look for moments, emotions, details & laughter. I challenge myself to find a perspective that is different than anyone else’s. I seek out people and things that no one is paying attention to.

I place a strong emphasis on pictures with the bride&groom (while I do take family formal pictures, that is certainly not what people hire me for!) and often am able to spend 30-90 minutes photographing their interactions together. I also love details! From the cake to escort cards, I am always looking for the little details that pull the day together.

From start to finish, my goal is to show the joy in a wedding day. Sunshine, laughter, smiles, bubbling champagne, cupcakes….my eyes search for happiness in any form to document.

How did you get into wedding photography? Phew, this is not an easy question to answer! I’m always in awe of people who grew up loving photography, started taking pictures at an early age, studied photography and have been doing it for a living ever since. I think that’s awesome! But that is so not the path that I took.

I got my B.A. in Psychology and decided that I wanted to pursue counseling as a career. Shortly after getting married, I began graduate school for my M.A. in Counseling. On top of a full course load of classes and 12+ hours of commuting each week, I was also working a full time job. I quickly learned that there was no way I could keep up this heavy load. There was simply not enough hours in the day to allow me to work full-time, go to school full-time, commute and also be home enough to enjoy my first few years of marriage.

Right around the time I began feeling pretty overwhelmed with my work load, David bought me a camera. I wanted a creative outlet that had nothing to do with school or work. Little did I know, that PentaxK100 would lead me to the life I have today.

A few of my work friends had recently become engaged and asked me to take some engagement photos for them. I was excited at the prospect and immediately said YES! Those couples loved their pictures and started telling their friends about me. Before I knew it, I had photographed my first wedding. It went incredibly well and something clicked. I felt like I had been doing this forever.

After my first wedding, I set up a website. Within that first year, I had photographed 35 weddings. It was crazy. And quite honestly, the craziness hasn’t stopped. I’ve been shooting full-time since that very first wedding. Crazy!

As time went on and I continued photographing weddings, I slowly started to realize that I actually enjoyed photography much more than I enjoyed the counseling I was studying. So I finished my Master’s Degree in Counseling, but decided to continue to pursue photography full-time.

I certainly never intended to be a professional photographer. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be photographing weddings for a living. But that is where I have landed, and I must say, I absolutely adore it.

As a side note to other photographers….. I fully realize that my path to where I am is not the “standard,” route to a career in photography.  I highly recommend second shooting for an established professional photographer before starting out on your own. It is a great way to learn, gain experience, see how running a business works and understand the ins and outs of professional photography.

Can I second shoot for you? I get a handful of emails each year from photographers looking to second shoot with me. Currently, I have a full time associate photographer who works with me on the majority of my weddings. If she isn’t able to do a wedding with me, then often David comes to shoot with me. But every now and then I find myself in need of an additional photographer. So feel free to email me and I will keep your contact info on file! I require all my second shooters to be experienced, own professional gear, be insured and legally established in Colorado.