so. blogger and i have had a great run. but, for a number of reasons, i finally upgraded the blog to something a little more clean and all my own. so, if you're into following the blog still, i'm moving! in a little more streamlined format and in keeping with my new site and all...
it's now at http://www.caitlinhamiltonphotographyblog.com/

thanks for following along with me all these years; i hope you'll continue to follow along!

-c.

USGP in Bend, Oregon

So I had this grand plan of being all pro-active blogging and making a schedule for myself. and I decided it's that time... facelift. New blog for a new me! Look for that in the next few weeks, for now enjoy one at the start line from USGP in Bend, Oregon from this past weekend.

filmed

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking.
I know, look out! This can be verrrry dangerous.

I was sitting in the office, backing up files... and I started rifling through the boxes (literally, HUGE boxes) full of the reasons why I started using a camera.
When I was a freshman in college, Tom Galliher, someone I had never met, knew my dad and knew how much I loved photography. He was in the process of changing over to digital and had some spare equipment that he generously gifted to me.... and I fell more in love the moment I got my hands on that Mamiya 645.
Bags of undeveloped 120 film that I just never got around to developing (and some rolls remain to be shot!)
My seagull, a faithful friend with the most perfect vignetting you will ever see.
The hawkeye that I modified to take 120 film instead of extinct 220 film.
My holga, a plastic wonder where I know exactly what the light leaks will look like.
My home-made pinhole cameras. they are one of a kind and they only perform for me, because I know the exposure times like the back of my hand.
I pulled all of these (and more) out of the box and out of their cases today and, well... I just was reminded of how connected they made me feel. You really feel like you're MAKING something.

Some changes are a-comin.
I'm going to do something I've longed to do for a very long time.
I love the practicality of digital. I love it.
But sometimes, I have to go back to my roots a little bit, to keep my brain thinking (and to keep the camera from thinking for me). I've been soul searching, and I am happy to say that it's so important for me to keep this connectivity to the creative process.... I'm going to be integrating film and digital, it is going to be the most wonderful year yet.

some lovely throwbacks (the last one, complete with scanner dust, haha... oh the early years):

featured!

So in September I photographed the lovely wedding of local Boulder wedding dress designer Maggie Evans and her wonderful sweetheart Dylan Scholinski. 2 more wonderful people could not possibly exist, they are both incredible!

AND now, YAY for big news for me in particular.... Their wedding photos are featured on "The Handmade Wedding" blog... could not be happier or more proud that Dylan and Maggie's photos are the ones that made my first blog feature. Love to Maggie for submitting this (AND for being the best dress designer around!!). Here's to a lot of love for years to come.

Go check them out at The Handmade Wedding Blog, I'm so very happy!

Much love!

Here's a few of my favorites that you can't see on the Handmade Wedding blog... it was about time I shared the best-looking group of people I've ever had the privilege of seeing all together in the same place!

 

chicago+indiana

It is with so much excitement that I can recap my trip to Chicago and Indiana; I've had a whole week to process it all.

Hazel and I had much quality pillow talk time (wherein I always fell asleep first, of course... so sleepy).
I spent Monday with the fabulous Lara Casey, Emily Ley, and Gina Zeidler, doing the hard work at the Making Things Happen intensive and really figuring out what matters most to me and how to get to where I really want to be, and I'm proud to say that I'm on a track that I'm choosing for myself, and I am officially open for business as Caitlin Hamilton Photography! big doins... I owe my "get it!" attitude change to the 30 wonderful women who shared all of themselves with me and allowed me to share myself with them.

 Saw some wonderful, fabulous people I haven't seen in years, Joe and Helen, AND got to meet their incredible daughter Jules for the first time.  Spent some real quality time with my friend Wes for the first time in years; we went to the MCA and both found contemporary art that we didn't hate and that we understood (goal accomplished!).
Hazel convinced me to get my first haircut in 5 years (OMG), and afterwards, I bought some bright pink nail polish on a whim that was just so bright and happy.
I mastered public transit, while looking great.
I got to see Jill and Devin, SUCH a treat. We ventured to the botanical conservatory and to deep dish pizza and shared so many laughs... so wonderful to fall right in with them like we never left each other.
Hazel took me to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, where she does research (because she is AWESOME!) and I gotta tell you, I fell in love with it. I'd love to shoot there someday. It was seriously the most PERFECT fall morning... I had me time without a phone or a camera and it was just incredible. Walking through each section was like walking into a different world every 10 minutes.
Went to Indiana to ride the Hilly, race bloomingcx, and see so many people I have missed so much.
Bakehouse Breakfasts, talks with Alycin, quality time with Teddy, Jim, and Linda, and so much chamois time. The gracious Lyle both feeding us at Scholar's Inn and allowing us to dance up a storm at his house while dressed in Halloween Costumes... his generosity continues to astound me.

I have it all.
Reconnecting with all of these fabulous people helped me so much to reconnect with ME, which is so so so important and I'm forever grateful to have had such a perfect week with you all.

Stephen+Kate

have you ever met people you just can't help but love? seriously. i mean, i want everyone to meet these two because i DARE you to find something you don't just love about them. we all piled into their car to do their engagement photos, and the first stop was a short pit stop... stephen had given himself a haircut and missed a big chunk. i love it. we headed out to a gorgeous trail that kate picked out and "smelled out a nice view" for ourselves. please, enjoy these two as much as i do:

what. a. beauty. for real??

as always, those beautiful mountains play a major part in photos, i can't help myself.

