I Love the Ungerman Family!!!

Sigh.......... The Ungerman family is truly a great bunch! We've had many sessions (and a wedding) over the years and each one I fall just a little more in love with these guys. Four kids SHOULD be chaos, especially when you have ages from 2 to 14 but it never is with this family! The children are all happy at all times and their parents couldn't be more adorable. Yes I really am in love with shooting this family (in a totally non-creepy kind of way, of course!)



Happy Birthday Beautiful Lady!

Ladies come to me for an Ooh La La (boudoir) session for all kinds of reasons:
1. It's a gift for him - wedding, V-day, Xmas or Bday
2. They just broke free from him and want to remember they're still desirable
3. Finally ready to date again and having some semi racy shots of themselves help in the online scene
4. They've worked hard to lose weight and are proud of themselves (as you should be ladies)
And Lastly..........
5. Just for them! They aren't giving them to a guy - heck they might not ever even SHOW a guy but they need or want to feel pretty. To see themselves in a way others see them but unless they live in a 360 degree mirrored world, they never get to see themselves look this way.

This pretty lady - her birthday is coming up and this was her present to herself! How awesome is that?!?! Out of all the "things" in the world she could have chosen, she chose to have ME shoot her Ooh La La session!

Happy Birthday to an amazing woman! May you have 100 more!!!!!!!!!

Hawg Back Saloon!!!

In case you didn't already know, I have several friends and clients who have MS (multiple sclerosis). Most have remitting relapsing, which is a fancy of way saying some days they are completely normal and other days - life gets put on hold. Robbing them of day to day activities by causing muscle spasms, seizures and other kinds of unpleasantness.

Then there's my friend Jackie, hers is different. She has secondary progressive MS which means instead of the occasional bad day, she has the occasional good day. At least that's the short version. I've known J since 6th grade - we go way back! We missed out on just over 10 years of each others lives but whenever we'd run into each other, we'd pick right back up where we left off. Then we ran in to each other at a get together at a local dive bar and suddenly my vibrant, life of the party friend was using arm crutches! I'm not a stranger to the arm crutches, my best friend uses them once in awhile thanks to CP. Seeing J with them, that was a surprise though! This is the girl who was my "flying partner" - we were the girls the rest of our spirit squad would toss around on the football field...

She was diagnosed with MS and it progressed. You see there's no cure for MS, just drugs that attempt to keep it from progressing. The meds didn't work on J... The National MS Society and countless doctors, nurses and patients are working on that but that takes money. LOTS of money!

J formed Team Hope and over the years the presence at the MS Walk (first Saturday in May - mark your calendars!) grew and grew. Team Hope is now the largest group at the walk each year and each year the bar raises to earn money. Money for a cure, money to slow the progression, money for medications, money for specialized equipment and anything else those with MS may need.

Recently J was a part of a new research medication and suddenly she was getting her life back! She still had MS and still had issues but the seizures came less and less. She was using a cane vs a walker for daily life and she was a different person. Not herself, but close. A NEW herself and life was good. Sadly the research came to a screeching halt within the past few weeks. We're not sure how long she'll be her new self but "one day at a time" is a good philosophy right now.

In J's world, a new self means looking for a new adrenaline rush, a new sport, a new activity. Which is awesome! Her new fun pastime? ROLLER DERBY! Now she's not the jammer or the blocker and really she's rarely on the rink itself, instead she's Babydoll. The Denver Roller Dolls (DRD for short) mascot and she loves every second of it. On a good day - you'll find her wearing skates and using her walker (and sometimes her wheelchair) visiting with fans and instilling confidence in young girls who want to grow up to become strong amazing women, just like J.

DRD has been wonderful to J and for J. You'll find girls going by the name of Granny, Gator and Thunda (just to name a few) by her side at the MS Walk, derby bouts and even throwing fundraisers for Team Hope. The Hawg Back Saloon  happens to be owned by Granny and they hosted a "Christmas in July" fundraiser for Team Hope this weekend! There were body painters, bands, booths and raffles - all in J's honor! It was awesome to be a part of it.........

There were friends to be found...


See that guy with the GIANT lens? That's Shutter Up - the official photog for DRD and he does an awesome job at it! We even got to shoot together for an impromptu Santa's Helper mini session (more on that in a second)

A whole lot of body painting going on...

