We LOVE Keystone Science School!

I have spent the last two days at Keystone Science School, chaperoning my son's 5th grade class, and trying to capture as many images as I could to "document" the week in photos. I also played a little with lenses and settings best for snow photos.

A full slideshow of the week is online here.....

And I don't do video, but this Making an Avalanche is the closest to video that I've done for awhile! Just 30 seconds & fun!

I learned a lot about snow that I didn't know.... I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids!

And a few of my favorite photos....

Wedding Wire 2010 Bride's Choice Award

Dillon, Colorado - February 2, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation's leading wedding technology company, just announced Beaton Photography has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride's Choice Awards for Wedding Photography.

The annual Bride's Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Beaton Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. Just two Summit County Wedding Photographers and 61 Colorado photographers were given this award.

Other Summit County vendors earning awards are:
All Season Catering
Petal and Bean Florists
Breckenridge Wedding Photographers
Congratulations Rich, Dina & Stacey, and Laura!

"We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community" said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire's Chief Executive Officer. "The annual Bride's Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year."

We are happy to announce that Kay Beaton and Beaton Photography are among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride's Choice Awards.

For more information about Beaton Photography, please visit www.beatonphotography.com.

About Beaton Photography
Beaton Photography has been photographing weddings in Colorado for 10 years. In addition we love taking children and family portraits as well as architectural and real estate photos. Kay Beaton is the lead photographer and uses photojournalism skills learned originally as a photography intern at the Summit Daily News. She loves capturing true moments when the subject’s true personality shines through.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire is the an online wedding planning resource which enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

Thanks to all of our wonderful brides from last summer for recommending us on Wedding Wire! And to those that found us on Wedding Wire!

Almost time for the Romp to Stomp 2010

I've had the privilege of photographing two Tubbs Romp to Stomp events over the last couple years, and this year will photograph two more.

This Saturday Feb 6th I'll be photographing the Utah Romp to Stomp at Mountain Dell Golf Course between Salt Lake City and Park City.

And March 6th I'll be photogrpahing the Frisco Romp to Stomp for the 3rd year in a row!

You can sign up for either event online at the Tubbs Romp to Stomp website and you can even sign up as a "snowed in snowshoer" if you can't make the event but still want to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

If you want to donate directly to a participant - I recommend donating to Kristen Harris - a beautiful young mother of two that I met at last year's romp, and she was participating just 10 days after her lumpectomy! She's doing great & hoping to raise even more money this year - please help!

Some fun photos from past events and a great slideshow...

Children's Portraits - Eyelash shots!

I love taking children's photos - babies, toddlers, and kids of all ages. In the last year or so, I have found myself getting this shot of almost every child I photograph!

Initially it started because we always have toys to interest kids, so they are ALWAYS looking down. Rather than spend more time trying to coerce them into looking at the camera, I have started to enjoy this time - maybe a pause in the action, when they are happy and engaged, and I start focusing on those eyelashes! Maybe this will become the Beaton Photography Signature Shot? Here are a few recent "eyelash" shots!

Photographer Mentoring Marathon Wednesday Jan 27th - raising funds for HAITI!

A group of professional photographers has gotten together to raise funds for Haiti by mentoring other photographers on Wednesday January 27th. It's an online mentoring session - all day this Wednesday and they are hoping to raise $10,000. A couple of my favorite photographers are involved in the mentoring including:

Tyler Wirken and Anna Kuperberg

And lots of other great photographers that I will GET to know their work this week! All the details are at this Foundation Workshop link, as well as an event on Facebook.

Any photographers are invited to join - just read the details above & donate $100 to the Haiti Relief effort of your choice. I went for the Hope for Haiti telethon. Then email the receipt to huy@fworkshop.com with the subject line HAITI.

Wednesday's line up of photographers is:

8 am - 10 am : Sergio + Critsey Rowe
10 am - NOON : DQ Studios
NOON - 2 pm : David Murray
2 pm - 4 pm : Tyler Wirken
4 pm - 6pm : Ben Chrisman+ Anna Kuperberg
6 pm - 8 pm : JVS
8 pm - 10 pm : Brooks Whittington
(all on Central time)

This is such a great way to learn and donate at the same time - let's make this successful photographers! I spent some time online at the LA Times and pored over their Haiti photos in high resolution . Then I signed up! But careful - the photos are graphic! These were my favorites....

