My final post from Colorado is all about the pretty, pretty goodness that was found there.  This was my third trip to Colorado and while I have seen a bit of things there generally my trips have been coming or going for one reason and leaving again so it was nice to meander around a bit more than the past.  Plus I knew that my husband would LOVE it and he did!  In between Tyler’s Party and Jill’s portrait session we were able to see a lot more of Colorado than I ever have in the past and I look forward to visiting again someday when it isn’t winter (all of my trips have been in the winter, which is hilarious since I’m allergic to the cold and do NOT ski).

The first place we went on our first day of exploring was to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  It was a chilly day but wasn’t too bad until we were on our way back to the car and the wind started whipping.  Then it got very cold, very fast.  I believe the windchill was somewhere around 10 degrees?  Brr!

On my first trip to Colorado before Jill took me to the airport we drove through the park and I vividly remember this rock.  I took a few quick shots from the car but wasn’t able to get out and wander due to time restraints.  I’m glad that I was able to get a few shots of this awesome formation this time around (and the light was MUCH better this time!).

I drove by here back in 2003 also but this time we got to do the tour!  I love all old homes but beyond that I also love a good ghost story and Miramont Castle delivers on both.  I actually did not know it was haunted until I happened to be watching one of the “Most Haunted” shows around Halloween one year and swore that I’d been there because the place looked familiar and sure enough, it was here.  However the tour does not speak of any of the ghost stories so you will need to look up that information yourself prior to going.

The home was built by a priest for him and his mother in 1895 but they didn’t live here very long before moving back home to France in 1900.  After moving he left the home to a group of nuns to use as a Sanatorium.  In the 50′s it was used as apartments for soldiers returning from the war and it was eventually abandoned.  However the historical society purchased it and started making renovations and turned it into a museum.  I definitely recommend the tour if you like older homes.  Another neat tidbit about this house is that while it is 4 stories tall the top level is ground level at the back of the home!  That’s how you exit the tour is through the gift shop on the 4th floor and walk around the house.  Crazy!

Our next stop was somewhere new to me, Seven Falls.  I had never been but someone had recommended the place to us.  Looking back I don’t know that I’d go again in the winter as much of the park is closed and it isn’t cheap to get in.  The falls were frozen which is pretty neat but overall I think it was kind of a ehhh experience.  In the summer they light the falls in different colors which I think would be neat to see.

The location where we did Jill’s portraits (behind the stage) can be seen here but the views are what are spectacular here.  Can you see Denver way off in the distance on the left?  I can only imagine how cool it would be to see a concert here.

En route to Idaho Springs we were on I70 (which runs through Ohio so it was quite bizarre to be on the same road many miles away!) we came through a bridge and saw this view.  Chris started yelling at me to take a picture but I was already on it.  What you can’t see is to my left there is an area called Buffalo Ridge and there was a ton of buffalo lazing about (on our way home elk had joined in the fun too).  I’m still a bit transfixed on this view though.

Where the end of Jill’s portrait shoot was taken was here on Echo Lake on Echo Mountain.  Less than a week later this location would receive 55 INCHES of snow in a snowstorm.  When we were driving out, Chris and I noticed lots of signs for chains on tires and pull of stations and the like.  NOW we get it.  At the time we were there there was maybe 5 inches of snow on the ground at most.  Crazy to see what a difference a week makes!

On our trip back to Idaho Springs (we had to go wander that adorable town a bit more) I took pictures of the gorgeous views while Chris managed to not have our rental Volvo fly off the road.  While there wasn’t a lot of snow on the road, there was enough in patches to make our rental slip and slide.  Glad he was driving!

We were almost back to our hotel and I start madly snapping pictures out the side window.  Chris thought I was utterly mad because he said there was NO way any would turn out as fast as he was going and he also didn’t see anything to understand what I was so furiously trying to capture.  I was very excited to see at least one of the images turned out!  The clouds all had these amazing fuchsia pink tips and I was so intent on capturing them but wasn’t sure either if they’d turn out either but I am SO happy that at least one did!

I was heartbroken to find out that the Molly Brown House Museum was closed on Mondays.  However I made do by taking a few quick pictures of the house itself before wandering off to other locations in Denver.  Someday I will return as you may know I’m a Titanic buff and I have always admired Margaret Brown.  FYI: Margaret Brown was NEVER called Molly while she was living, her name was changed to Molly by Hollywood to make her name rhyme in a musical about the Titanic.  Since then she’s been referred to as Molly Brown on screen instead of Margaret.

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Travel | Colorado."

I had no idea what to expect with either location but boy did Red Rock kick my butt.  Not only is there 100+ steps to get to the top but there is a sharp hill/incline to climb before that.  I have asthma thanks to growing up with parents who smoked and also am allergic to cold temperatures which one of the side effects is my lungs shutting down when it is cold.  It was about 40 degrees that day but it was really windy at the park making the wind chill somewhere around 20 degrees or so. Those things combined with altitude and heavy camera gear made for an adventure! I don’t recommend it!  But I managed to do the session despite the wheezing and hives and the view from the top was definitely pretty awesome.  All of the pictures at Red Rock were done where the stage is so that in itself is kind of cool.

