After working as a staff photographer for news papers such as The Denver Post for more than 20-years, I started my own wedding photography business in 1997, specializing in wedding photojournalism. Having a BA in journalism and two feature Pulitzer entries to my credits prepared me for my career of documenting weddings. My first taste of wedding photojournalism came to me while I was traveling in Japan where I was allowed to photograph parts of a traditional wedding. At the time I was working for the Denver Post. Within a year I left the paper to start my own wedding photography business. Since then I've managed to photograph completely traditional weddings in both Italy and China. Someday I hope to publish a book on wedding cultures of the world. These experiences have helped me grow as a photojournalist so that I don't depend on spoken language as much as body language and respect while I am working. Even here in Denver I get many different types of wedding cultures and traditions such as Buddhist ceremonies. Last year I was hired to photograph one couples western wedding here in Denver and a Vietnamese Buddhist wedding in New Orleans the following week. I've always loved telling stories with my pictures. Now I get to cover about 20 weddings a year and tell the stories in web based slideshows and in custom made books. [Montana Wedding Photographer]

I’ve worked as a professional photographer for more than a decade. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in photojournalism and started out in the newspaper industry. During that time, I shot everything from criminal court trials to Detroit Pistons games (I’m originally from Michigan); structure fires to beauty pageants; congressional debates to high school football games on Friday nights. Every day was a new challenge; every assignment a new learning opportunity. My time as a photojournalist taught me to be resourceful and to think on my feet, which has proven invaluable for wedding photography. In the summer of 2008, I started shooting weddings on the side and absolutely loved it. I was able to visit new places, meet new people, and was granted a very important and personal role in what was arguably the most joyful day of their lives. Plus, I started getting a ton of compliments on my work and how it was different from typical wedding photography. People would tell me that they could spot one of my photos from a mile away without having to be told who the photographer was – that I was beginning to cultivate a very specific style. So when my wife, Moira, and I moved to Colorado that fall, I decided to make wedding photography my full-time career; we started J. La Plante Photo and never looked back. When I’m not behind the lens, you can probably find me on the slopes. Skiing is one of the main reasons I moved west. I’m also obsessed with the music scene out here. Red Rocks is by far the coolest venue I’ve ever been to. I’m a craft beer nerd, a movie buff, an amateur screenwriter and an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction alike. And I love to travel. I’ve been to 18 foreign countries and all 50 United States. I drove all over the American West before deciding to settle in Colorado, where I immediately fell in love with the state’s blend of urban and outdoor lifestyles. The proximity of Denver to the mountains felt too good to be true and now, eight years later, it still feels that way. I can’t imagine a more perfect setting for a wedding photographer. [Boulder Wedding Photographer]