Michael Tallman Photography Blog

Samantha and Ian were married last Saturday at the Yampa River Botanical Park in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  The ceremony was followed by an intimate reception at Samantha’s family residence.  Samantha looked beautiful in her Lela Rose gown that she found at Anna Be in Denver, Colorado.  Samantha and Ian were kind enough to invite me to their rehearsal dinner on friday, which gave me a chance to meet a lot of their friends and family members.  It was a really friendly group of people and I had a great time getting to know many of them.

This gentleman can sketch almost as fast as I can photograph:

I had a great time coming to Colorado for this one!  On Sunday I had breakfast at Winona’s, a Steamboat fixture.  I got there too late for their famous (and huge!) Cinnamon buns, but I had a front row seat oustide for a cattle drive down Lincoln Avenue.  I left town with a few of Colorado’s finest souvenirs.  Prints will be available here in a few weeks.  Click on the link below to see more of Samantha & Ian’s pictures.

When I wake up the morning of a wedding and hear a “chance of thunderstorms” forecast, I always get really excited.  It might make some brides nervous with thoughts of soggy wedding guests, but Samantha is an avid photographer herself so she was on board with me on this one.  To me the threat of thunderstorms means dramatic skies and gorgeous light.  Samantha and Ian were married in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on Saturday and the rains never came.  Look for more pictures from their wedding here soon.

Galina and Jack were married last Saturday in Park City, Utah at a friend’s home.  They had a western style ceremony followed by a traditional Persian ceremony.  It was a gorgeous day and I was happy to be away from the heat of Salt Lake City.  A few thousand feet of elevation makes a big difference in the temperature.

Galina and Jack have family and friends from all over the world.  There were guests at the wedding from nineteen countries.

Special thanks to Stacy for doing an awesome job assisting me.  Play the slideshow below to see more of Galina and Jack’s wedding.

***UPDATE 7/7 - Galina and Jack’s online proofing gallery was not set up to collect email addresses - I have fixed it so that it will ask you for your email address so that you will be notified when all the pictures are available to order online.  Click here to sign up. The pictures will be posted there by the end of July.

Our friends Kate and Kyle just had a baby girl, Anna.  It took Anna a little while to open her eyes, but once she did she stayed awake the whole time.

Anna even modeled the hat that Leah (my wife) knit for her.  Leah is thinking about quitting medicine to knit full time.  What do you think?

Congratulations to Kate, Kyle and Anna!  Prints are available here.

I photographed another beautiful wedding yesterday in Park City, Utah.  Look for more pictures from Galina and Jack’s wedding here soon.  Things are pretty busy here right now - I got up this morning with the post wedding hangover (not from drinking but from not drinking enough water!) and went over to photograph a friend’s newborn baby girl.  I’m off to Steamboat Springs, Colorado later in the week for Sam and Ian’s wedding.  Many of my favorite pictures from this one are verticals, which is the first time that has ever happened to me.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Whitney & Ross’ beautiful wedding in Holladay, Utah.  The wedding took place at the groom’s family residence, where they have been living and gardening for over thirty years.  The gardens and grounds all around the house made a spectacular setting for a wedding.  Ross’ parents even made all of the florals and centerpieces themselves.  It was a gorgeous day, and Whitney and Ross were able to get away without a tent.  If you are having your wedding somewhere where it doesn’t rain much, go without the tent if you can get away with it.  Don’t try it in Vermont though!  I’m not putting down my previous home state, but the weather in Vermont tends to be a little bit more diverse.

I love the backyard weddings - they are a lot of work to put on, but they are always special once they get underway.  Whitney and Ross are postponing their honeymoon for a while, but they are planning to make a trip to India soon.  Congratulations Whitney and Ross!  Thanks to Erin for helping me out as my second shooter.  See more of the wedding in the slideshow below.

More pictures from Whitney & Ross’ beautiful wedding in Holladay, Utah coming soon.

Lauren and Greg are our next door neighbors and good friends. We couldn’t have picked better next door neighbors, and we got to know them quickly thanks to our dogs - Sage and their dog Chewey are best friends. Leah and I have had many impromptu dinners together with Lauren and Greg due to how close our 191Xs era bungalows are. If Greg has a tasty leg of lamb on the grill, I can smell it from my front porch. We’ve got each other’s keys in case either of us run out of toilet paper or eggs. I don’t think we would know them as well if we were living in the type of houses that are being built today.

Lauren and Greg needed an announcement picture so I offered to do one for them if they would be patient enough while I fiddled with some new lighting setups. I would much rather find good light than make it myself but I am always trying to add options. We took these pictures half way up Little Cottonwood Canyon at dusk. Lauren and Greg are getting married this September. I’m totally bummed that I won’t be around for their wedding, because I have another one to photograph!

The picture below is Lauren and Greg and another friend Rick skinning up the ridge to Silver Fork Bowl, in between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. This was taken on one of the rare sunny days during our winter long snowstorm. I think we left the house at about 10 AM that morning - life is tough in Salt Lake City!

Here are some more images from Maggie & Dan’s engagement session in Boulder, Colorado. I met Maggie & Dan at their house in downtown Boulder, and they took me up to the Red Rocks near Mount Sanitas, a popular hike in the foothills on the west end of downtown. I found out that Maggie’s engineering firm is working on the new visual arts facility at the University of Colorado. The university recently tore down the old fine art building where I developed my first rolls of black & white film back in college. We took pictures up on the red rocks as the sun went down behind the mountains and the moon came up. The twilight definitely stole the show. Maggie and Dan’s wedding will be in September in Boulder, with a reception at Chautauqua Park up against the Flatirons. See the rest of the photos by linking to the slideshow below.

Here are the rest of the images from the engagement session I did with Sam & Ian a couple weeks ago on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado. I had to put off editing these for a few days while I moved all of my computing over to a new Mac. That Windows Vista had to go, it was driving me nuts and I couldn’t handle the thought of editing another season worth of weddings on it. Much happier now - I’m starting to see why everyone loves their Mac so much.

I knew we would get along well when Sam suggested meeting at Lucile’s, the best breakfast spot in town. They start you out with Beignets (New Orleans style doughnuts), then serve a massive plate of breakfast and a delicious but totally unnecessary biscuit. We discussed Sam & Ian’s July wedding in Steamboat Springs, Colorado over a late breakfast and then walked around the Pearl Street Mall area to take some pictures. The tulips were out in full bloom on the pedestrian mall, you can see them framing the first picture up above in the foreground. See the rest of the photos by clicking the link to the slideshow below.