Echo Lake was a definite favorite though, surprisingly it was warmer to me up there despite it being about 10 degrees cooler (no wind!) and the sun was just awesome.  I guess Echo Lake is a bit above 12K so that part was neat too, the views are just amazing.  The kids weren’t digging the cold though so the session there lasted for maybe 10 minutes if that.

LOVE

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Portrait | The Wilkey Family | Red Rocks Amphitheatre."

Enjoy the first set from Colorado – the pictures from the party!

I loved the cake SO much!  The notes actually played Happy Birthday if you followed the notes around the cake.

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Event | Kayla & Tyler’s Surprise 16th Birthday."

However, despite it being a hot day, it was still such a great day.  Everyone was so lovely to work with and kind.  The ceremony was perfection and so sweet.  It was such an easy going and wonderful day – literally the only thing “wrong” that day was the heat!  Everything else was perfection!  I also loved how much her entire family was a part of their day – it was awesome to see how everyone was pitching in to make the day perfect.

Every Bride dreams of her day being special and amazing. I wanted a photographer that would capture our true selves not that posed stuff. I watched my Best Friend get married and all the ways her photographer made her pose and I knew that is not what I wanted! I felt the most important thing in the wedding was my photographer! I searched and searched for the “perfect” photographer and I found Corey Ann’s website. I ran to my co-worker and told her I found my photographer, she has the most amazing pictures on her site and you have to see them! We both agreed she was amazing. I was so worried she would already be booked, but it was my lucky day; she wasn’t! I called her immediately to save her for the date! I couldn’t afford to lose her for my wedding day.

When I called her she was so friendly and nice. She was making one of her favorite meals a grilled cheese sandwich. I had to laugh!! I couldn’t wait for her to do our engagement pictures. She is the one that suggested the Alliance Castle and I am so glad she did! Our pictures were amazing and we had so much fun with her! We laughed and laughed and at the end it turned out she knew my fiancé.  What a small world. I had so much fun with our engagement pictures that I couldn’t wait for the wedding. She had our pictures to us the very next day! I couldn’t believe how fast we had our pictures.

As for the “BIG DAY” I was so worried. I didn’t know when to start getting ready. Our wedding day had to be the hottest day of the year (Heat index of over 100 in September).

However, Corey Ann went above and beyond the duties one would assume as a photographer. She told me when the time was right to get dressed.  She made sure everyone knew what to do, how to do it and when to do it.  She even helped tie my corset. Friends and family said she was everywhere getting pictures of everyone and everything, making my wedding day pictures so unique and “us”.  When we drove down to take pictures by the water she had ice cold water, a cold towel and a good smelling combination of water and cucumber melon in a bottle that she sprayed on me to cool me off.  It was so refreshing. I felt like a princess! She thought of everything and I never expected that from a photographer!

She had our wedding pictures to us in just a few days! She is amazing and I absolutely love her!!

For “Brides Talk”, picking my favorite pictures was the hardest part because they are all my favorite. Here are a few that I loved!!

Thank you so much Freda for your kind words!!!

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Brides Talk | Freda."

While losing a parent is NEVER easy, losing my Dad was an exceptionally hard blow to me.  My Mom & brother both died when I was 13 so from then on, it was just me and my Dad.  While I did miss my Mom & brother very much, I never felt that I was lacking with “only” my father.  Even from when I was a baby, I was always a Daddy’s girl and we were always close.  We just grew much more so when it became just us.  My Dad was my best friend, my mom, my dad and even my brother.

When I found out my father had cancer and did not have long to live, my first question to him was what did he want to do with the time he had left.  His first reply was to see the beach one last time.  For us, “the beach” wasn’t just any old beach, but the Outer Banks – where we had traveled just about every year to from when I was a kid.  It was my father’s favorite place on earth and his long standing joke was that someday he was going to live in a cardboard box on the beach if that was what it took to live there.  We had already had a trip planned for that September (one of our favorite times to visit) but it quickly became apparent to us that September was too far off for us to wait, despite the doctors assuring us he had at least 6 months.  Since my job wouldn’t give me the time off to take my Dad on his last trip, I quit and off we went with a little over a week to plan.

The trip would have been heart wrenching no matter what – but sadly this was the week my Dad ended up taking a turn for the worse.  I think the tropical storm that hit during our trip didn’t help matters (weather fronts had always been hard on him due to and old leg injury) and the 12 hour car ride did not do us any favors.  Still, the smile on his face when he smelled the ocean was worth every single squeeze my heart took.  While we were there, he told me that his wishes for his funeral were to have his ashes brought back to the beach and spread.  I agreed.

