50th Birthday Surprise

Hello, last Friday we woke up to find a cemetery in our front yard, courtesy of my step brother from Birmingham, Alabama. Thank you Tom! Now the entire neighborhood knows I am over the hill. The neighbor kids were all very impressed. The adults are afraid this will happen to them!
Cheers, Kent Meireis

Democratic National Convention in Denver

Hello, last week the Democratic National Convention in Denver made for some great people- watching, as downtown was as crowded as I've ever seen it. Click here for a slideshow. DNC.
There were planned protest marches every day, starting in Civic Center Park. I covered the Procession For The Future March on a hot, sunny summer day. It was sponsored by Backbone Campaign. Backbone Campaign
On the final night of the convention I was hired to photograph a party in the big, white event tent across from the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The tent was transformed into an amazingly swank club scene with a performance by Will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas. They rocked the house. Sorry, but I can't publish pictures of the show yet. Black Eyed Peas.
Cheers, Kent Meireis

Tisha and Previn's Wedding

Hello, last Sunday I had the honor of photographing Tisha and Previn's wedding in her grandmother's backyard in west Denver.
Previn is the son of my good friend and fellow wedding photographer John Hudetz. Hudetz
Going into this wedding, I new it wasn't going to be anything short of amazing. There were multiple cultural themes represented as Tisha is part Jewish and part American Indian plus they both embrace eclectic cultures.
Click here to see a slideshow of their wedding. Wedding
The dress and overall style of the day was Celtic/Renaissance including a Celtic Bluegrass Band.
This was truly a fun wedding and Tisha and Previn along with a assortment of family members and friends planned a wonderful ceremony/reception/party. They even had a keg of mead!
Cheers, Kent Meireis
If you would like to learn more about their wedding check out their website. Wedding website

Karen and James Wedding

Hello, last Saturday I photographed Karen and James wedding with my good friend Melissa Rich. Melissa Rich
Their ceremony was held at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church here in Denver.
And their reception was at The Brown Palace Hotel.The Brown Palace Hotel
Click here to see a slideshow of their wedding day.
Wedding
It was a pleasure working with both Karen and James as they were an exceedingly nice couple.
Cheers, Kent Meireis

Denver Botanic Gardens Concert Soul Stew Revival

Hello, last Sunday we were lucky enough to have tickets to see Soul Stew Revival starring Susan Tedeschia and Derek Trucks at the Denver Botanic Gardens!
Botanic Gardens.
They are husband/wife blues players with an amazing band. This was the first time I've seen them play together. It looks and sounds like they will be a powerhouse blues band for years to come. If they tour anywhere near you, be sure to check them out. Personally, I am looking forward to a CD from this group.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about another concert at the gardens and mentioned the cool Urban Nature art show on display around the different landscapes. This time I wandered around and collected a few more photos of the urban art mingling in the gardens. Urban Nature.
Cheers, Kent Meireis

