L. E. Luhn Photography

Chasing "that" Shot...

2011-08-31T07:45:00.004-06:00

How many times have we as photographers seen someone else's image and thought, "Man, THAT'S the image I want for my living room... I need to go take it!" only to try and try and try and never quite get it right...?

That has totally been me for the last few years living in Colorado. Ever since I saw that image of aspen trunks (I'm fairly certain you all know EXACTLY the shot I'm talking about...), I've been trying to take it myself. Geez. Fail after fail after epic fail. I've gotten some really pretty images of aspens, but it hasn't been THE shot.

Until now, I think. Finally, I think I might have nailed it... Until the next time I see "that" image and have to go chase it down.

Crankworx Colorado

2011-08-03T07:26:00.005-06:00

I have had the biggest mental block in the planet over trying to figure out what to say on this blog post. This morning, I gave up after sitting at my computer for an hour looking at photographs of other people riding and not getting anywhere, I totally gave up and went mountain biking myself.

I STILL have total writer's block.

SO..... These images are from Crankworx Colorado, a huge mountain biking festival that takes place in Winter Park in July involving cross country races, slope style competitions, and this thing called the Intergalactic Pond Crossing...

We got there fairly early in the morning... Here's Winter Park:

Some of the bikes were priceless, really... Especially if you work at a bike shop like I do.

Then, we got to the serious stuff. These guys that compete slopestyle are freaking amazing.

There's always a cute pooch or two to throw in the mix...

...and the Intergalactic Pond Crossing. Riding a bike across 2x6's attached to floating styrofoam blocks... HYSTERICAL.

Hope you enjoyed! I certainly had a great day drinking beer and shooting pictures...

2011-07-28T07:57:00.004-06:00

The other day, one of my friends asked me, "So, did you ever do anything with those pictures you took at the cyclocross race last fall?" Of course, I hadn't. So I did.

Cyclocross, for those of you who aren't quite sure what it is, is this slightly in

sane discipline within cycling where people basically take road bikes with slightly knobby tires and race around a course filled with obstacles, mud, and ruts. It's a mess. Bikes (and their owners) break on a regular basis. Drive trains get gunked up beyond recognition. Spectators tend to have beer for breakfast. It's quite a culture.

That being said, I have a few of my favorite images from the day to show...

Those pesky obstacles make for a lot of jumping off (and back on) the bikes.

...and much running with the bikes...

The faces are priceless...

Then there was that thing about culture... Dogs EVERYWHERE!

We're going to Crankworx this weekend, more cycling photographs to come!

Baby Pics!

2011-06-23T07:52:00.003-06:00

This little guy was ADORABLE! And SO good. We made the poor baby lay on his back, on his tummy, on the floor, outside, and he never once complained. Not so much as a whimper! I had an awesome time photographing him, so thanks to Mom and Dad for that! I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves...

LOVE baby feet!

Not the sharpest image of the session, but one of my favorites nonetheless. The dog was tipping me over as I shot, but I love the look on baby's face!

2011-06-10T08:33:00.003-06:00

I have been dying, most of my life, (well, okay, not most of my life, but for a long time, anyway) to go down to southwestern Colorado and bum around places like Durango, Silverton, and Ouray. A couple of weeks ago, I finally got to go.

To be completely cliche, OMG. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. The snow was melting, and the cascades down all the random mountain sides were spectacular. As any good photographer would do, I spent the whole weekend cursing my idiocy for forgetting my tripod. Ever tried to shoot moving water without one? Doesn't work very well...

Anyway, all idiocy aside, it was beautiful. I can't wait to go back there again. Here are a couple of images from the trip...

Somewhere along the Hermosa Creek Trail:

These next couple were along a random stream bed with a dirt road running next to it just outside of Silverton.

Down another random dirt road outside of Ouray...

And we decided we couldn't NOT go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, as it was only like 12 miles out of our way on the way home...

Moab, UT

2011-05-06T08:40:00.003-06:00

I'm sure you have all read my lament about Mesa Arch in Moab, UT, from my blog post a couple of years back, about being there at the wrong time of year, there being too many other people around, and blah, blah, blah.... I hadn't had the chance to go back and nail the shot. So when Matt and I went to Moab, UT, for a long weekend of mountain biking in February, I couldn't help but get his ass (and mine) up before the crack of dawn to go photograph the damned arch whose beautiful photograph has eluded me for so long.

