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Spring In Ouray

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I've been anxious to share these images since the day I returned from this trip, but unfortunately I just recently was able to get around to finishing the edits. Back in March some friends and I took an adult spring break of sorts to Ouray, Colorado. Ouray has become a very special place to me; I have never left that area without images that I'm proud of, and this trip was no different. We had planned on spending the entire trip ice climbing, but due to warm temperatures the ice was a bit limited. Despite the weather we managed to do a good amount of climbing, and had an incredible time soaking up that pure mountain air.

The first day started out with warm weather, and a forecast of rain in the afternoon, which had us all a bit disappointed. We first hopped on the Kids' Wall (which is a shorter, easier section of ice, out of the actual canyon where the rest of the climbs are), since most of our group had never ice climbed before. After climbing a while, allowing people to get the hang of the process, we decided to switch it up and head down to the canyon to get on some of the more difficult ice.  

As we were walking down, dark clouds started rolling in; we were expecting that the rain was on its way, and therefore the climbing would likely soon be over for the day. To our surprise, however, the temperature dropped just enough and we were quickly surrounded by big, fluffy snowflakes. It was one of the most amazing scenes I have experienced. 

Day two was warmer yet, with much more sun. We headed a bit higher into the mountains, with the hopes of finding cooler temperatures and better ice conditions. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, so we were limited on what we could climb and how long we could climb it. The guys decided to try their hand at some dry tooling (climbing with ice tools on rock) once the ice was no longer safe to climb because of the heat and sun, and I happily snapped away as they climbed. We ended that day back out our rental with some guitar playing on the deck while we enjoyed the views. 

And with that, I am finally finished with all winter images! I can now get on to slightly more recent images that are more applicable for the current season! As always, thank you for taking the time to stop by, and don't forget to subscribe on the left, and share via the links below! 

Mills Lake Adventure

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Yikes; it has been almost two months since my last post.  I'd like to say that I waited to work on these so that when the early summer heat (I start to melt when it gets over 85 degrees) started to kick in I would have a way to daydream about cooler days. But in reality, my busy schedule and heavy editing load at work makes it difficult and not very appealing to edit at home. I have had a few little breaks however, and finally was able to edit some images from this past winter.

On an early morning in the middle of January, Scott and two of our friends, Katie and Ben, packed up our gear and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day of ice climbing near Black Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. We planned to skin up (using skis with strips that attach to the bottom to allow you to ski uphill) to our climbing destination, spend the day climbing on the ice, and then ski back down to the car.

Unfortunately, the conditions that morning were not exactly ideal. The winds were blowing around 60 miles an hour, with temperatures well below zero and some light snow mixed in for good measure. We decided to head towards the climbs despite the weather, and set off skinning up the mountain. This was the first time I had skied in the back country, and only my third time skiing in the big mountains at all, which made the day even more interesting for me.

After a few hours of skinning we decided to stop and eat lunch in a somewhat sheltered spot in the forest. The sun managed to poke through slightly once or twice while there, and we got a tiny break from the wind as well. We boiled snow to make water for our instant noodles, stumbled around in the extremely deep snow, and just tried to keep warm as we made our lunch. 

After refueling with some instant noodles and granola bars, we popped our skis back on and continued up. We encountered quite a few people coming down the mountain that looked haggard from the weather, and let us know that they wouldn't recommend going all the way to where we were hoping to. One man told us that he had been completely blown over by the wind on one of the lakes, so I was fairly intimidated at that point.

When we got higher up, and the trees started getting thinner, the wind became even stronger. The visibility was extremely low at times, and standing upright was difficult when the big wind gusts came through. We reached a point where it was particularly bad and all decided it would be best to bail and head back to the car. 

After making the decision that we should head back, we opted to go down the main (and smoother) trail, instead of the "shortcut" that we had used on the way up. Before beginning our descent we had to stop and rip off the skins on our skis, and prepare our skis for the downhill portion of the trip. The wind was brutal at the spot we stopped at, with snow whipping our faces relentlessly. It was so windy that Scott had to stand and brace me as I clipped into my skis, since every time I tried to stand on one leg to do so I was getting blown over. 

We did manage to get down safely, despite my poor skiing skills, and were very glad to get in the car with the heaters blasting. The guys had some nice ice formations on their beards, a testament to the frigid temperature.

Next time: More winter adventure photos (this time a successful ice climbing day). Be sure to check back soon (I promise my next post will not take 2 months to publish)! 

Alec + Emily {Engagement}

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This post (along with many others) is extremely overdue. As 2016 started (and quickly rolled on), I had set up some goals for myself; blogging on a regular basis was originally one of those goals. And yet, as January passed and February has been speeding by, I have been going back and forth on whether or not that is actually something that I should, and want to be doing. I have more or less had this particular post written for over a month at this point, but have been indecisive in terms of the wording and layout, and if keeping a blog is worthwhile for me right now. I've decided to attempt to plug away at posting on a regular basis (mostly since I have such a huge backlog of images I want to share right now), though I'll likely keep things extremely simple and stick to the images for the most part.

