Come On, Baby, Drive South

This is Robert, for any one who hasn't met him yet. He's the love of my life, my soulmate, my best friend, the ONE person that "gets" me and all my quirkiness, my husband... and my business partner. Working with him again has to be one of the things I'm most blessed with, as since he came on board, the business has transformed with his brilliant marketing ideas and techniques. And not to mention that he's.... well, look at him! No wonder it's hard to get any work done around here when I just want to sit and look at him all day! :)

And now, we're leaving today on a business trip -- all by our little selves (woo hoo!) -- to go see our nice folks in the South. What a great day it's going to be -- Robert driving us across 3 or 4 states (you can so tell I don't pay attention to geography), me sitting in the passenger seat browsing through my mile-high stack of neglected magazines, us searching the AM radio for static-filled Classic Country stations (hey! It reminds me of my childhood, so don't laugh!), or the local "swap and shop" so we can giggle at people trading Rambo tapes for riding lawn mowers or something (we LOVE it!!)... Anyway... ahhh... we get to go in total road-trip mode like we did in the good ole days and it's one of my favorite times with him.

Ok, enough giddy rambling, I'm supposed to be telling you that if you're in the mid-South, we're headed there today and we do have some studio appointments still available, so send us an e-mail or call us. Current clients can reach us through the business phone, as it will be forwarded... just be prepared to hear FINE country singing in the background!! :) We'll see you guys soon!

Amber & Chris's Wedding

You've met Amber and Chris before. Here are some images from their very beautiful wedding. Yes, I realize there are a lot, but you know how many images are created at weddings!! I just can't say enough nice things about this couple -- they are so sweet, as were all of their friends and family. I wish them the very best in their life together. What a special day to have been part of - and we hope to see them again soon. GO PACKERS!! :)

Amber putting on her gorgeous wedding dress...

Look at Amber's mom looking at her... I LOVE these shots!
During the ceremony...

The kiss.... that may have lasted longer than any wedding kiss I've ever seen! Oooh-la-la! :)

Private moments after becoming Mr. & Mrs....

And we stole them away from friends and family for some time together...

This *might* be my favorite from the whole day... Can't you feel that passion?

Mmmmm-hmmmmm.... there it is again!

A beautiful day for a wedding...

...before the storm came in over Pike's Peak... Lovin' that stormy sky in the back...

Best friends....

And there's that passion again. Good luck, Amber & Chris - many congratulations on finding each other!!

From Pretty Girl to High Fashion Supermodel

One of the things I LOVE doing around here is taking everyday, beautiful girls and transforming them into high fashion supermodel goddeses! :) So.... meet Nadine. I've known Nadine and her family for a few years now and I did her senior portraits a couple years ago. Nadine now works for us as a personal assistant and is such a big help running the kids to and from school and cheerleading and just being here doing whatever she can to help control the chaos in the Lee Family.

Nadine is just about as sweet and genuine a person as you will ever meet. And she's stunningly beautiful, as well. But, I wanted to enlist her help in showing what goes on behind the scenes and to help these girls who come in and say, "Oh, I can't do this..." or "I've never been a model-type..." and things like that. I also wanted to show WHY it's important to wear heavier makeup than you normally do during your photo session - you get behind those lights and it just kind of fades away.... Even if you're a natural girl at heart, makeup in the studio is a must for incredible photos.

With that being said, what we did with Nadine was a little to the extreme. I wanted over-the-top (no, not ME!). I wanted a high fashion photo shoot with a high fashion model. And that's what we got. Nadine has graciously given permission to show her "before" photo and the progression that we made during the course of the shoot. And we were going for a rocker-chic with an attitude look in these. And so you might look at the "before" shot and say that you much prefer her the way she looks before -- smiling and looking natural and happy. Well, that's how we prefer seeing Nadine, too, but models are actors, as well. When you get hired to sell a product, you might not like the product, but you gotta look and act like you do. And Nadine did an incredible job acting her part - I am so impressed with her skill and confidence in front of the camera and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her. A huge thanks to Allison, our fabulous makeup artist, for helping wiht Nadine's transformation!!!

And here we go!!! Allison at work on Nadine...

Nadine and me in the studio for the first set...


I still am amazed at what we can produce in such a modest space...

Nadine checking out some of the images on the camera back.

And here are some of the finished images from the session. Wow... Nadine, you look amazing!

Thanks, Nadine! You're the best!!!! :)

Green Bay Couple

Meet Amber and Chris - a couple from Green Bay, Wisconsin who got married in a lovely outdoor wedding half way up Pike's Peak. One of THE sweetest couples you'll ever meet. I was so excited to get to meet them the day before the wedding to do a quick engagement portrait session and knew this is a couple destined to make it forever. It'll be a few more days before the wedding photos are ready for them to view, but wanted you to see who they are and know how very sweet and special this couple is to us.

Goodbye to a Friend

This is Jess Rhodes. I'm sure if you've visited the website, you're quite familiar with this beauty. She came to us to work with Teresa Lee Photography as our Promotions Manager, and somehow along the way, became a really good friend. Jess has been in charge of bringing in new business and has served as our liason with local high schools, representing us at senior photography fairs and events. She also worked with hotels and resorts, and local businesses that we've partnered with - she has done such a great job representing our image and being the "face" of Teresa Lee Photography. We have been so fortunate to have her around here...

She leaves us today for Boston. I know her family is going to miss her and we are going to miss her, as well. We wish her the best of luck in her new adventures and hope she'll come back often to visit.

