Personal Safari | Denver

A few years ago, when I had purchased my very first DSLR (a Canon Rebel Xsi), my friend Brandon and I would spend our Saturdays dinking around Colorado just taking photos. This was before the inception of Urban Safari, and we would either take silly pictures of each other or pictures of rather plain things like leaves, buildings, fire hydrants, etc. We called these our safaris, and I always looked forward to a full day of shooting anything and everything with one of my very best friends. Since I have begun to focus more on portrait and wedding photography, it’s been harder to fit these more “personal” safaris into my schedule. As my business began to grow, my Saturdays (and Sundays) became more about editing, blogging or going out and photographing a client. Don’t get me wrong; I am over-the-moon with how much my business has expanded and I am so thankful for all of my WONDERFUL clients. But you know, sometimes it’s just nice to take pictures of…stuff. A rock on the street. An empty beer can laying crushed in an alley. Squirrels. The 16th Street Mall. Just…stuff. So over the past few days, I spent a little time doodling around my neighborhood near the Capitol Building just taking photos of things. It was refreshing to just be there with my camera, and so it has birthed a new goal for 2013: to spend more time with just me and my cameras.

Below are some of the photos of the first personal safari of 2013. I borrowed a nice wide-angle lens from my colleague Alex to photograph the new Colorado Supreme Court and Colorado Court of Appeals Building at 14th and Broadway in the daytime, and then I busted out my wide-angle zoom lens and my telephoto lenses for a nighttime shoot with an amazing friend of mine and bride-to-be Jessie. We spent a little time at the new Clyfford Still Museum and the City and County Building, where I got to practice some off-camera flash, which is an area of photography that I am also aiming to improve upon this year. Hope you love some quick photos from my little safaris from the past few days! Also, I’ve posted a list of the gear I used for these photos at the bottom of the page in case anyone is interested. Enjoy!

Gear List:

• Canon EOS 5d Mark II
• Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM lens
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens
• Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM medium telephoto lens
• Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM wide-angle lens
• Canon Speedlite 430EX II
• Canon Speedlite 580EX II
• PocketWizard Mini TT1
• PocketWizard FlexTT5
• Gary Fong Lightsphere
• Buttloads of Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable batteries