With much grumbling, we made it out, and instead of 40 tourists jockeying for position, there were about 10 normal, sane people hanging out, quite polite and careful to stay out of each others' way so we could all get a good shot. And so, I think I nailed it enough to keep me from having to go back there for a while. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Good enough for me. For now, anyway!

Of course, a trip to Moab is never actually complete without a trip out to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. After mountain biking all day, Matt and I decided it would be an awesome idea to hike out the three miles and see what sunset looked like up there. It was COLD. Thanks to that, though, it was us and one other lone photographer, which was awesome. I snapped a few frames, and decided the wind was just NOT worth it to stay any longer, but I did get this image:

Nice to not have to Photoshop any people out of it!

That's it for now, hopefully I'll get back on track with the blogging!

Mary Had a Little Lamb...

2011-02-18T12:22:00.003-07:00

The other day, my friend Susie asked me if I would be interested in going to one of her friend's farm to see microgreens and little lambs. I said, yes, of course, I would love to make like Mary and play with lambs. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it ended up being a very cool experience. Susie's friend grows greens for some of the best restaurants in Denver, and it was, well, delicious, to be wandering around rows and rows of trays of greens and sampling them at will. Here are some of them...

The farm also has sheep for milking; they also make cheese. We went into the room where the cheese was aging, and it smelled awesome! Too bad it was really dark in there and I didn't have a flash....

And where there are sheep, there will be lambs...

And a baby was born while we were there... This little girl was about 15 minutes old at this point... SO FREAKING CUTE!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the images from the farm!

Kayaking in December

2011-02-01T12:41:00.003-07:00

While we were down in Florida, my husband and cousin thought it would be a great idea to go kayaking... I told them to go ahead, that I would gladly hang out on the beach with my camera and take some pictures of them - that water was COLD, and I'm kind of a baby for cold water. We loaded up the boat with ourselves, the kayak, all my camera gear, and the dog, and dropped anchor in the inlet by my cousin's house. I'm looking around, not really wanting to get wet, and knowing darn well that water's deep where we are stopped, wondering how in the hell I'm going to get my camera gear down to the beach without soaking it. What do I do? Load myself, the gear, and the dog into the kayak, and off I went. Thankfully, my camera gear and I did NOT get wet, and I managed not to capsize the kayak.

In any case, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and the light was at that "magic" stage. Combined with the colors of the beach, I felt like I was in photographer's heaven. Here are a few of the results...

My cousin caught a pretty good wave here, and rode it until he fell over when the kayak hit the sand.

My husband showing off his stuff...

The dog...

And the results of getting somewhat bored at the boys' repeated attempts to catch waves...

2011-01-28T09:22:00.005-07:00

So I'm FINALLY getting around to looking at some of the images I took in Florida over Christmas. We go down there to visit my family most years, and much to my husband's dismay,I usually drag my humongous backpack full of camera gear on the plane "just in case" I decide I want to take a photograph. As usual, I'm glad I did. I managed to drag him out to a few different nature preserves and a National Wildlife Refuge, and I got about three shots I like.

And I can't leave out the humor....

Seriously, the thought of anyone "molesting" an alligator is just creepy...

Anyway... Up in the next post, some adventure sports, Florida style!

I Want to be a Photographer

2011-01-20T09:12:00.003-07:00

I want to be a photographer. I decided this (again) sometime in the last week. I miss it. All of it, even the parts I thought I hated. I want the excitement of brides on their wedding day. I want to capture the fun in a toddler's eyes as she discovers new things. I want to be that idiot laying on the ground at the park to capture the light coming through the flowers at just the right angle. I want to spend the hours at the computer, figuring out new ways to manipulate images that I think people will like. I want to remember how to use Photoshop to create the advertising pieces that so many people complimented. I want it all back.

Whew! I had to get that out. I feel better now. "So," you might be asking yourself, "where in HELL is she going with this, and what does it have to do with anything?" Well... I don't know. But just this morning, I found myself farting around, actually playing with manipulating images in Photoshop. Here are just a few of the results, starting with the original image. Enjoy!

