As a mom of 2 daughters who are now mostly out of the house, I find myself looking at old photos more often. My daughters love looking through them with me and I can tell you they never comment on how I look. They don't care what I was wearing or that I wasn't all "done up". We talk about the moment, where we lived and what we did and end up strolling down memory lane.
We are an adventurous family, having lived in multiple states and countries thanks to my husband's career in the Marine Corps. You'll find me constantly checking flight prices for our next trip!
My love language is brunch and breweries and/or hanging with family giggling & playing board games.
There are extraordinary connections that happen when you forget there's a camera around and that's where I come in. I give families a visual reminder of the ways you share moments in your life, your family's personalities and true interactions.
If the photo roll on your phone is filled with candid shots of your kids, but you're not in any of them, I'm here to help!
Your Fun-Loving Family, Senior & Travel Photographer
I'm christa
1 / 3
Everyone says this and I'm here just to reiterate it - every day I'm grateful for my family. We bicker, we laugh, we harass each other and love hard. We moved around for all of our daughters' childhoods and there were many times that we only had each other when arriving at a new location. I'm grateful for that as it made us stronger together and individually.
They are the absolute best people on the planet.
My awesome family
Family
2 / 3
We've essentially grown up together! We met early on in our college career and nearly 27 married years later we're still here giggling and making fun of each other on the daily. He's constantly on the move making himself busy and I'm content to sit and watch trash tv.
On the weekends you'll find us biking to our favorite brewery or hiking up the Rocky Mountains like mountain goats!
And as much as I complained, I'm also grateful for the adventures the Marine Corps led us to in our years together.
my favorite marine
my other half - my homie
3 / 3
Moving around and exploring new areas means one thing - my bucket list of places I want to see and explore is infinite and grows longer each year. We were spoiled living on both coasts of the United States and 2 countries (Japan and Germany). We've seen so many amazing places and there are so many more I'm ready to see. I could have added hundreds of photos here, but will have to suffice with just one of my very favorites!
Hallstatt, Austria
travel
While booking the session, Christa was the epitome of kindness and grace for determining best dates and solving the inevitable problems that can arise when scheduling a session. She was supportive and empowering with styling and choosing a location for a setting. During the session, she did an amazing job capturing our family's expressions and helping everyone be at ease and comfortable during the session. Christa captured so many real and beautiful moments of our family and we will treasure them for our lifetime and generations to come. Thank you Christa!!!
Estes Park, Colorado
Kristen S.
Absolutely in love with each and every photo taken. Christa is phenomenal and we loved our session with her. Looking forward to booking more sessions.
fort collins, Colorado
jadyn
Saying Christa is amazing is an understatement! She absolutely made my vision come to life and more. She is great behind the camera but also such a sweet soul and great person. She has given me moments with my daughter that I will cherish forever. Don’t hesitate to choose her for your photographs. I promise you won’t regret it.
Fort Collins, CO
jordin
Christa Pastenbaugh is an incredible photographer. I've admired her work for a long time and found out she was relocating to Colorado, and decided to book with her immediately. We live 2 hours away and drove to her to have an amazing experience with my family. She was such a pro and made the entire experience so much fun for us. Our photos are stunning. I cannot wait to print them and showcase them as the main pieces in our home.
estes park, CO
dana
Scheduled my first shoot with Christa in 2020 the summer we moved to CA, and just had our last shoot with her the night before we left CA. She has photographed our family through adding a baby and watching both kiddos grow, she did my maternity photos, and she did my branding photos. Every single time I am blown away! Even when the shoot feels chaotic (#toddlers), she gets the shot. I tell her she’s magical, because she truly is. In addition to being incredibly talented, she is so much fun and easy going. Can’t recommend her enough!
Fort Collins, CO
emily
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Christa! Not only is she a delight to work with (professional, a great communicator and so kind) but also her work is stunning! I had so much fun during our shoot and I couldn’t be happier with our pictures. You can tell she really puts her clients at ease and it shows in her work. She even put up with our goofy dog who wanted to be in every photo. She had so much patience with my newborn and got the most amazing photos. I can’t recommend Christa enough!
Fort Collins, CO
mary elizabeth
Christa is amazing!! She was so wonderful from the start with helping us decide locations and outfits for our family pictures. She answered any and all questions and had tons of very helpful suggestions. Our shoot was so FUN! She was attentive to our little ones and showed she really cares about making the experience special. She is super patient and encouraging, and just made the whole experience a blast! The results of the shoot were absolutely stunning. The hardest part was narrowing down which pictures to use for cards/prints because we loved them all! Overall, we were so pleased with the whole experience and can’t wait to use Christa for photos in the future!!
Fort Collins, CO
tyler
