Jesse Starr Photography

Trina | Snow Yoga and More | Vail Beaver Creek Yoga Portrait Photography

jessestarrphotography — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:16:20 +0000

One of the things I love about yoga is how in line with your body you can become if you focus on that connection and awareness. In photographing an experienced yogini, you can really get a sense of this connection and it is absolutely beautiful to watch. Trina had the idea of getting outside in the snow for a yoga portrait session and this presented some logistical challenges. One the keys to yoga is the connection with the ground and it can be quite a challenge to make this connection in unstable snow. To overcome this, we put down a 6 foot long table in the snow to create a base for Trina’s yoga mat. This allowed her to perform her asanas (postures) as she would if in a studio. The other challenge was the cold and the only real way to combat that was to take a lot of warming up breaks in between shots. Trina was a trooper and fought through the frozen feet.

As with most photography I do, a large part of the success of this session was dependent on the lighting and I used a 5 foot octagonal softbox as my main light combined with a small speed light flash for some kicker light to get what I was looking for. Without the lights, the background would have been a washed out bunch of nothing and you would lose the impact that was achieved in this session.

I love Trina’s expression in this image as I was probably saying something silly to get her to laugh.

Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose) is one of the most beautiful, yet simple, poses in all of yoga. It shows such great angles in the body and flows really well visually.

This was a quick grab shot while Trina was warming up her feet.

Another one where you can see my kicker light. I really like the balance of the light and the model in this photo.

After we had captured all of the yoga portraits we were looking for, I had to take advantage of having a gorgeous model with perfect lighting in front of me so we moved on to some fashion-esque portraits. Making my job easier, Trina is a total natural at this and I came away with some of my favorite portraits ever.

Kelly C | Vail Beaver Creek Senior Life {Style} Portrait Photographer

jessestarrphotography — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:17:06 +0000

Kelly is a senior at Battle Mountain High School in Edwards and could totally have a future in modeling if she chose it. :) Captivating eyes and gorgeous hair made my job real simple when it came time for her Senior Life {Style} Portraits. We did the session in the studio and had fun rocking out to some Pretty Lights on the speakers while Kelly worked it for the camera. She brought a friend along for encouragement and I made sure to get some images of the two of them. In portrait sessions, it’s always a great idea to bring a couple of different outfits that we can use throughout the shoot and Kelly had some perfect options.

New Orleans Wedding Photography Redo

jessestarrphotography — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:05:57 +0000

The Digital Wedding Forum has been a vital part of my business since I started and I have met so many amazing photographers through it. The DWF is an online forum for professional wedding and portrait photographers where we can share techniques and experiences with each other and it is a very valuable resource. For the past few years, I have travelled to the annual DWF convention to take workshops, network, learn and socialize with other pros. This year, the convention was down in New Orleans and the DWF took the initiative to help out 3 couples who had been affected by hurricane Katrina as part of the DWF Kares project. April and Darryl, Katy and Bill, and Holly and Tim all lost their wedding albums when their houses were completely flooded during the storm. The incredible John Michael Cooper and Dalisa Cooper of AltF Photography were approached by the CEO of the DWF to lead a re-shoot of these couples’ wedding photography and myself and 15 or so other photographers spent an afternoon in New Orleans volunteering our time and talents to help out. It was so much fun to shoot in this awesome city with a group of amazing people and I was thrilled to help provide the couples with some new images. Below are some of my favorites.

Amanda | Night time portraits in New Orleans

jessestarrphotography — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:02:38 +0000

While in New Orleans for a wedding and portrait photography convention, I met an awesome photographer from Raleigh, North Carolina who graciously agreed to be my model for a night. Amanda is absolutely gorgeous and her expressions were perfect for the dramatic look I was going for. The evening is a great time to create dramatic imagery with different light sources and I wanted to utilize some different tools. Some of these images were made with an LED light, some with flash, and one using only the light from a fluorescent lighted window.