2011-01-13T15:54:00.003-07:00

Wow. 2010 is over. SO fast... I think I blinked and missed it. It was a tough year for me with photography. I've been pretty burned out on the whole thing. I played around a little bit this fall with a friend of mine, shooting for myself for a change, and slowly started enjoying it again. By now, I actually miss the people, the places, and the fun... Anyway, here are a few shots from the fall, with more to follow... I promise, this time...

We went to the zoo one day, and this guy was just hanging out there, posing for me. I have this stupid soft spot for bears, as long as they're not trying to eat me.

This was a rather phallic mushroom I found on the floor of a gorgeous forest at Meyer's Ranch Open Space Park.

Susie talked me into going up this (okay, not terribly) nasty four wheel drive road off of Fall River Road. Apparently there was supposed to be a lake up there. When we arrived, this fallen tree was the only thing worth photographing. Stupid drought!

This is another one from Meyer's Ranch Open Space. I swear, aspens have eyes...

2010-02-19T10:11:00.002-07:00

Winter has been gorgeous in and around Denver, with snow falling one day and beautiful clear blue skies the next... I am loving the fact that we can get 6 inches one day and it's 50 degrees two days later.

This last weekend, Matt talked me into going out with cameras and photographing at one of the local open space parks... Here are the results!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T14:45:00.005-07:00

Ahhh, the start of a new year. Time for everyone to settle down from the holidays, sober up, and take stock of life. Time for resolutions, promises to oneself about how this year WILL be better, and all sorts new beginnings...

For me, this means taking a close look at my business and figuring out where I want to go from here. I have a brand new place in which to reinvent myself and my business, and I'm really excited to start!

So, first things first. As my first "official" promotion of the new year, I am offering a free sitting to the first ten families in the Denver area to contact me. I am looking for fun-loving families with or without kids and with or without pets to photograph in an outdoor location who would be willing to tell all of their friends about me (provided I do a good job for them, of course!). This promotion will be good through about mid-February, when I will post a new one, or until the ten family slots are filled.

To get some ideas flowing, here are some images of kids and families I have photographed in the past.

I really look forward to hearing from and meeting all of you. Please feel free to contact me at (303)396-9680 or LELuhnPhoto@gmail.com.

2009-12-30T13:16:00.003-07:00

I have recently been working on the last of the albums from this past spring's weddings. Here are a few samples of the pages...

Coming up soon - Random images from around Denver...

2009-12-14T08:24:00.007-07:00

I have recently been going back through my old images, dating way back to photography school... And I found some that might just be worth putting out there. Most of these were commercial pieces that I photographed at school, in the commercial studio, with a HUGE 4x5 camera - Those things are NOT the easiest to maneuver and use.

This first image was probably the easiest one of all of the ones I'm putting up today - It only took about three hours to get right...

This next one took a little longer -

And the goal of this one was to photograph "shiny metal." Mind you, our instructor told us NOT to use a teapot because they are notoriously hard to get right. My silly self decided to do it anyway. After MANY hours, it finally turned out alright...

My favorite, though, is the one that took the longest. This one started out as a black and white film image, for our "black on black" assignment. It took hours, and turned out awful. My advisor at the time gave me a little advice, and so I started again. This time, I photographed the mug with slide film, NOT black and white... Then scanned it and spent a few more hours cleaning it up in Photoshop. In any case, I think it turned out alright.

Hope you enjoyed these images... Coming up soon - the new website!

2009-12-08T13:43:00.003-07:00

L. E. Luhn Photography wants to thank all of you who came out to the gallery opening last Friday! It was a COLD day, but it seemed to me that there was a pretty decent turnout. It was exciting and somewhat scary to have my stuff up there, hanging for all the world to see. I'm here are a couple of images of what it all looked like - NOT the best photographs, but enough for everyone to get the idea!

