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Rangefinder Magazine
January 2003

Profile: Casey Bradley Gent by Linda L. May
“Step Into My Footsteps,”

Casey Bradley Gent owns Snowshoe Studios in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Wedding photography and family portraiture are her specialties. She captures natural, relaxed photographs that are full of personality, which sets her work apart from competitors.

Casey was introduced to photography during her sophomore year at Colorado State University, where she majored in speech communications and journalism. While working as a journalist for the college newspaper,she discovered how exciting imagemaking can be when she photographed vice president Al Gore, who was campaigning in her city. After college, she worked for a local photographer for awhile, until she realized that her realistic approach to people photography was unique. With the encouragement and support of her husband Greg, Casey decided to go it alone, and opened her own studio in 1994, at age 21. She has never regretted making this decision.

Casey choose the unusual name “Snowshoe Studios” because it depicts the snowy Colorado lifestyle, as well as her natural approach to her craft. The 2600 square foot, custom-designed studio is built onto her home, which is set on eight acres in the picturesque foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Clients enter Snowshoe Studios through large plate glass doors, pass through an antique-furniture filled foyer, then go into the cozy reception area where they sit on a comfy, overstuffed couch. Several Art Leather and Leather Craftsman wedding albums are displayed on wooden tables, within easy reach. Large portraits and bridal images hang on the walls surrounding the couch. One wall is painted a rich burgundy, upon which she displays her award-winning prints, complete with plagues and ribbons. The camera room, with a sunken bay window for available light portraits, dressing rooms, production space and her office are located behind the inviting reception area.

Three employees help Casey keep the business running smoothly: Lisa Castelvecchi manages the office, Deborah Killian is the Photoshop guru, and Lauren Holsinger assists at weddings and location shoots. All the photography is done by Casey.

Because Casey Bradley Gent is well established in the area, she does very little media advertising to get out the word about her studio. Instead, she does all her advertising and promoting through a permanent wall display at a local shopping mall. Casey constantly changes the sample images, and also uses this space to advertise upcoming specials, like her annual Fall hayride and Easter promotions. The studio website brings in many out-of-state weddings, and is also an effective marketing tool.

“My eight acres of land has a large country barn, pine trees and many beautiful outdoor settings,” Casey explains. “Gratefully, I have many clients who come back year after year, so we do different promotions that express the feeling of Colorado. The Hay Ride is an annual event, which is very popular. We decorate the big barn with lights and garland, and place trees and hay bales around it. My grandfather brings over his old Ford tractor and large wagon, which is filled with hay bales. Clients can be photographed on the hay bales, the wagon, the tractor, which is covered with Christmas lights, or around the barn. While one family is being photographed, those waiting go for hay rides around the acreage. I shoot about nine sessions per day in this two-day event.”

Casey’s other annual promotion is held in the Spring for Easter. This twoday event is busier than the hayride because she shoots about 16 portrait sessions per day. The Easter event is shot in the studio, where baby chicks are running around for the children to interact with.

It’s important to Casey to remain excited about weddings, and not to get burned-out from shooting every weekend. Those basic moments that happen at every wedding are especially challenging.

“For example, the couple coming down the aisle, climbing into the limo, or dancing at the reception happens at every wedding. The trick is to make them different every time. I may use a fisheye lens and shoot super low on the couple dancing, showing the guests and the lights and bubbles in the background. For the limo shot, instead of standing outside the car, like most photographers do, I’ll climb into the front seat, and capture the bride from that perspective. It’s easy to stand at the back of the church and shoot the bride and groom coming down the aisle, but I’d rather use a long lens and tighten-up super close on their hands holding each other, or his hand on the small of her back. I’d like to encourage photographers who begin to feel burned out, to take those moments that always happen, and give them a twist. You’ll be less bored, if you challenge yourself to show a unique perspective, and capture each wedding for what it is. Every wedding is entirely different than the one the week before, even if it’s in the same location,” Casey Bradley Gent says.

Casey’s wedding style is more illustrative, with some photojournalism thrown into the mix. She shoots very few posed pictures, but when she has to pose groups, she makes them appear candid and natural, instead of just lining up the people. Sometimes, she’ll shoot groups by the pool dangling their toes into the water; or laughing with their arms around each other’s shoulders. Casey shoots about 40 weddings a year.

Besides weddings and regular portraits, Casey also does public relations photography for players on the Denver Broncos football team. Monthly, she captures different players and their families on location—romping with their kids on the beach in Hawaii; or at Christmas parties and hanging-out with their friends. Recently, Casey added maternity portraits, which show mommies with their big tummies, and often the hands of the other siblings. These unusual portraits are becoming very popular at Snowshoe Studios.

Casey uses Hasselblad and Nikon cameras, with a variety of focal length lenses for both formats. Novatron flash units are used in her studio. Kodak Portra 400 NC and Fuji NPH 400 films are her favorites.

Casey Bradley Gent really enjoys the WPPI Conventions and will be a featured speaker at the upcoming convention and tradeshow in February, 2003. Her presentation is titled, “Step Into My Footsteps,” which highlights her “true to the moment” approach to photographing people. “Part of photographphotographing people as they are naturally is sort of like stepping into their footsteps, which is how I came up with the name for my program,” Casey says.
For the past four years, her beautiful wedding images have won Honorable Mentions in the Photojournalism category in the WPPI Print Competitions.

Readers may contact Casey Bradley Gent at Snowshoe Studios via e-mail at: snowshoeCBG@aol.com; or view her website at www.snowshoestudios.com.

Casey Bradley Gent will be a featured speaker at WPPI 2003 at BALLY’s Las Vegas, Feb. 1–6. Her program is entitled, “Step Into My Footsteps.”

Linda L. May is a writer living in the Midwest.