Wedding Photographer Dan Hand | Denver – San Diego

Blog of Denver based portrait and wedding photographer

Marc and Bryn – Chautauqua Wedding

Next to my own wedding, I can’t recall many

Mission Bay Bonfire Engagement – Cassandra and Tyler

Cassandra is an old buddy of mine. She currently

Carrie + Geoff | Denver Engagement photography

Since around May I had the pleasure of working
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Jun. 5. 2013

Jonathan and Ellie – Space Gallery Wedding

Jonathan and Ellie got married at the Space Gallery in Denver. It was epic. I am very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to be a part of their special day and I can only hope that the pictures do it some justice, because it was a blast. Space gallery is an awesome place for a wedding. Besides all of the art that’s on display, there’s an awesome staircase, a massive window upstairs, oh and that amazing alley with all the lights you see in the last picture. From the moment I found out they were having their wedding there I had been drooling thinking about how magical that alley looked and it did not disappoint. Ellie and Jonathan were surrounded by many loved ones and from the moment the ceremony ended the party began. It wasn’t even two full songs before the entire grooms party had suddenly found themselves in vests and ties without any sort of shirt under. It took me a couple days just to mentally process how fun the whole evening was. If anyone is thinking of having a Space Gallery wedding I can highly recommend it!

bride having makeup done before wedding at Space Gallery in Denver

make up artist working on bride in littleton, colorado brides shoes and wedding dress waiting to be put on

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June 5, 2013 - 2:23 pm

Jason Buckner - Dan,
The “Bride and Groom first look” (sb05.png) one above is awesome! I felt the same way seeing my bride step onto the wedding aisle to make her way towards me: Whoa.

As always, excellent work, bro. Well done.

June 5, 2013 - 2:30 pm

dan - When that picture happened I knew the look on his face immediately and remember feeling the same way when it happened to me. That’s a feeling that sticks with you forever.

June 5, 2013 - 5:28 pm

Mary Hand - I like the alley shot too. What a great venue for a wedding and the pictures are great!

June 9, 2013 - 8:08 pm

Anni - What a beautiful wedding – love the art gallery setting.

The ceremony photos are lovely, especially.

June 10, 2013 - 3:31 am

ed peers - Super coverage Dan. Great compositions all over the place.

June 10, 2013 - 3:54 am

Sam - Such a great final image – lovely work and what a fun looking day! Cool venue.

June 10, 2013 - 7:31 am

Brian - Such a beautiful and unique wedding. Love the venue, details, and the coverage is aces

June 10, 2013 - 8:11 am

adam houseman - really nice use of light for your getting ready collection Dan. love the way you’ve captured so many subtle little moments from the day. well done bro.

June 10, 2013 - 8:38 am

Christian - Amazing set, but I have to say I seriously dig that last shot…awesome.

June 10, 2013 - 9:30 am

Dominique / York Place Studios - Man this is killer! Love your work, the dancing ones are really fab!

June 10, 2013 - 11:07 am

Mercedes - That last frame…stunner! Love this wedding, that couple is so fun!

June 10, 2013 - 11:39 am

john - last image, love!

June 10, 2013 - 12:18 pm

Gavin Farrington - Love the mom-kiss!

June 10, 2013 - 9:03 pm

Kelsie Taylor - gorgeous! that last shot is perfect.

June 10, 2013 - 9:05 pm

Paul Krol - Fantastic job on these man, way to capture the big day!

Mar. 14. 2013

Mission Bay Bonfire Engagement – Cassandra and Tyler

Cassandra is an old buddy of mine. She currently lives in Arizona, we currently live in Denver. I told her that we would be heading to San Diego where we both grew up (also where she and Tyler are getting married next year) and would love to shoot their engagement pictures if they would be able to make it out there. They were totally awesome and made the drive from Phoenix to San Diego to check out some venues, catch up with friends and family and to be totally awesome and let me take their pictures. I had always wanted to take some pictures near the water with a bonfire. This is what ensued.

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March 15, 2013 - 12:57 am

Mary Hand - Great pictures Daniel!

March 15, 2013 - 7:44 am

Jason Buckner - Very, very cool, Dan. Excellent work, as always.

March 15, 2013 - 1:29 pm

Merrielle - Love it! These are really really good.

March 22, 2013 - 6:20 pm

Matt Long - Great light, lots of fun, really enjoyed this post Dan

March 23, 2013 - 12:01 pm

dylan - so fun, cute, and refreshing!

March 23, 2013 - 2:03 pm

Derek Olson - Brilliant job capturing this couple’s chemistry!

March 23, 2013 - 7:11 pm

Jessica Schilling - Lovely session! The bonfire is a nice twist on a beach engagement shoot, and I love the lights and colors after the sun started to set!

March 24, 2013 - 10:33 am

james - Those beach shots rock!

March 24, 2013 - 1:05 pm

PJ - so cute and love your post processing…

March 24, 2013 - 2:02 pm

David McNeil - The early evening light is such a winner – all comes together for a dreamy and relaxed feeling which I love.

March 25, 2013 - 8:54 am

Sarah Der - Oohhhh love the twinkling, evening lights at the end! These two seem so relaxed and at ease, such sweet and playful moments between the two of them!

March 25, 2013 - 9:17 am

Adonye Jaja - This is really romantic, The stuff on the beach is so good!