2009-11-19T07:12:00.004-07:00

Alright, once again, I have been slacking on the blog thing... I have been busy with... Oh, I don't know... Life... Or something... Anyway, excitement is on the horizon! I have my very FIRST gallery show opening in about three weeks! *SHEER EXCITEMENT* It took me FOREVER to figure out what images to show, what images not to show, what images to enlarge and frame, and what images to just have available for purchase in smaller sizes... I STILL haven't figured out the latter. The opening is Friday, Dec. 4th, 6-10 pm at the NOW Artspace Gallery on Tennyson in Denver, if anyone is interested in attending, and the show will run through the last Saturday of the month. Here are a couple of the images I finally decided on...

I hope to see some of you there!

Laura & Will

2009-08-07T10:05:00.005-06:00

On to the next wedding of the season... Laura and Will's wedding was a little different... They actually got married last summer, on a VERY rainy Saturday afternoon at Smith Gardens... Laura hid out in the car until her dad came by, and actually walked in to the ceremony under an umbrella!

The ceremony was nice, if a little damp, and at the end of the day, Laura and Will were Mr. and Mrs.!

Their reception was this summer, at the Country Club of the North. The details of the beach themed reception were just amazing!

And of course, you can't forget the mimosas!

It was a beautiful wedding and a great time!

Memorial Day Weekend in Moab, Utah

2009-07-29T09:28:00.004-06:00

This year for Memorial Day weekend, we decided to go to Moab, Utah. We'd been there before, and we always meant to go back, we just hadn't had the chance. We used the excuse that I was turning 30 that weekend as a good reason to go... So, we lugged all of our camping gear across the country via airplane and landed in Moab...

We rented mountain bikes a couple of days, that's always interesting... But the highlight for me was getting to go back to the national parks around there, especially Canyonlands. There is an arch there whose beautiful photograph has eluded me in the past. Mesa Arch, it's called, and there have been BEAUTIFUL images created of it over the years... The last time we were in Moab, we got up early to catch the sunrise behind it, only to arrive about 20 minutes too late...!

This year, I was DETERMINED to get the shot. We got up at 4 on the morning of my birthday, and headed out. We arrived with plenty of time to hike in by headlamp, which we did (it's not a bad hike at all). I had just set up my camera and tripod when we started hearing voices out on the trail. Suddenly, there was a group of about 14 photographers, all lined up in a row with tripods, and as the sun came up, everyone was shuffling for the best spot. A few of the people there were taking pictures of the photographers instead of the sunrise...

Anyway, after much shuffling with other people, here is the best image I got from the infamous sunrise shoot.

I still want to go back again, maybe in winter, when there will be less people around, to see if I can get the sun in a better spot.

On the hike out, there were many, many different types of cacti in bloom...

The weekend went well, although that night there was a thunderstorm and lightning decided to hit the town's only transformer, knocking the power out to the WHOLE town. It was entertaining, and so we packed up and went in search of a microbrew and a hotel for our last night out!

Francie and John

2009-07-20T08:05:00.003-06:00

Our first wedding of the season came mid-May, with Francie and John. They got married at St. Charles in Kettering. Although I'd spent my whole life growing up going to church there, I'd never photographed a wedding there. We had a great time with them. For a change, here are some of the album pages that I created for their wedding!

Colorado Spring Break

2009-07-15T09:43:00.004-06:00

I'm not too sure how to start this post, so how about some photographs?

I took these over spring break this past March when I was out visiting friends in Colorado. It was an ugly, cloudy day, kind of rainy, but one of my friends and I went out shooting, and we found some beautiful water to photograph in Clear Creek Canyon, off of the road that goes from Denver almost to Idaho Springs. It worked out well for me, as I LOVE to photograph moving water...

*Just a reminder, all of my fine art and landscape images are available for purchase at:

www.lelphoto.smugmug.com,

or via email for a signed and matted print at:

leluhnphoto@gmail.com

Next up, wedding season, as well as a trip to Moab, Utah!

Big South Fork NRRA

2009-07-09T16:42:00.009-06:00

Okay, okay, so the next few days has turned into a month. Crazy how that happens... Much excitement, though. My husband and I FINALLY were able to realize a crazy dream of ours that we've had for years now... More about that later, though!

In the meantime, I believe I owe some

wedding and trip photographs that I have neglected, once again, to put up. So...

Sometime in January, my husband talked me into doing a little colder-

weather camping. It was going to be something like below zero in Dayton, so we decided to go a little further south. We ended up at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, where it was just a LITTLE bit warmer... Here are a few images from our (12 grueling mile) hike the first day we were out there...