Lauren and David | Vail Beaver Creek Baby Bump Portrait Photographer

jessestarrphotography — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:46:01 +0000

Lauren contacted me about doing a baby bump portrait session after seeing the book I made of her sister’s boudoir images and we set it up to photograph her and her husband at their house. Lauren is 8 months pregnant and looks gorgeous and I had a great time during the session. Lauren and David are a picture perfect couple and I was glad they wanted to incorporate photos of the two of them. Understandably, some of my clients prefer to keep the more intimate photos private so I made a selection of some of my other favorites below:

Louisa B Designs | Denver Jewelry Photography

jessestarrphotography — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:06:57 +0000

I’ve been meaning to get this up on the blog to share and am finally getting around to it. My friend Louisa is an incredibly talented jewelry designer and we got together a little while ago to photograph some of her pieces. She does custom hand crafted metal work and it is really amazing what she comes up with. Find out more at Louisa B Designs and Louisa B Designs Facebook page.

Here are some of my favorite images of the beautiful jewelry:

Philippa and Ryan’s Heirloom Wedding Album

jessestarrphotography — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:16:45 +0000

Philippa and Ryan ordered a gorgeous Heirloom album and I wanted to share it with you. It is an 11×14 vertical format album with 70 pages. They chose one of my favorite cover options, which is the Ribbed Quartz fabric. It has an awesome texture to it that is ultra-premium quality and unique. Check out the matching box and cover in the photos below.

Escape to Trapper’s Cabin | Vail / Beaver Creek Commercial Lifestyle Photographer

jessestarrphotography — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:27:51 +0000

The other day I got a chance to do a different kind of photography and take stills during a commercial video shoot up at Trapper’s Cabin at Beaver Creek. Trapper’s Cabin is an amazing luxury private hut on Beaver Creek mountain that can be rented out. It includes a private chef, a hot tub, and ski-in/ ski-out access. I collaborated with Vail’s TV8 who was filming the shoot and I was photographing on assignment from Vail Resorts Photography. The purpose of the assignment was to capture lifestyle moments of two couples enjoying the cabin’s amenities and experience. With commercial photography like this, the goal is to come away with imagery that gives you the feeling of wanting to switch places with the subjects in the photo. The two couples were not professional models but were amazing to work with nonetheless. It was almost 5 hours of shooting to get all the setups on the shot list and here are some of my favorites from the day.

Rhodes Family Portraits | Vail Portrait Photographer, Vail Children’s Photographer

jessestarrphotography — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:50:52 +0000

My friend and colleague Syd had never had professional photographs taken of her and her family so we set up a session last week in the studio. Syd has an adorable little guy named Oliver who we were able to pull away from his chicken nuggets just long enough to get some great images. Whenever I take photos of families with young children, I make sure to get some interaction going beyond the typical “Everyone sit there and look at me” posing. Oliver responded well to tickling mom and dad and being tickled. I love the look of black and white images in the studio because there aren’t any distractions to take away from my subjects. When I showed Syd the final photographs, she cried and reminded me why I am a professional photographer. I know that she is going to be able to treasure these moments for the rest of her life and that is the ultimate payment for my work.

Tech info: These were lit with a Alien Bees Einstein 640 fired through a medium sized softbox on camera left. Triggered with a standard Pocket Wizard PlusII.

Amy F | Lair o the Bear Park, Colorado Athletic Portrait Photographer

jessestarrphotography — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:29:42 +0000

I was stoked when Amy got in touch with me about doing some athletic portraits because she was looking to celebrate her new found love of fitness and wanted to document the body she worked so hard to get. She has been training for some time at Genesis Fitness gym in the Denver Highlands and has the body to show for it. Amy came to me with some ideas of images she had found that she liked and wanted to incorporate the outdoors if possible. We went to Lair o the Bear Park near Morrison and played around with some different setups as Amy got an extra workout in for the day. We also mixed in some portraits for Amy to give to her husband. Take a look below at some of my favorites from the session.