And even Santa's Helper was on hand (body painting done by the so very talented Sofia Rose - if you ever need a body painter, she's your girl!). This was one night I was kicking myself for NOT bringing everything in my camera bag! When you're asked to do a quick session with the gal covered in body paint - you really want more than just a 24mm lens and your backup camera body! lol

*If you missed out on the fun time at Hawg Back Saloon but would still like to donate to Team Hope, just click on the Team Hope link up above*



Tiny Taylor Jo

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Little Taylor Jo must have heard that somewhere before she was born, either that or she was super excited to meet her family. She made her grand entrance almost 8 weeks before she was suppose to. She is a tiny warrior though and even though she had a rough start, she's doing very well.

As I'm sure you can imagine, two months in the NICU can be a financial hardship. Taylor Jo's family has a website set up to help off set the crazy high medical bills and if you would be willing to donate just a little something (maybe just one less latte from Starbucks this week) I'm sure they'd be grateful. Just click here to show even though it's a big wide world out there, we're all just still a village..........



Rachel {Class of 2014}

I have known the MacDonald family for several years now. In fact I've been lucky enough to now photograph all three girls for the senior sessions! Their mom Holly has an amazing garden (one that I would successfully kill in about a week!) so we always hit the garden for outdoors shots and take some studio style too.

Rachel is a ton of fun and is never "to" serious. In fact each serious shot would dissolve into giggles - on both our parts! ;)


Sarah & Josh {Wedding at Mt. Vernon Country Club}

I say all the time, my clients become my friends over time. It is no exception with these two. I have been photographing them for several years now.

I photographed their oldest son for his newborn session and all of his milestone sessions:

Then their engagement/family session:

A few months ago, along came little man #2:

And most recently (just a few weeks ago) was their wedding! Congratulations Sarah & Josh and thank you for allowing me to play an amazing role in your lives. I'm so happy for you both!







Tabor & Zach {Wedding at Coors Field}

This couple is pretty awesome people!

Tabor is wonderful, funny and she's the kind of girl who can hold her own. I absolutely ADORE her! Plus she works with my husband and helps keeps him sane at work. I can tell days that she's not there because once in a great while, after he's been home for a bit, I wouldn't mind sending him back. AND if that didn't all make her wonderful enough - she walked down the aisle in teal chucks! Let's face it, #1 teal is my favorite color and #2 chucks are my favorite shoes (although I ruined my last ones standing in an extra nasty pond for some killer shots and need to replace them ASAP).

Zach is equal in his greatness. He's like my husband, pretty laid back, go with the flow kind of guy. AND he works at the Butterfly Pavillion, helping out and not minding little kids pestering him with questions. Any guy who can tell kids over and over again ALL DAY not to actually touch the butterflies and NOT lose his schmidt after 8 hours is a guy who rocks!



It's Senior Time!

I can't believe it's already the time of year where summer is coming to an end! It seems to go by quicker every year.

While mom's are scrambling to make sure they get everything on the supply list, kids are picking out the right shoes and cool backpacks and dad's are keeping an eye on the budget; I'll be shooting seniors left and right!

These two are all ready to start their senior year! Ladies, I hope this year is a blast, you keep in touch with your friends and you are accepted to the college of your choice..........




If you're ready to book your senior session, you can call me at 303-435-7655, email me or find me on Facebook!

2.5 Years In The Making

This has been a long time coming! 2.5 years to be exact!!!!!! You see I THOUGHT I'd be a great blogger so I set one up and have been paying the monthly fee for years even. At one point (back in in ummmm 2010 apparently judging from the last blog entry) this was linked back to my fancy shmancy website that cost a small fortune. Then I remembered I never actually blog and didn't update it so I removed the link and this has sat ignored for almost 3 years.

Now I'm at a stage where I have a few hours on my hands and decided to do a website overhaul and want things simple. No music, no scrolling flip screens to make your computer run like a dinosaur and mobile device friendly. All of which my website no longer fits the need. That folks, brings me back to the beginning - blogging/website.

So on that note - welcome to the new look! From now on sneak peeks will be posted on the blog portion of this website (there will still be sneak peeks on Facebook as well), you can use the contact tab to shoot me an email and proofs can be found under Recent Sessions! Proofs will still be watermarked for internet safety reasons but you'll now receive a 4 digit pin (much like a debit card) to download your sneak peeks and you may use them for all online social media reasons. Please remember they have been "shrunk" to fit the internet so they aren't fit for printing but you can still use them for profile pictures and such.

For just a little while you will need to phone or email me your orders but soon you will be able to get back to ordering those online as well! :)

Now I wouldn't be much of a photographer if I didn't leave you with at least one picture right? How about a cute puppy to help with the shock of the new site?  ;)


   
           
   
   



Sands of Time Photos. All rights reserved. © Maira Gall.