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Lori McCurdy| Denver Based Photographer|Life as Art

@lorimackphoto

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Wedding + motherhood + family photographer
Beautiful enough to feel like art.
Human enough to feel true.
Denver + wherever the story takes me ✈️

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Mother, in all its forms, the most primal love language of our soul, for she is the earth.

Workshop: @visionandvoicecreative
Host: @calahkphoto
Model: @dravonrangel
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#editorialmotherhood #motherhoodphotography #motherhoodphotographer, Denver photographer, Denver motherhood photographer, intimate motherhood photographer, Utah motherhood photographer taken in Utah, USA by @lorimackphoto

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18

5 months ago

Honestly I never wanted to be a photographer.
Never thought I’d be anything creative at all because I believed God forgot that part when it came to my design.

So when I type the words “My website is up!” it feels completely surreal.
A place for my work.
A home of my creative expression.
Didn’t think it would ever be.

I feel like I’ve had a whole life lived already so in many ways I feel like I’m actually just getting started.

Getting started. A new beginning. While at times feeling like “what the hell are you doing and at your age?!”

I know I talk a lot about this -being 49, already raised a family, starting “too late”-for the longest time it was something I felt I needed to hide. I was embarrassed to tell people “I’m a late bloomer.”

But now I realize how much my life and lived experiences is actually the best thing I bring to this whole thing.
It’s the approach I take to every session, every wedding and every story-
the memories I’ve collected and the lessons I’ve learned. It’s the lifetime of love to my children and soul partner and the need for depth and authenticity in my closest relationships -

but it’s also the wounds..and the healing work ..and the trying again..and the shedding of old and finding of new ..it’s the hope and awe of this beautiful life we get to live and yes, even the gift of aging -it’s the freedom I now carry because of it all that ALLOWS me to see the way I see and feel the way I feel.

It’s what says to my heart before I press the shutter: “THIS moment, yes! This connection happening right here. Yep. right there, this.
This is the gold and the moment they will never forget. This is the feeling.”

So when I say I can’t believe I’m in this place-this place of creative expression, of new beginnings and learning and making art, and not just storytelling but of holding space and being entrusted with people’s most special moments -I’m brought to tears. Truly. As I write this, they fall.

(Continued in comments..) taken in Denver, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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10

4 months ago

Are Friday introductions even a thing anymore?

I’m not sure but some of you are new here and it’s been so long since I’ve made an actual appearance I thought I’d share a little. And since we just had family photos done by the amazing @emmah_violet_films I wanted to post her magic as well 🥰

10 Things you may not know about me:

1. I’m 4’11 so shopping is my nemesis. I’m even under the threshold of what is considered petite. So “shortened”, “must alter”, “have you tried the kid section?” are all phrases I’m familiar with but loathe. Thank goodness for the current era of baggy jeans 😆
2. I have 4 tattoos and plans for more. I’d like to get a new one with every cool place I travel to.
3. I grew up in a pretty conservative faith circle and practice. But in 2020 everything became undone for me during the pandemic. One of the hardest things I’ve ever walked-a crisis of faith. Long story for another time but how I emerged and where I sit now has become an integral part of my work and the ways in which I view the world.
4. I was in studies to be a personal trainer before becoming a photographer. Fueled by my passion for physical challenge that began when I had my second baby (and became my saving grace) I wanted to help others live a more active and healthy lifestyle. Since picking up a camera I am still so in love with movement in all its forms, especially as I live through my perimenopause years. It’s me vs me in the gym and I love that personal competition!
5. Wanted to be go into Elementary Ed but never went to college. Instead I got married at 19 to my HS sweetheart (met at 14!) and became a SAHM for the next 20 yrs. Those 4 kids are my absolute heart and best accomplishment.
6. Traveled to Europe for 17 days ‘23, my first solo trip apart from my family. One of the best experiences of my life because it opened up my world, igniting a hunger for curiosity and wonder, something I was not allowed growing up given #3.
7. Avid reader. I can’t put a book down once I start, especially a good thriller “who done it?”or romantic love story. Quite the opposite huh?
8. Not a morning person. Ever.Enough said😆
(Cont in comments….) by @lorimackphoto

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12

a year ago

I’ve been a little quiet here lately. The last few weeks have taken me from Italy to now in California, with a lot of life happening somewhere in between.

But I’ve been wanting to share more from W + J’s summer wedding at Denver Botanic Gardens.

There was something about this day that felt especially easy to photograph. So much warmth, so many people genuinely happy to be together, and these two very much themselves in the middle of it all.

That’s probably my favorite part of photographing weddings. Of course I want to make beautiful photographs of you. But I also want to notice your people. The place you chose. The exchanges happening just outside the obvious moments. All the pieces that make the day unmistakably yours.

I want you to have photographs that feel considered and beautiful, without polishing away the life in them.