I absolutely LOVE photographing moving water, so this hike was awesome for me.

The next morning (I know I mentioned "cold-weather" camping earlier...),

we woke up to this...

About three inches of snow had fallen on us that overnight! And we'd been lucky the evening before. If I recall correctly, we had just finished cleaning out the dishes from dinner and crawled into our tent when, "drip, drip, drip..." It was raining, then it (obviously) turned to snow, as you can see from the photograph...

It was a great trip!

Stay tuned! More to come from spring break in Colorado and the season's first weddings, along with my first-ever "Trash the Dress" session...!

2009-06-09T10:38:00.003-06:00

I know, I know, I have been terrible, neglecting my blog for the last six months... Wow! It HAS been that long... Oops. So I would like to apologize for my gross neglect.

What shooting I have done has been fun. Matt and I went out to play one rainy afternoon at this wall of grafitti that we have biked past numerous times. We always thought it would be cool, and we finally got there. Here are a couple of images from our playtime.

We had a really good time that day, wandering around downtown with our cameras, photographing random subjects around town.

I have a couple of weddings and trips that I will blog about here in the next couple of days... Until then, enjoy!

2009-01-05T15:16:00.002-07:00

Well, I'm back from my WONDERFUL vacation in Florida for the holidays. I got to hang out with my family and do quite a few pretty cool things. I was able to take a ton of photographs, both of people and outdoor things. I will have more up here over the next week or so from my trip, as well as on my flickr site, so check that out as well! In the meantime, this is probably my favorite shot from my trip... We went to an area of Everglades National Park called Shark Valley, where I had never gone before. We didn't see any sharks, but we saw a ton of these guys!

2008-12-16T19:21:00.002-07:00

I think one of my New Year's resolutions is going to be to play more with my camera and also to be a better blogger... But for now, I must excuse myself until the new year. My husband, my mom, and I are off to south Florida to visit family for the duration of 2008, down to the warmth! Hopefully I will come back with beautiful images to show. We will be gone the better part of two weeks, so I should have plenty of time to play with my camera... For now, I will leave you with one of my favorite images of South Florida...

The Plunketts

2008-12-14T14:11:00.003-07:00

Last month, a woman I know asked me if I could help her out on a shot she needed. She's the editor for a mom's magazine (www.chicmommagazine.com), and she needed a fun shot of her with her kids with their minivan for a story she was writing. We had a really good time trying to figure out how to incorporate the van into the images, and all ended up laughing really hard... Here are a couple of the poses we came up with.

Melissa & Clif

2008-11-14T11:56:00.005-07:00

I had a great time getting to know Melissa and Clif over the course of the last year. We started with their engagement pictures, at Cox Arboretum, last fall.

We got together a few more times throughout the year, to hammer out details and discuss their wedding photographs. By the time the wedding rolled around, we felt like old friends! They got married at Holy Angels downtown on Oct. 25th of this year...

They had a beautiful fall theme going on, and their DJ did a great job with the lighting for their reception hall.

Thanks for a great time, guys! Enjoy!

2008-11-08T19:29:00.006-07:00

I decided recently that I wanted to change the look of my website. I hope to have the new site up in the next month or so, so check www.LELPhoto.com out then! Here is a preview of what the front page will look like...

Glen Helen

2008-10-17T13:06:00.003-06:00

I have been trying to get myself go photograph nature for quite a while now, since I got home from Montana this summer... I really loved doing it there, but it takes time, and I'm busy, and excuse, excuse, excuse! But I did today. I had a great time! Here are a few of the shots I took...

I would also like to mention, all my fine art and landscape images are available for purchase. Please email me at LELuhnPhoto@gmail.com for more information.

the Thomas family

2008-10-15T17:47:00.003-06:00

I shot pictures of the Thomas family about a week and a half ago. We had a great time, going to the Harman school playground, Smith Gardens, and Shafor Park! Here are a few of the images...

The girls...

Hi!

2008-10-10T18:26:00.005-06:00

I don't know how to start this.... So I'm just going to start with pictures. Here are a few from my summer vacation this year.