. st. croix .

It has been so brutally unforgivingly cold lately here in Colorado, and I'm definitely starting to feel the winter blues and cabin fever set in.  Good thing I have some awesome photos of an awesome trip to look back on!  Almost as good as being there... almost :)  I'll say it again - I LOVED shooting in St. Croix!  Fun, colorful architecture, amazing sunny light, and, of course, my incredible clients :)  Here are a few personal photos from the trip to help transport you to a warmer place for a moment (at least mentally).

(Actually, I cheated... this was over Puerto Rico or one of the other islands on the way in to St. Croix.  But I still love this shot)

We were traveling at such a weird time.  Everything seemed deserted.  I don't know if I've ever seen the subways at DIA that empty!  My favorite part of the long day of travel was getting to ride the cool 10-seater little plane from St. Thomas over to St. Croix.  The plane was so small that they stashed our luggage in the wings, and weighed our carry-ons to make sure they were evenly distributed throughout the plane.  The shot above is taken from the back seat :)

The next shot is the view from our friends Haven and Matt's house.  Jealous!  When they moved in, they also found a whole cabinet full of cool retro liquor, which I was naturally fascinated by.

I guess it was "worm season"... the frangipani worms eat all the leaves and branches off of a certain tree, at the same time every year.  The trees are essentially stripped bare.  It was crazy how fast that happened - the worms would descend upon a tree by the hundreds.  If you put your ear up close, you can hear them crunching away.  The locals apparently hate them, but I thought they looked cool :)

Once again, a HUGE thank you to Haven and Matt for letting us stay with them!  I'm dying to go back right about now...

. fort christiansvaern .

When I was in St. Croix, I loved having the opportunity to visit Fort Christiansvaern in Christiansted.  There is so much cool history that's evident throughout this compound (Courtyard! Archways!  Color!  Right on the water!  Alexander Hamilton grew up here! Dungeons!  Cool windows!  Oceanfront cannons!)  I wandered around, my mouth pretty much drooling at the thought of shooting a session here.  I have maybe a thousand ideas for this place, and it costs all of, I don't know.. three dollars to get in to.  So, here's what you want to do.  You want to get married or do a Trash the Dress session.  You want some amazing amazing pictures.  At the same time, you want a vacation that's fun and off the beaten path, but you don't want to have to deal with the hassle of passports and visas.  You want to hire me to come back to St. Croix and shoot your wedding / Trash the Dress at Fort Christiansvaern. Trust me on this.  This is in your best interests.  Haha.  See?

The view from Fort Christainsvaern:

Yep... you know you wanna :)

. melissa's trash the dress session: part two .

As promised - the beautiful Melissa with her beloved horse, Tempe.  The first shots are in her riding field (hey St. Croix people- she teaches lessons!),  and the cool gourd-looking fruits are mahogany... We had absolutely perfect light and perfect weather!

. melissa's trash the dress session: part one .

I have been looking forward to this shoot ever since Melissa and I started emailing back and forth.  She and Ivan got married just over a year ago, and when she heard I was coming down to St. Croix, we scheduled a Trash the Dress shoot immediately.  Having lived there for many years, she knows the island so well, and she was kind enough to drive us all over to scout out locations, get ideas, and introduce us to St. Croix.  What a fabulous tour guide, and what a beautiful, beautiful bride!

One of the many things I loved about St. Croix is all the old sugar mill ruins from the sugar plantation days.  The one that we used in this shoot is just down the road from her house!  Incredible.  I was surprised to find that they used bricks made of coral, along with regular stone blocks, to build the mills.  How cool.  And the very last shots with the pool... um, yeah.  That's the view from Melissa's house.  Not only does she have an incredible ocean view, but you can see the sugar mill and pretty much the whole island, too.  What?  Jealous?  Nooo, not at all...

Because there's such an abundance of stunning locations, this post is only part one.  Oh my holy color... seriously, from the sky to the water to the green lushness everywhere to the pinkish sand at sunset.. I'm so in love with shooting in the Caribbean.  Part two, with her horse Tempe, is coming soon soon soon!  And a huge thanks to Zach for being the best flash /gear holder ever!

THANK YOU THANK YOU Melissa!  Much love and the rest are coming soon!

. i love my job .

Going through customs on the way back home (yep, the one that made us miss the flight), the customs agent was apathetically flipping through my passport.  I've been through customs a hundred times, but this time, the agent decided to ask me what I did for a living."I'm a photographer,"  I said, sounding almost surprised, even to myself. Since I rarely introduce myself that way, it really hit me then : how incredibly cool that this is what I get to do for a living!

Then, the agent looking at my camera bag, "What's in here, please?"

"Camera equipment."

"It's ALL camera equipment?"

"Yeah," I answered.

"Is... this all you brought?" asked the dubious customs agent.

"Oh, no, um..I have clothes, too."

He pauses, and, looking me up and down, eventually says, "Hmm."  And, lets me through.  Ten minutes too late :)