March 25, 2013 - 2:26 pm

Galen - The best thing about this session it how well it displays the emotion of joy! This couple looks like they are having a blast and it takes a good photographer to set clients at ease like this. Great work!

March 26, 2013 - 9:08 pm

Ben Tomlin - Cute smiles all round, relaxed & natural – I want to build a bonfire now!

May 1, 2013 - 12:50 pm

Derek Martinez - Such a fun and beautiful session, lots of love!

Dec. 28. 2012

Carrie + Geoff | Denver Engagement photography

Since around May I had the pleasure of working alongside Geoff at work until he moved to Washington for new opportunities. A few weeks back Geoff told me he would be in Denver to spend Christmas with his fiancee and wanted to set up an engagement shoot while he was in town. Last Friday we met up in the afternoon and set off through the Denver Tech Center area and a short drive towards Red Rocks to Mathews/Winters park. As the sun went down it got cold fast but I think the photos turned out great.

Carrie and Geoff will be getting married on the Oregon coast in August and I can only imagine how awesome and scenic it will be. I can’t say enough good things about these folks and I had a lot of fun goofing around with them.

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December 29, 2012 - 4:44 am

Mary Hand - Great pictures Daniel! Beautiful Scenery and subjects!

December 30, 2012 - 1:35 am

Geoff Critzer - I cant believe how awesome these photos turned out! You have got some legit talent Dan!

December 30, 2012 - 4:28 am

Dan Hand - Thanks dude, I’m glad you like them!

January 1, 2013 - 9:11 pm

JESSIE - Cute couple. Love the black and white one where he is kissing her forehead. There is so much happiness on her face.

January 2, 2013 - 6:08 am

Kari Bellamy - What a lovely blue sky- and just a beautiful couple! Nice Work!

January 2, 2013 - 6:26 am

Mary Sylvia - Oh these two are so cute and you’ve captured them so well! LOVE the big black and white portrait. Wall portrait for sure.

January 2, 2013 - 9:11 am

Avelaine - That first bw photos is an instant favorite!

January 2, 2013 - 9:36 am

sam hurd - very nice! you do a great job of capturing the subtle candid laughs

January 2, 2013 - 10:56 am

Kat Braman - what a fun session! I love all the candids you captured.

January 2, 2013 - 11:21 pm

Mercedes - Really cute couple! I love how animated they are and you captured that so well.

January 3, 2013 - 3:35 am

Sam - What a cute couple, and lovely images. I bet they were thrilled!

February 5, 2013 - 2:11 am

Merrielle Buckner - My fave is the second one where she is hugging back. That is so sweet and natural-looking. But I also loooove the last one. You can see their noses are red from the cold. It just looks so wintry and perfect. AMAZING job capturing this couple in the beauty of Colorado. Good luck to the happy couple!

Dec. 16. 2012

Ellie + Jonathan – Red Rocks engagement photography

This week I had the pleasure to take engagement photos for Ellie and Jonathan and had a great time. We started the afternoon off at Red Rocks which is always scenic and later finished the session in historic downtown Littleton. I had never been to downtown Littleton before but I thought it was pretty cool. They had added a bunch of holiday lights throughout the various trees around town but unfortunately they were not on while we were down there. Even without the lights I felt like we got out with some pretty good pictures.

The chemistry between these two was fantastic. I always love when a couple can naturally direct themselves without forcing it. I’d rather replace with cheesy posing with cheesy jokes any day and this session had no shortage of cheesy jokes and hilarious stories. While we were walking around Littleton we found this small shop that sold strange metal objects such as birds for your garden or sheet metal santas. We decided to walk around the back of the store and found an entire garden of sheet metal pigs of various bright colors with wings. I suggested that Jon and Ellie make up some back story about how she said she would marry him when pigs fly and then took a photo in front of all the odd flying pigs. Just think of the Christmas card potential!

One thing’s for certain, their wedding will be awesome.

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December 17, 2012 - 2:35 pm

Chris - Beautiful work. Looks like you got some real genuine expressions – particularly in that shot in the market.

December 17, 2012 - 2:42 pm

Mario colli - The picture with them in the hay is one of my favourite on SWPB great job

December 17, 2012 - 6:04 pm

small - She has such a beautiful smile! Great work!

December 17, 2012 - 6:31 pm

Merrielle - The one in the tunnel is absolutely fabulous! I love the one with the yard art!

December 17, 2012 - 7:42 pm

Eduardo Suastegui - Nice imagery finished with evocative post-processing.

December 18, 2012 - 3:45 am

Richard Grainger - Love the b/w where the door creates that square shadow. Awesome. You spotted the light well.

December 18, 2012 - 7:47 am

Jared Tseng - Love the framing of the light on the second to last!

December 18, 2012 - 11:53 am

Elissa - This is a beautiful session… I really like the one in the tunnel!

December 18, 2012 - 1:35 pm

/mariahedengren - I like the diversity. Must be really awesome for the couple to have so different shots.

December 18, 2012 - 3:57 pm

Kari Bellamy - wowzers… what a great location! Awesome work!

December 19, 2012 - 12:09 pm

Mariana Maya - Looks like a super fun chill couple! Nicely captured

Oct. 25. 2012

This is my wife

After almost 4 years of being together, on August 17th 2012 at 5:17pm Elissa and I were officially married, sorta. We didn’t sign the license until like a week later, but who cares. On one of the days we were in San Diego I got her to pose for a few shots in Balboa Park. She’s pretty.