After my Dad’s passing in August, we made the already planned trip to the Outer Banks with my Dad’s best friend and his wife (whom have taken me in since my Dad’s passing and are second parents to me now) to spread my Dad’s ashes.  If you’ve never spread someone’s ashes… it’s hard to describe.  It hurts like nothing you have hurt before but yet it’s freeing knowing that you are doing what the person wanted and they will always be a part of something they loved.  We spread his ashes at night on one of the most amazing nights I’ve ever seen on the beach.  There was a full moon and MOUNDS of sea foam, nothing like I’ve ever seen before there.  A year later, we would return to the same beach to get married and last year we visited again.  When I go there, I know Dad is around me and is happy to be where he loved, forever.

Rob and Nancy left the following day and Chris and I were kind of adrift.  The weather turned and wasn’t quite warm enough for the beach.  I was still working through a lot of emotions from the past few months.  We decided to just drive and sightsee and be complete tourists.  I took along my new Nikon D200 which I was still figuring out.  We ended up going all of the way to Ocracoke during our meanderings and I took what is still, to date, one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken.  I think it’s because the image encapsulates everything that I was feeling at the moment and in a way, I was taking a picture of my Dad.  I can be awfully corny at times and I sometimes think Dad helped press the shutter that day so I would have this beautiful reminder of where he will always be and what beauty he is now a part of.

Thanks for listening to all of my rambles!  This is a picture I have wanted to post for a long time.  I am finally ordering it as a canvas and can’t wait to have it on my wall to make me smile whenever I’m feeling a bit sad.

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Travel | Ocracoke Natural Beauty."

One thing that I am SO glad I purchased with my package when I got married is a hard bound proof book, which is why when I started out I made sure that it was a part of my offerings as well.  It made life SO much easier when browsing the many images from our wedding and also made it easier for my Mother in Law to choose the images she wanted (she’s not exactly very adept on the computer).  Over the years my proof books have evolved a bit but I have to say I’m quite in love with the style I have now!  Each proof book will have all the images from the wedding along with the number separated into categories similar to how they are found on the flash drive.

“Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Product | Proof Book | Amanda and Matt.”

Oh how much I adored Maureen & Jeremy!  They were so, so awesome to work with!  Their engagement session still remains one of my favorites and their wedding day was just as awesome.  They went along with anything I said and were willing to give even the strange things a try.  It’s hard NOT to adore a couple like that!

Choosing a photographer was one of the first things I did when planning our wedding…Okay, I’ll confess, I had been searching for the perfect wedding photographer even before we were engaged!  I stumbled upon Corey Ann’s blog and instantly fell in love with the images.  I loved that the couples seemed so natural and comfortable in her photos.  She also seemed to capture just the perfect moments…Mom dabbing her tear with a smile on her face, the “Wow!” look on the grooms face when he first sees the bride, Dad holding back tears during the father-daughter dance.  I couldn’t wait for us to be the couple in her photos!

Not long after we set the date, I contacted Corey Ann and luckily she was available.  She was the first vendor that we booked, and the one I remained the most confident in during all the chaos of planning a wedding!  The engagement session solidified my confidence in her and gave us photos that we will cherish forever.

On the big day, Corey Ann captured everything I asked for and so much more!  Some people had told me that your wedding photos get tucked away into an album and you only look at them occasionally.  Well, it’s almost been six months and I still look at them ALL THE TIME!  The whole day was such a blur that I love to look at my pictures and remember all of the special moments.

Besides capturing all the amazing moments of the day, she was a huge help!  She put my veil on me, helped keep everything organized, and got amazing wedding party photos in a very tight time frame while still getting us back to the reception with time to spare.

Choosing my favorite photos for “Brides Talk” is the most difficult part of writing this review, because there are hundreds that I LOVE!  It’s so hard to narrow it down, but here are a few of my favorites!

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Brides Talk | Maureen."

Enjoy these images and a couple sample spreads from their amazing album!  I apologize for the flash reflection in the album.  I got this late in the day and wanted to get it out the next morning to them as it was nearing Christmas so I did these shots at night.

Album Specs

Size: 10×10
Material: Lady Luck & Shroom
Cover Upgrade: 4×4 image cut out, two tone cover
Pages: 30
Page Style: Thick
Paper Type: Luster
Images: Chosen by client
Image Count: 56

I am still OBSESSED with KC’s shoes

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Product | Albums | KC & Kyle’s Wedding Album."

Album Specs

Size: 8×8
Material: Olea Branch Leather
Cover Upgrade: Imprinted name & date
Pages: 44
Page Style: Thick
Paper Type: Luster
Images: Chosen by client
Image Count: 116

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Product | Albums | Andrew and Kelli’s Parent Album."

What session was your favorite?

1.  Margaux @ 3 Months

2. Rachel’s Baby Shower & Maternity Shoot

3. Margaux @ 6 Months

4.  The V Family

5. Sarah and Zack

6.  Williams Dual 50th Anniversary Party

7. Miss Brianna

8.  Jordan @ 6 weeks

9.  Sydney, Petra and Carolina

10.  Margaux @ 9 months

11.  Oreo the Cat

12. Nicole’s Senior Session

13.  The Nagel Family

14.  Margaux @ 1 year old

15.  The Bowser Family

16. The Roethler Family

17.  The Straw Family

18.  The Sikora Family

19.  The Fehn Family

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Year in Review | 2011 | Portraits."