Today I’m sharing a session from Molly’s recent studio anytime session. Her tattoo added an interesting change to this shadowy black and white portrait.

Today I’m sharing a session from Molly’s recent studio anytime session. Her tattoo added an interesting change to this shadowy black and white portrait.

Earlier this month my wife and I took some time to go one a monthly photowalk that Efrain from Illuminate Workshops organizes every month free of charge. This photowalk was down at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
Despite the fact that I shoot professionally as a Denver wedding photographer, I still think it’s important to find time to shoot for fun and for creative exploration. Besides often the things I learn shooting for myself are things that I can translate and use for clients in their wedding coverage.
Now while I’ve been to Garden of the Gods many times, it has been a few years, and I’ve never been there at night. We did cut our stay short, something about 20 photographers with tripods and Porthos on a leash was a logistical error that I hadn’t ponder until I thought about how much damage he could do the first time a chipmunk caused him to make a full speed burst and the damage that would do to the good working relationship I have with my insurance agent.
Still we managed to grab a few fun shots.

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And in case you’re thinking stuff like this isn’t doable without top of the line pro gear, this was shot on one of my old back up cameras, a canon Rebel, with a non-pro lens – and the most important tool, a tripod.
I hear rumors July’s night walk will be downtown and involve fireworks……….
It’s Friday morning and as I get ready to go into the studio today I’m thinking back over a few notes I’ve received lately from last years senior session clients. All those great kids who where at the brink of adulthood are graduating over the next few weeks and now thinking about the next stage of their lives.
I love the fact that as a photographer I got a chance to meet these wonderful people and capture a moment that is a true turning point in their lives. It’s really what this job is all about.
Of course I’m also now looking at what I’m going to be offering for senior photos this year, while it’s not a big part of my business – I usually do less than a dozen select senior shoots a season – I do enjoy it.
But, before I talk about what I’m doing this year for senior photos I want to plug what some other photographers are doing and what in my opinion is the best, the most original, and the out and out coolest “Senior Photo” special going on in Denver this season.
Billed as “The Ultimate Senior PHotography Experience” I don’t think they are stretching the truth at all on this.
20 Seniors. 5 Photography Studios. 5 different locations all over town. Party Limo to transport everyone from spot to spot.
This truly will be an experience and not just a photo session. I’m urging everyone interested in a unique and one of a kind senior session to go check this out. If you decide this really isn’t you – come on back and I’ll take care of you.

Now I know at this point a lot of you out there are scratching your heads, “Before I even talk about my own senior sessions I’m pushing people towards my competitions senior sessions”. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of business sense does it. Well it might not make much business sense but to me it makes a lot of people sense.
See this is the coolest idea I’ve seen in a long time. Treated like a rock star for a day and getting photos from 5 different studios. If I where 17 this is the session I’d want to do. If I had kids (or even nieces and nephews) that where seniors this year, sure I’d go out with them and do some cool stuff for them, and then I’d sign them up for this tour. This is just such a fun idea, it’s going to be a great experience for these kids to carry with them, and that’s the big thing. It’s the experience. I can do the photos, I can’t match that experience through my sessions.
Also for me senior photos isn’t a big part of my business. I do only a handful of select sessions a season. I don’t make a lot of these sessions, but I have fun. If I do half the sessions this year from last because the others booked the tour, at the end of the year it’s not going to affect my bottom line that much.
So go check out the Senior Rock Star Tour.
Now if they’re booked up, it doesn’t quite fit your budget, you don’t think it’s your style and you’d rather have something more suited to you, here’s what I can do for you.
I’m doing senior photos this year as part of my “Anytime Sessions”. There’s two different levels. The short session at $200 and the extended session at $500. Both include a memory book, softcover for the short, hardcover for the long, and both include print pricing at our special lab print prices. ($5 5×7, $10 8×10, $4 4/wallets). This season we’re having you pay more for the session, but then let you get all the prints you want at a super deal on the prints.
As an added bonus for the first 6 sessions booked this year I’ll include a $50 print credit with the extended session. With that the $500 session fee gets you everything you’ll need, shoot, book, and prints.
Our new online host also allows digital downloads of small images perfect for use on your phone (they look awesome on my iPhone), facebook, myspace, etc. For just .99 an image you can download your favorites.
Of course before you do that add us as a friend on Facebook and we’ll post a few of my favorites from the shoot and tag you with them, so you can then use those on facebook free of charge.
So if you’re interested use the contact form above and we’ll get back in touch.
I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite senior photos from 2008.











I’ve finally been able to update the gallery site over at www.mhp-studio.com to include some recent weddings and restructure it a bit.
First of all I’ve broken the “Anytime Sessions” galleries out from the weddings. Then the wedding galleries received a new breakdown:
The People – Posed shots of couple, family, and bridal party.
The Details – The small touches that made your wedding so special and unique.
The Moments – Those fleeting moments and memories – what it’s really all about.
The Art – The fine art images of which I typically create a few of on each wedding.
The Story – one wedding, the full day in about 118 pictures.
The clients section was moved under the portfolio section since this is in fact mostly just a collection of specific wedding slideshows and albums.
Here’s a copy of our spring newsletter.
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