Beautiful enough to feel like art. Human enough to feel true.

A little of W + J at Denver Botanic Gardens. 🤍
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Venue: @denverbotanic
Catering: @footerscatering
Cake: @bucchisartisansweets
Makeup Artist: @rrosabeauty
Hair: @karlybankes_beauty
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#denverweddingphotographer
#coloradoweddingphotographer #documentaryweddingphotographer #artisticweddingphotography #documentaryweddingphotography taken in Denver Botanic Gardens by @lorimackphoto

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12 days ago

My brain is full.

I leave for Italy in less than a week and I’m somewhere between excited, exhausted, overwhelmed, grateful, questioning everything I know about photography, and trying to remember where I put my passport. 🥹

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the work I make and the work I want to make. About growing without losing yourself in the process. About how inspiration can make you want to run toward something and somehow make you question everything at the exact same time.

It’s a lot, and I don’t have a conclusion yet.

I think I’m just going to let it be unfinished for a while.

In the meantime, this.
Two people. A summer evening. A lot of tenderness.

Even with everything else, that still feels pretty damn good to me.
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#denverengagementphotographer #cinematicengagementphotography
#artisticcouplesphotographer
#denvercouplesphotographer
#couplesphotographysession taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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6

a month ago

Summer, according to a two-year-old: creek water, trees to climb, things to pour, shoulders to ride on, and two people whose primary job is apparently to follow you around and keep you alive. 😂

Somewhere in all of that chaos are the little family rhythms I love photographing most—the reaching, carrying, feeding, comforting, laughing. The things you do a hundred times without thinking about them.

Being little is such a fleeting thing. But my goodness, it’s a good one.
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#denverfamilyphotographer #documentaryfamilyphotography #denverdocumentaryfamilyphotographer #documentaryfamilyphotographers #coloradofamilyphotographer taken in Denver, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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a month ago

The way they reach for us before they learn how to let go.
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#denvermotherhoodphotographer #documentarymotherhood #denverfamilyphotographer #documentaryfamilyphotography #motherhoodasart taken in Lafayette, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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2

a month ago

I keep thinking about how, when you’re a kid, almost nothing is ordinary yet.

A rock becomes treasure.
A stick can become anything.
Something tiny found in the water deserves everyone’s immediate attention.
And an ordinary summer evening can feel like the entire world.

Maybe childhood wonder is simply paying attention before we learned what was worth paying attention to.

Everything mattered.

Everything was interesting.

Everything was a little bit magic.
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#denverfamilyphotographer #childhoodunplugged #theartofchildhood #motherhoodphotographer #documentaryfamilyphotography taken in Denver, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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5

a month ago

All dressed up and absolutely unserious 🥰
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Couple: @mak.and.madelena
Florals: @thefloralmint
Makeup: @skyedazebeauty
Hair: @ehbeauty
Tabletop: @thewildflowerdenver
Jewelry: @lilitfine
Cake: @deleonqueenscakes
Dress: @doragracebridal
Planners: @elevatedshootsetc @kellyphotoanddesign @littlewhitephotostudio @downtheaisle_co taken in The Chateaux at Fox Meadows by @lorimackphoto

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0

a month ago

Just the two of them, somewhere between here and there.
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#DenverEngagementPhotographer #DenverCouplesPhotographer #ColoradoEngagementPhotographer #DocumentaryCouplesPhotography
#Artfulweddingphotography taken in Denver, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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6

a month ago

My husband recently got Vorfreude tattooed on his forearm.

It’s a German word without a direct English translation meaning “the joyful anticipation of something you know is coming.”
The pleasure of looking forward to it before it even happens.

Like being a kid on Christmas Eve. ☺️

To me, this photo is just that-

The dear friends. The flowers in her hands.
That joyful expression on her face.

Vorfreude.

The joy of knowing something wonderful is just about to begin. 🤍
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#denverweddingphotographer #denverelopementphotographer #documentaryweddingphotography taken in Denver, Colorado by @lorimackphoto

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0

a month ago

J+R

A Denver Capitol elopement that will forever live in my head.

Not because it was beautiful (it was).
And not because it was intimate (so, so intimate and special).

But because sometimes you meet the right people and connect immediately, and it feels a little like meeting dear friends for the first time.

People who want you there—not just to photograph their love, but to celebrate it with them. Who invite you into their joy. Who aren’t afraid to let you witness the tears and the laughter and everything in between.

There is something incredibly sacred to me about being trusted with that.

This work of creating, witnessing, noticing—and ultimately being invited into a small piece of another person’s life story—is, by far, one of the greatest joys of my heart.

J + R, thank you for letting me be there for yours. 🤍
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.#ColoradoStateCapitolWedding #DenverElopement #DenverWeddingPhotographer #ColoradoElopementPhotographer taken in Colorado State Capitol by @lorimackphoto

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2 months ago