 

it's a new day, in all senses of the word.

who knew i would come out of my new shell and into my own photos once again?
several major updates are coming, watch out.

There is so much to say about Chicago.
So much. I can't even believe it's real and it's only been 2 days.
Pillow talk with hazel and her wonderful cooking.
Lara, Gina, and Emily facilitating the most incredible change yesterday in me and 30 other people at MTH.
Lara saying to me, "be you, because you is AWESOME."
Making hard decisions.
Meeting 30 wonderful women just like me.
Mastering public transit.
Meeting Wes, and Joe, Helen and their SQUISHABLE little Julesbaby for dinner last night.
Cocktails with Wes at the Whistler.
So many hugs given and received.

Today, the rest of my life begins.
... and I gotta tell you.... it looks pretty wonderful.

Thank you, Chicago.

My two best friends and I started doing email updates about our lives to each other.... It's been so nice to be an active part of each other's lives again, even if it is just words. I've been replying to their long emails, sometimes one-liners, sometimes a little longer than that.... but I haven't written a long "life update" email to them yet. Erin called me out on it last night, so this morning I did it. I wrote it all out, the good and the bad. I sat there and stared at it for a minute, and seeing it all there on one page left me completely overwhelmed.

I realized that I have become very good at holding it together. There was a time, not so very long ago, that I couldn't stay composed at all... but I've become very good at it. I've become so good at it that I realized I haven't allowed myself to feel anything at all about any of it.

Here's me, about to feel the good and the bad... the vulnerability is going to be so worth it.

for now, enjoy this real beauty from a few weekends ago... maggie of maggie evans designs is so drop dead gorgeous on her own wedding day:

never been more proud.

I've never been more proud of anything in my life than I am of everything that's happened in the last year. I'm going to do one of my favorite things, look backwards a little bit.

In the last year, I have...
moved across the country to a place where I literally knew no one (except Erik, that is).
hiked my first 14,000 foot mountain.
celebrated a whole year of being married.
climbed outside for the first time in Boulder Canyon (AND am in love with it!).
got my first tattoo.
received government benefits for the first and only time (and got off them as soon as humanly possible).
had my first holidays away from home.
fallen back in love with my bike.
gotten very close to making photography my full time gig (coming soon... yes!).

most importantly, I feel like I've finally made a life for myself... and it's the thing I'm most proud of overall.  

I'm so lucky, some days I can't believe my life is really real.

a few days ago I was having this "poor me" moment, wallowing in the only negative things I could find.... and Erik just looked at me and said "are you serious right now?" and proceeded to remind me of every single wonderful thing I have going in my life and all the great people we have around us.

and he's really right, I couldn't be more lucky.

must remember to be a better blogger... i'm behind by a whole month!!!!! and it's not as if nothing has happened, it's that EVERYTHING has happened in the last month! in one of my (in)famous recapping posts i'm going to roll over all the wondrousness of june and july, all at once.

hilary and john got married, and it was wonderful.






















I visited the Yves St Laurent retrospective with my friend Grace and her roommate/mom Nina (and it was SO incredible, words don't really do it justice.... the swatches were everywhere and oh so beautiful) and then the same day attended my first ever Rockies game and baked myself to a crisp in the bleachers.

I finally got a new bike (now if it would only be put together and rideable, I'd be the happiest girl ever!).

 Then, 2 super fabulous weddings happened in the very same weekend; Kelly and Justin in Estes Park (OMG THEY DID AMERICAN GOTHIC!) and Kari and Cody right here in Boulder.... so much love all around!!

I went climbing for the first time ever with my captain, my rock... my lovely boss Angie (and LOVED IT!!!!!!) and had some serious adventures in Denver. The lovely Meredith and Davis got hitched atop a mountain overlooking the continental divide with 30 of their nearest and dearest; I feel privileged to have been among them.


Jenny and Jesse got married in Vail (omg too gorgeous for words).

The wonderful Rachel and Aaron decided to have their 5 year vow renewal and I'll be darned if they aren't just the best thing ever (and he just got a permanent job offer from Ball, yay).

The Ostermans got married and Erik was in the wedding.... what a perfect reason for a trip back home. SO GREAT!

Loving life and getting excited for all the things that are ahead; I have this feeling that my life is finally getting started. Looking forward to this week as we settle into our new place (moving day was yesterday) and have our 1 year anniversary. Life is good.

So. I had a revelation today.
As anyone who knows me can attest to, I am an extremely busy person, and I like to be busy. I don't know what to do without a schedule or a plan; I even plan my "fun" time (which, one could argue, takes some of the fun out of it).
I always write my schedule on a big Ansel Adams calendar so that Erik knows it (he often forgets things that are said to him in passing!) and I was writing my July schedule on the calendar today and something happened.
I arrived at the 28th of July, and my google calendar was empty. My wall calendar was empty. My outlook calendar was empty. I frantically pulled up my work schedule from my email because I thought there had to be a mistake.

There was no mistake about it...  somehow, I have a day off.
My inital reaction was, sadly, total and complete panic.

What do I do with a day off?
A legitimate day off... where NOTHING is happening?

We are going to find out.

libby+mark: married!

libby and mark, all hitched up!! here's a wonderfully select few photos to show you how wonderful they are.