Thanks for the fun times, Jess - thanks for all the hours trusting me in the studio to do crazy things - thanks for enduring life-threatening sports events (I'm STILL laughing so hard from us almost getting killed!!) -- thanks for all your hard work. WE WILL MISS YOU, JESSIE!!! (that was from Lawson. :) )

Memorial Health Systems Golf Tournament

Robert and I spent the day yesterday at The Broadmoor (one of our very favorite spots in Colorado Springs) for the Memorial Health Systems Golf Tournament. The Foundation is a very special group to me that I volunteer time and services on their behalf. And it was an honor to be able to photograph the participants yesterday as they each had a great time and we enjoyed some of Colorado's... umm.... beautiful and unpredictable weather patterns! :)

So, here you can see some of the behind the scenes shots from our day.
Our view from our setup at the 1st tee box.

We were so excited to be the exclusive photographer for the event!

Golfers getting ready for the shotgun start...

Oh, Lord... and here goes Rob with the camera. I'm not saying he's a bad photgrapher, but I'm just saying that I do much better on the other side of the camera -- definitely better behind it than in front.

Fun People

I have always thought that the best photo sessions come when people bring their senses of humor with them and leave stresses and worries at home. No need to worry if your hair is perfect or any fussy stuff. My tag line for my business, as interpreted via my best friend Shawn, "tell the story without saying a word..." Above all else, I have always wanted every session to give you great insight into a person's life and personality without having to have any words accompany it. And the photos to the side will tell you exactly the kind of fun personality Kindra and Craig have and I laughed so hard at them and their silliness that I just love...

Kindra and Craig came into the studio ready to have fun. I LOVE that about them! Not to mention that they are just beautiful and a photographer's dream, but they had THE greatest idea to do like a "photo booth" session, so this is what we came up with for them. I think it's such a great idea that I'll start doing it more when I get those fun-loving couples in the studio.

We'll see more from Kindra and Craig's session later, but I just loved these too much and had to share them right away.

Thanks, guys, for being sooooo much fun!

We Are the Champions!!!

Ok, maybe we're really not, but I'm listening to that song right now and it seems fitting that we just received notice that we have won an award with EMotion Media and their ShareIt Videos that we are using!! Woo hoo!!!! This is so exciting and a HUGE honor!

So, turn up your volume and watch our award-winning video, which we've designed with our seniors in mind. We also have families who really love them, too...

http://shareitvideo.com/watch.php?event_id=1720

Sue Barnes

This is Sue Barnes, one of my most beautiful (and oh my heck - most FIT) clients, shown here with her equally beautiful family from their recent family portrait session. Congratulations to Sue, who won her division's FIRST PLACE in a half marathon yesterday!!! I cannot imagine running one mile, let alone 13!!!!!! Wow!! That is a huge deal and we are so very proud of her!!!

Sweet Kennedy

Now, since just having written the previous post, I've got "Sweet Kennedy" stuck in my head. And here she is -- our little juicy caboose of the Lee clan - and as I was trying to get some cute photos of her, we settled on the fact that, ok, we won't have a meltdown and Mommy won't force you to wear that bow and unlike any of the others, Kennedy hates having her picture made. Would NOT go in front of the lights - cried, screamed, and just would not have it. The first time EVER in my photographic career where I could not get a kid to warm up and let me do portraits... and it's my own kid! We think it could actually just be because we're a little bit spoiled to mommy.... oh, well. You only get one caboose, right? :) Oh, yes - photos courtesy of Lawson Lee.

Sweet Child of Mine

Each of our kids have "their song" that we've given to them. Lawson's got "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. Kennedy's got Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," where we all will change the words as we burst out into song and you hear, "SWEET KENNEDYYYYY..... DUN-DUN-DUNNN!!!" And here's little Garrett -- oh, how much more "boy" could God have put in this little 4-year-old man... And our song for him is Sheryl Crow's version of "Sweet Child of Mine" - especially the part of "he's got eyes of the bluest skies...." and he does. And Garrett loves trains, so we took off to the tracks close by our house - I only got one presentable image of Garrett, as the rest of him were of the back of his head as he was running to FIND a train... oh, what a way to give Mommy a heart attack.... :) Garrett, I love you and had so much fun on our own little photo shoot. We'll do it again and we'll find a train next time.

Labor Day and Family Time

So, I decided to take a day off... well, while we've been busy in the office, I didn't book any sessions for today and here's why. You photographers know that people expect you to have THE best and most photos of your kids, but it gets so busy that (at least around here), our own babies take the backseat when it comes to having their portraits done. People don't even know what little Kennedy looks like (I just read your comment, Jessica Hughes! :) !! So, I did some portraits of my own babies on this little holiday. And this is Lawson. Most people familiar with the website know her well, as she's by far the most photographed of the Lee children - well, she's just been around the longest, that's why! :)

And when she came downstairs dressed up like this, I HAD to get photos of our little girly-girl princess all decked out in full hip-hop attire (complete with the Betty Boop shirt -- cracks me up!!) Oh, and this first one -- don't you LOVE it when you catch your kids doing something when they don't know you're watching? I'm lovin' this little dance scene! :)
The little hip-hop princess -- still that same face of the "Tiny Dancer" photo with the pink ballerina skirt...

My personal favorite: Tough girl with Betty Boop shirt -- now, WHOSE daughter is THIS! :)

This one makes me laugh because Lawson cracked up when she saw it and said she had "chubby cheeks like Kennedy!" :)