Summer Denver Debutante Ball at the University of Denver

Hello, last Saturday I documented the 2008 Summer Debutante Ball at the University of Denver. Click here to see a slideshow. Deb Ball.
A local photo studio Bettinger Photography does all the formal pictures of the girls and their families. Bettinger.
Owner of the studio, Dan Bettinger, has hired me three years in a row to photograph a story line of the day working as a photojournalist. Its like photographing a wedding with lots of brides.
Cheers, Kent Meireis
How the Tradition Started
The idea that a young girl of marriageable age should be presented to society in order to find a husband of suitable means and similar social standing started in England. The landed aristocracy was quite small and physically dispersed on the island. In an agrarian society where wealth and power depended on land, the lords and ladies of England married within a very small circle in order to preserve their holdings and ultimately their social and political influence. One of the principal attractions of their daughters was the often large dowries that came with them. This attracted the bold and the unprincipled at a time when the tradition of arranged marriages was ending.
The need to protect and augment landholdings by widening the field of eligible suitors geographically while narrowing it socially gave birth to the tradition of the debutante ball. Over the centuries English society came to be increasingly centered on the court of the kings and queens of England. At certain times of the year, the court sat in London. During this time, the aristocracy came in from their country homes and opened their city houses and the social season commenced. It was hoped by the end of the season, a girl would have found a suitable husband. The tradition of presenting daughters to the King and Queen lives on in today’s debutante balls in the curtsies the debutants make to mark the beginning of the event.
After the industrial revolution, the foundations of English wealth began to shift from land to money. Impoverished aristocrats became increasingly anxious to make marital alliances with wealthy entrepreneurs. The middle class daughters of industrialists and merchants could be presented if they could find a sponsor from among the aristocracy. From this time emerged some of the more unfortunate traditions of snobbery, social climbing, and frustrated marriages that continue to hurt feelings and color the reputation of debutant balls to this day.
The original presentation of young women to society started in the United States in 1748 in Philadelphia. Denver came to game fairly late staging its first ball in 1955. By then time the traditional sources of wealth were shifting yet again away from growing, mining, or making things towards providing professional services. Women of a certain social status no longer got married at 18 (or pregnant at 19) and started looking to college as the best place to find husbands of means and social standing.
At the dawn of a new century as we see another shift in the economic basis of wealth, the debutant ball has lost much of its original purpose for men. Women don’t have dowries; they don’t need to depend on a man for economic survival. Today divorce rather than marriage marks the great transition in personal fortunes and the debutants of 2006 do not to expect to marry until long after graduate school when they have established successful careers as doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, and venture capitalists. Where a debutante ball was once a great place for men to pick up women, this is no longer the case. The debutant ball lives on now as a celebration of fertility and an expression of the stability of a social order. We follow the tradition today, as we do so much else in contemporary society, because it makes women happy.

Elise and Mark Bisbee Wedding

Hello, on June 27th I photographed Elise Simonds and Mark Bisbee's wedding at the Church of the Good Shepherd followed by their reception at Cherry Hills Country Club. Church of the Good Shepherd.
Cherry Hills Country Club.
I photographed the wedding with my good friend John Hudetz. Hudetz.
Please click here to see a slideshow. Wedding.
I actually enjoy photographing church weddings as much as outdoors weddings. Both situations offer different opportunities to find meaningful and unpredictable images. Both Elise and Mark were great as they were totally camera unaware allowing me to capture very natural pictures.
Thank you so much for letting me do what I do best.
Cheers, Kent

Saint Vincent dePaul/Red Rocks Wedding

Hello, on May 17th I photographed Lisa and Evan's wedding with my good friend and fellow wedding photographer, John Hudetz. John Hudetz.
Lisa and Evan's wedding at Saint Vincent DePaul Church in Denver was a traditional catholic ceremony. After that things got strange. The couple had planned their reception at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, before the venue booked a concert for the same night. And it wasn't just any concert - it was a violent rap band called Insane Clown Posse. Insane Clown Posse. Most of the fans paint their faces to look like the band members. Lisa and Evan decided to go through with their reception plans even though they aren't fans of ICP. Red Rocks.
A group of somewhat friendly concert-goers actually joined the couple in a photo while we were involved in a portrait session at the Trading Post. That produced a few shockingly different wedding photos.
We then drove to a remote part of the park for some pictures while hiking and climbing on rocks. Once we finally made it to the reception, I was blown away with how perfect the space was. The 30,000 square-foot visitors center turned out to be a great location for a Colorado experience, with breathtaking views and gourmet food! You couldn't even hear the concert music from inside the visitors center. Wow, what a wedding to remember!
Cheers, Kent
If you would like to see a slideshow click here. Wedding.

Children with Diabetes

Hello, Recently I spent a day at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Denver photographing kids, families, and doctors. Barbara Davis Center. It's amazing to see kids dealing with a disease such as diabetes that is difficult for adults to handle.
This week Denver Bronco's quarterback Jay Cutler found out that he has Type I diabetes which caused him to loose 35 pounds during last season. Now he knows the cause and that he will have to monitor his blood sugar and other medical conditions carefully for the of his life. He's expected to be able to continue playing professional football.
Cheers, Kent

Holiday Lights - Denver City and County Building and Civic Center

Hello, last week on a snowy cold night after a meeting downtown, I decided to go over to the Civic Center to photograph the Denver City and County building holiday lights.
Happy Holidays, Kent

