Rangefinder Magazine
April 2006

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Travis Broxton CharMaine Beleele
Rocky Mountain Photo High!

Travis Broxton did not intend to move to Denver. He did not intend to become a wedding photographer, and he certainly did not intend to fall in love with the state of Colorado. However, when he moved there in 1979 for a corporate business opportunity, his romance with the Rockies began, and he “has never looked back.” He tells the story of his seduction both by Colorado and by the art of wedding photography with gusto: “I was cruising along in my corporate career, doing my fine art photography on the side, when a business colleague asked me to photograph his wedding. I said, ‘No way!’ After about a month of pestering, I succumbed to his request. That was about 12 years ago. Little did I know that wedding photography would become my passion! I spent almost 30 years in corporate America and was quite successful. During the last three years of my corporate life, I was photographing 30-plus weddings per year!” He pauses, and grins, “It was obvious where my life was heading.”

Travis can be positively poetic about Colorado. “California has its coast, but we have the Rockies. What a beautiful backdrop for weddings. I do a lot of them in the high country: Vail, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, and other spectacular locations not only in the summer but winter as well.” Other than the scenic attraction, there is a very logical attraction for brides to flock to the state. “I seem to have a lot of Midwest and East Coast brides that met their fiancé here while on a ski trips. They return to have their weddings in the location where they met.” His romantic, honest and elegant portraiture attracts brides to commission him for just such occasions. Travis shuns a traditional studio setting, using all of nature as his studio. Because of his preference for working on location, he has elected to establish a sleek residential office and gallery suite instead of the customary camera room. “All of my engagement shoots are at a local park, on the streets of downtown Denver, or in the nearby foothills.”

Travis and I sit outdoors at a little café-style table just outside the office entrance to Broxton Photography. We are sipping cappuccino and watching a spring afternoon come to the Rockies. Both Mount Evans and Pikes Peak loom in our direct view. The residential doorway is separate from his office suite entrance, but Travis hastens to add that he treats clients like guests, “I sometimes meet with potential clients in our living room, or occasionally I’ll meet them at their home.” We discuss the secrets of success: How did Travis, a refugee from the corporate world, achieve remarkable artistic and financial success in spite of changing fields at the height of his business career? Everywhere I cast my eyes, I see photo opportunities as the sun sparkles silver on the Aspen bark and the wind lightly blows. I am curious about what Travis has in his camera bag. He explains, “I use the Nikon D2X, D1X and D2H cameras. And I have all Nikon glass.” His lenses of choice include Nikon’s 12–24mm, 17–55mm, 28–70mm, 70–200mm VR, and he really loves his 10.5mm fisheye. He uses the SB800 as well as the SB80 Nikon Speedlights, for those times when natural light is just not quite enough.

These compact choices match his “wild west” shooting style. He admits, “I still like shooting from the hip, as I did in my street photography days. So I think my images still reflect that.” As I peruse his portfolio, it becomes clear that Travis is a storyteller who freezes time with an eye to moments of unfolding action. “My clients tell me they are attracted to my ability to really capture the emotion of the day.”

On the wedding day, Travis wears three hats: artist, historian and journalist. “My clients call me an artist, which I consider a high compliment. Not only do I want to successfully document their day as a journalist, but I also strive to combine their personality and style as a couple with my vision as an artist. Plus, I want them to have a visual document of their families, not in a series of stiffly posed formals, but with them relaxed, and showing their love for each other. That’s what I call being an historian.”

As if on cue, an arrhythmic dissonance of Thelonious Monk drifts from the office, a rendition I recognize as “Mysterioso.” We listen. Then instead of talking about photography, we talk about music. And at this moment, I discover the first of Travis’ four keys to success: music. Eclectic music is one of the ways Travis trains himself to think creatively. The innovative and improvisational jazz of Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman inspires Travis with “a sense of rhythm and creativity outside the box. I feel this is a big part of my goal as a photographer.”