HAIRCUT: Willins Jean, 9, cries as he gets a haircut in an alley in Port-au-Prince, where many businesspeople have set up shop in the streets. The boy said he was crying because he was hungry.
(Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)



HAITIAN FLAG: A Haitian flag flies at half-staff in front of the collapsed presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. The flag, which is usually raised everyday, was placed in front of the ruins seven days after the deadly earthquake.
(Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Mountain Home for Sale in Bakersville, Colorado

This unique mountain home is for sale through Maggie Hillman at Metro Brokers in Frisco, Colorado. (970)668-3885

It's a creative beautiful 4,000 sq foot home in the secluded area of Bakersville (4 miles from Silver Plume and just 10 miles from Loveland Ski Area)

The Bakersville area is home to the trailhead to climb 14ers Grays and Torreys. This 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom home has two kitchens, and a big wetbar, and is located right on Clear Creek. I think it would be a perfect second home or maybe a bed and breakfast. I would buy it if I could (and if I didn't already own a mountain house!)

The full slideshow is here.....

Mason's First Christmas!

Mason was almost 3 months when we took these portraits of Baby's First Christmas. His older brother Donovan is now 2 1/2 and has been charming the camera for most of those years! Looks like his little brother Mason is going to continue in his footsteps! And the EYELASHES! Amazing!

Their full slideshow can be viewed here.....

and a few photographers favorites:

Happy New Year and welcome 2010!

As we usher in a new year, and folks around me are making new years resolutions, I have promised myself a very simple and easy to follow idea. In 2010 I want to leave a smaller footprint on this earth. To need less, to buy less, to use less, to be more environmentally conscious.


I took this photo of my own footprint in the sand in Naples, Florida last week as I tried to dream up what this would look like for me.

At home, it can be accomplished more easily.... watching what I buy and what I use - making the best environmental decision at every fork in the road.

But on vacation, it can be more difficult, and even selecting a vacation should include the environmental costs as well as the economic costs. Sometimes, like most of us, I tend to throw out some of my values on vacation week!

As a photographer, being green can be a challenge. There are a number of professional photographers who have taken on a "green label," and are trying to do things right. Last year I added the first "environmentally friendly" packages to my weddings. But what more can I do?

Areas needing more work:

Proof Books & Prints
Printing photos uses some harsh chemicals. And proof books can use a lot of resources too - but I want clients to have hard copies in their hands and displayed at their homes... so how to green them?

Printer Cartridges
My Epson 2400 printer cartridges are NOT recyclable! I thought they were and have been religiously saving them and delivering them to outlets for 4 years since I bought this printer - last year I learned that I was wasting my time!

Looking back, we are pleased to be doing the following in our efforts at Beaton Photography:

No hard copy proofs - everything can be offered as a "Green Package" - all digital images and online proofing only.

Environmentally Friendly Wedding Albums White Glove Albums are the only album that I know to date that advertises "Eco-friendly" wedding albums - but I will continue looking for vendors.

And we're continuing to follow the lead of a number of great photographers who lead the way in greening this industry:

Grazier Photography - Boston

Anne Ruthman - Boston area

Fun Photo Guys - California

All vacations must end - saying Goodbye to the Naples Beach!

When we left Naples (Florida) two days ago, I took my camera out and was trying to document a few of the things that are so memorable from vacation - and things that are common in Florida and not so common here in the mountains of Colorado. And I knew we were moving from a week of temperatures in the 70s to temperatures in the single digits, so I was trying to soak it all in.

The full vacation slideshow here....

Happy New Year from Naples, Florida!

After spending Christmas in Colorado in the single digits, we have been able to spend a wonderful beach week at New Years in Naples Florida. So nice to be able to enjoy both the mountains and the beach. We are blessed! Happy New Years!

The full vacation slideshow here....