Denver's Rocky Mountain Rollergirls VS New York's Gotham Girls Roller Derby

Hello, last weekend my wife, Geri, talked me into going to a Roller Derby match at the Bladium Sports Club Bladium. She was meeting some friends from work so I was able to hang out and photograph the event. It was pretty much a beer drinking, tattooed, and body pierced crowd.
I ran into one of our neighbors who was there with her husband their son and during a break she offered to buy me a beer and I didn't ask to see her tattoo!
It was actually a very nice crowd and the skaters were a blast.
Denver's Rocky Mountain Roller Girls Rocky Mountain Rollergirls team took a beating at the hands and skates of New York's Gotham Girls Roller Derby team Gotham Girls Roller Derby. If you would like to see a slideshow of the match CLICK HERE: Roller Derby.
Cheers, Kent

Italian friends visit Colorado

Hello, last week two friends from Italy stopped in Denver from their homes in Genoa and Tuscany. First I should explain how we became friends with Luisa and Luciano. During World War II, Geri's father Jim, who was serving in the army in northern Italy, met Luisa's mother while defending the area against the Germans. The two families and all of their children have become good friends over the years and trade visits. I was lucky enough to meet them in 2003 in Genoa and in 2004 when we traveled to Tuscany.
We had four days in which to give them a taste of Colorado. So we started at Denver International Airport where I introduced them to one of the airport Ambassadors and showed them all kinds of tourist information. Geri actually had a pretty good plan for our visitors which started with a tour of lower downtown Denver (LoDo), and included stops at Union Station, Rockmount Ranchwear, The Brown Place Hotel and Rock Bottom Brewing. We learned a few, fun Denver facts from former Denver Post writer/columnist, Dick Kreck, who is quite a historian.
The next day we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Cinotti's wanted to see the Rocky Mountains up close because Luisa's parents live in the Dolomite Mountains near Trento where they operate a small hotel during the ski season.
We took a picnic lunch along with us and sat in the sun at Bear Lake. They were very impressed with our mountains and the wildlife such as elk, deer and big horn sheep.
They had so much fun in the park and the weather was so beautiful and warm for November, that we decided to go to Colorado Springs the next day.
We took the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Wheel Train to the top of Pike's Peak at 14,110 feet. Cog railway. The train ride and the experience of being on top of the world might have been the highlight of their visit to Colorado.
It was sunny but cold at the top and the wind wasn't too bad. We could see five states from our vantage point! After the three-hour trip up and down, it was time for lunch at the European Cafe in Manitou Springs before finishing our day at the Garden of the Gods.
It was t-shirt weather and in the 70's as we walked through the amazing red rock formations, while rock climbers scrambled up cracks and ledges. The sunset glowed yellow and orange as we drove back to Denver. Geri and I grilled beer-butt chicken while our guests packed for their early morning flight to Washington D.C., where Luciano had scheduled a meeting with the U.S. Department of Energy. Luisa was planning her museum visits.
Enjoy, Ken-ta
If you would like to see a slideshow of Luisa and Luciano's visit CLICK HERE: Italian visit. All of our slideshows require flash player. Download a free version here: flash player.

Day of the Dead - Denver

Hello, last Friday November second was Dia de Los Muerto or Day of the Dead, an Aztec ritual celebrated in Mexico, parts of the United States and Central America. The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls and displayed them during the ritual to symbolize death or rebirth.
I decided to attend the celebration held at Pirate-Contemporary Art, an art gallery at 3655 Navajo Street. Pirate Art Gallery. The gallery was a fitting place for Denver's longest running Day of the Dead celebration honoring the departed through processionals, altars, flowers, and candy creations.
The gallery hosted Day of the Dead art shows and activities featured Aztec dancing by Danz Grupo Mitotilitzli. Danza Grupo Mitotilitzli, as well as a Sponge Bob pinata for the kids followed by a candlelight procession around the neighborhood.
Enjoy, Kent

Scooter Rally 2007 Denver, Colorado

Hello, last weekend I was invited to photograph a Scooter Rally with about 80 old scooters with crossing over and under I-25 from 38th Avenue in north Denver to Yale Ave. in South East Denver. My friend and Phil Lombardo, a hair stylist at, The Parlour, organized the ride. He also hooked me up with with Adam who owns Sportique Scooter at 32nd and Pecos where the rally started. Sportique Scooters.Adam drove a scooter with a sidecar so I could document the 30-mile ride that ended on South Broadway at Adams new scooter stop. If you would like to see a slideshow of the Scooter Rally CLICK HERE: Scooter Rally 2007. All of our slideshows require flash player. Download a free version here: flash player.