It did not take long to figure out the second of Travis’ four keys to success: mentors. Travis’ style was indelibly influenced by the work of the famous Life magazine photographer and war correspondent, W. Eugene Smith (1918–78). Travis was deeply affected by the passion and intensity in every frame of this photojournalist’s work. Smith wrote, “I am constantly torn between the attitude of the conscientious journalist who is a recorder and interpreter of the facts and of the creative artist who often is necessarily at poetic odds with the literal facts.” The similarity between this and the three hats Travis wears on a wedding day is undeniable; he might not be torn between journalism and art, but he is certainly aware of balancing the two entities. Another photographer who influenced and inspired Travis was Garry Winogrand (1928–64), from whom Travis learned much about the use of available light and the many facets of using wideangle lenses.

The third historical figure that influenced the Broxton style of documenting tender moments is Roy DeCarava (b. 1919), who has actually photographed jazz greats John Coltrane and Billie Holiday.

Some of our more modern photography mentors have played a great role in his development also. Travis reminisces, “The first wedding-related workshop I attended was the inaugural Hasselblad University. That set the foundation and afforded me the opportunities to meet Tony Corbell, Doug Box and Calvin Hayes. Calvin has become a very good friend and mentor.” He also extols both Kevin Kubota’s Digital Boot Camp and Denis Reggie’s workshops as “essential to anyone that is serious about being a successful wedding photographer.”

Early in his career, he surrounded himself with photographer friends through professional organizations. He recounts, “I found out about WPPI doing a web search for wedding photography associations in 1997 and joined immediately. I remember how wide-eyed I was at the first convention that I attended in 1998. I didn’t know anyone but made several great friendships there. I learned so much from the presentations as well as from Rangefinder. I am also a member of the PPA.” Travis also joined the Digital Wedding Forum in April 2002. He says, “This is a tremendous community of photographers that share so much on the forum.” He did not neglect his local organizations, and he became a founding member of Colorado Professional Wedding Photographers Association (CPWPA).

Last but not least, take one look at his office and you know the fourth key to success is reading. Travis is a voracious reader, and he highly recommends this activity to open the mind and the heart and eventually fatten the wallet. “I have several bookcases full of photography books on technique, biographical information and theory. I also have collected hundreds of magazine articles from as far back as the ’60s, in binders.”

It hasn’t been an overnight success for Travis. After all, it has taken him 12 years of music, mentors, books and organizations to build his dream, a dream that he unknowingly began in the heyday of film and 8mm movies. Travis was a camera hobbyist long before he dreamt of being a professional. “My grandfather was an avid amateur photographer. He had foldout cameras and Brownies, and he took a lot of 8mm home movies. I was his able assistant. So, you can fast-forward to my freshman year at college: I showed up with pictures from my Kodak Instamatic 104 in a Woolworth’s album. My roommate showed me his beautiful 8x10 blackand- white images. I had met my first mentor. I soon bought my first 35mm camera. I shot my first roll of Tri-X, and my roommate walked me through developing and printing the pictures.” Travis should have known then that he was “hooked for life,” and that his new passion would lead to great things.

“My wife, Pat, is my biggest cheerleader. When I first met her, she was a flight attendant and a full-time college student. In fact, she refused to marry me until she graduated from college. Now, she is an interior designer who owns Broxton Design and Development.”

When asked how owning two businesses affects their married life, Travis explains: “We still maintain a date night, even after 12 years of marriage.” They lead a robust Colorado lifestyle by sharing special interests. Both of them are marathon runners and avid bicyclists. “In the last 15 years I’ve been blessed to have met my wife, left my corporate job and become a fulltime wedding photographer.”

The “full-time” title has only come in the last three years. So, what is the next move for Travis? “This year I will be using second shooters for the first time. They all want to learn the wedding photography business, and I’m affording them the opportunity to do that. I’m following the example of photographer and good friend Monroe Peoples of Creative Images, who mentors his second shooters.” Exuberant jazz notes from the office accentuate the moment, as if Coltrane approves.

As the afternoon shadows stretch blue and Mount Evans glows, Travis says, “Five to 10 years from now, I hope to open the Broxton Collection, a photography and sculpture gallery. It will be a modified alternative co-op gallery with a goal of about 20 artists in residence. I want to continue shooting weddings, but probably only 15–20 per year.” As the twilight engulfs us he muses, “You know, I feel that my life’s in God’s hands, and whatever he has in store for me, so be it.”

We take a deep breath of mountain air, and we both have a sense that this will be no ordinary decade. That’s the Rocky Mountain photo high! Visit www.broxton photography.com.