With all that said, to start things off I am going to share images from one of my favorite shoots of last year. Back in November, while home in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of being asked to photograph one of my longest and best friends, Alec, and his beautiful fiancé, Emily.

Alec and I have been friends since junior high, and we have been part of the same group of friends since that time.  It is a tight knit group of people, and I have often joked (with a strong hint of seriousness) that the approval of this group in regards to my significant others is just as important as that of my immediate family members. 

Although I don't know if Alec thinks the same thing, I can definitely say that we approve of Emily. Emily is a ball of joy, and you cannot help but smile when you are around her.  It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know her on the few occasions that I get home to Minnesota, and I am proud to now be able to consider her a friend.

Alec went above and beyond on the engagement ring, and worked with a local jewelry designer to design a ring just for Emily. The main stone is a sapphire, with a precious diamond on either side. It looked absolutely stunning with the hint of snow around, the golden evening light, and Emily's vibrant green jacket. 

We spent most of the engagement session walking down the Browns Creek Trail, in my hometown of Stillwater. The trail used to be railroad tracks, for a very slow dinner train that followed Browns Creek around the Stillwater area. When we were kids we used to roam around on the tracks, even though we weren't necessarily supposed to. I have lots of great memories from along this trail, so it was fun to shoot an engagement session in those locations.

We also ventured onto the golf course for some images at the end of the shoot, which was another important place for a lot of us Stillwater friends while growing up. In fact, the other friends whose engagement session I photographed had their wedding reception in the clubhouse of this golf course. 

We ended the evening (appropriately) at a coffee shop in downtown Stillwater. Emily wanted to incorporate some string lights into that portion of the shoot, and I'm so glad she suggested it. The ring just looks stunning with that warm, golden light on it!

Thank you to Emily and Alec for inviting me in on this portion of your adventure together! I am so excited for the two of you, and cannot wait to see how your lives grow together from here. 

And with that, here we go on this next blogging journey of mine. I would love to hear from anyone that decides to stop by, so leave a comment below! Have a wonderful weekend!

Spring Break (Day 3)

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Day three of our trip was, at least in some ways, a bit of a bust. We had originally planned on hiking up to Bridalveil Falls in Telluride; Scott had climbed it the last time we were in Colorado and he wanted to check it out again and show the rest of us just how incredible it is. Unfortunately, due to the warm weather, the avalanche danger was pretty high (a guy we talked to said he had already seen one that morning), so we opted to make it a very short hike. I was still able to get some pictures of the area that I'm happy with, and also grabbed some portraits that I'm really happy with.

(On a side note, make sure to click on the panoramic images to view them in their (almost) full glory via the Lightbox.)

Taking portraits in situations like these, in some sort of adventure setting, are some of my favorite images to get. Landscapes are wonderful and all (and, as you noticed, I shoot bunches of them), but a big part of what makes these trips so awesome is the people that I go with. It doesn't hurt that the people I tend to go on trips with are extremely laid back about me taking photographs of them, and are rather goofy and quite entertaining. Photographing people in a genuine and spontaneous way, as they go about their business, almost always gives me images that I'm proud of. The story telling aspect of photography is something essential for me, and is something that I'm hoping to push in the future. 

Images of our final day of this trip are up next. Be on the lookout for those to see some more climbing based photographs! 

Colorado Roadtrip

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I had expected things to slow down and ease up after finishing my thesis stuff, but boy was I wrong. The past few weeks have been a bit crazy, and have included lots of grading/teaching related things, rewriting my thesis paper (which is now over 30 pages long), lots of art department obligations, and a trip to Colorado. 

The Colorado trip was an absolute highlight. Scott and I went out to Ouray, Colorado over Valentine's weekend, so that he could take part in a weekend long, mountaineering seminar of sorts. Since he was out climbing all day on our first and last day there, I was able to relax and explore Ouray a little bit. I didn't photograph nearly as much as I normally would, in part because I needed a mental break from photography. In fact, the first day in Ouray I didn't take a single photograph. I used my film camera more than my digital as well, so hopefully some of those will turn out and I will be able to share them after getting the film developed. 

I know I say this about a lot of places, but I completely fell in love with Ouray during our short stay. As soon as we began the trip home I started to plan our next trip in my head. The town is filled with old, Victorian style homes, and lots of cool little shops. There isn't a chain restaurant or store in town in fact. They are completely surrounded by mountains, and so no matter where you are in Ouray there are great views to be had. One of our nights there we stayed at a hotel that had its own hot spring pool, and we spent the evening relaxing in the hot spring as snow gently fell around us, clouds rolled over the surrounding peaks, and the late evening light made everything glow. It was absolute perfection and I won't soon forget it.

Enough of me rambling though, and on to the photographs...

These last images were all taken on our drive back to Kansas. Many were just shot out the window as we drove, though there were also a handful of times that Scott was kind enough to pull over (and in fact, he did so without prompting more than once). We passed through some stunning areas, and had some rather incredible conditions while going through a section of higher mountains. It made going back to Kansas even more difficult. 

Because Scott and I both loved the area so much, we have actually decided to head back out their for our spring break in a week. So, many more images of this incredible area will be showing up here soon!

Christmas in Spearfish (Part 5)

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I am finally nearing the end of these Christmas posts! Only one more after this, and then I will have to find something else to entertain you all with. 

Due to the forecasted bitter cold, we decided that Sunday would be our last chance to climb. After Sunday the temperature was supposed to (and did) drop significantly, with highs in the single digits; not exactly pleasant climbing conditions in my opinion.

Since it had been a bit colder than the previous days we decided to head back to Bridal Veil Falls, hoping that the ice conditions had improved. We were not let down either. There were certain sections that still had the brittle, crusted over ice, but most of it was perfectly sticky and a blast to climb. At one point all three of us climbed to the top of the waterfall and walked down the creek that feeds it for a short ways. We once again had near perfect weather, with snow slowly falling the entire time we were climbing. I was giddy hiking around with my camera in snow that at times was up to my waist. It was a great last day of climbing, needless to say.

As mentioned earlier, I only have one post to go from this trip. I've been trying to stick to one post a week, but with my thesis show and defense rapidly approaching (I install my show one week from today, *gulp*) those photographs, which focus on my precious nephews, may have to stay hidden on my computer for a little longer. So, if I go quiet for a few weeks, just know that big things are happening and will be shared here once it is all over. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and happy Monday!

Christmas in Spearfish (Part 4)

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The day after Christmas was another day spent climbing. We tried a different area first (Bridal Veil Falls), but the ice was rather terrible, which made for not very enjoyable climbing, and not the safest of conditions either. After Kyle attempted it, we decided to head back to where we went the first day since we knew the ice was decent there. However, instead of climbing a bunch with the guys, this time around I hiked up the canyon to get on top of the ridge. I walked around photographing the canyon and forest for some time, including some shots of Scott and Kyle climbing below me.

It was slowly snowing while I was up there, and I watched some low clouds roll over the hills in front of me. At one point I just sat in the snow with my camera on my lap and took it all in with a big grin on my face. There isn't much that makes me as happy as a snowy forest. The incredible quiet and simple beauty never fails to leave me in awe, no matter how often I experience it. 

Christmas in Spearfish (Part 2)

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Happy New Year everyone! I'm not one to do the standard year-in-review posts, but I will say that it was a year with lots of ups and downs, great adventures, and wonderful people. I already know big things are ahead in 2015, and am excited to see all that it holds. But for now, it is time for the second installment of photographs from our Spearfish adventure!

On Christmas Eve Scott and I went ice climbing with my brother, Kyle. I had been ice climbing with Kyle when I visited him two years ago, but Scott had never experienced it before, despite wanting to learn for some time. Needless to say, he was extremely excited to get out on some ice. We went to an area in Spearfish Canyon called 11th Hour Gulch, which is a very short walk up a narrow side canyon off of the road. It is an absolutely beautiful area, and is quite great for learning how to climb ice. 

We went back to this area after Christmas as well, since it is such an easy approach and the ice was pretty nice, so more pictures are to come. The next post will feature some adorable pictures of my nephews, and lots of snow, so be sure to check back in a few days. 

I hope everyone had a safe, and fun filled New Years! Happy 2015!

Christmas in Spearfish (Part 1)

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Happy holidays everyone! This is the first post of a short series documenting this year's Christmas adventure. Last year Scott and I went on a long road trip with his parents to visit his sister and her family in Arizona (you can see images from that here). We spent quite a bit of time climbing, and had hopes of making that one of our Christmas traditions as a couple. This Christmas Scott and I decided to visit my brother and his family in Spearfish, South Dakota, since I hadn't seen them in over a year. As an added bonus, Spearfish has a rather incredible climbing scene, including ice climbing (which I will get into in later posts), which allowed us to continue the tradition. 

Our drive out to Spearfish was a bit of a stressful one. It is a long drive (nearly 12 hours), and on top of that we had to deal with some not so pleasant weather. The winds started to pick up midway through Nebraska, and by the time we hit South Dakota we were driving in wind gusts of 60 mph, and sustained winds around 40 mph. The snow and ice picked up in South Dakota as well, though luckily the roads didn't start to freeze until we were less than an hour away from my brother's house. We were quite glad we left as early as we did, or we would have been in a much worse situation.  

The day after we arrived involved a pleasantly lazy morning watching the snow slowly fall outside. A perfect little snow flake was stuck on the window, and I couldn't resist attempting to photograph it. We have been lucky (in my opinion) and had some snow every single day of our stay here, and I have been loving every minute.

That evening we went for a ride on an 1880s train with my brother, Kyle, his wife, Michelle, and their twin boys. The train was a Polar Express style ride, complete with sugar cookies, hot chocolate, and a visit from Santa after we picked him up from the North Pole. The boys were great and loved it all, and it was a nice little adventure for us as well. Unfortunately, it was quite dark and since the boys are constantly in motion, the opportunities for photographs were minimal, but I did manage to get a few that are worth sharing (though mostly just ones of Kyle and Belle). 

That's all for now, since I have hundreds of images still to sift through and edit. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and wonderful New Year's celebrations!