WOW! This is really all I can say about this whole experience. I’ll just start from Saturday morning (the day of the shoot). I loaded up on the plane for a 7:00 am departure. Figuring I would be late, we were planning on meeting up around 11:00 or later to head out to the location for the shoot. However, Southwest Airlines rocked the skies and landed in Denver 25 minutes early!! The captain even said, “As soon as you turn your phones on, be sure to talk about how early we got you here, because you know you would if we were late.” haha Since I was so early I had some time to kill, although, I was so early that a lot of the stores were still closed and obviously I could not check into my hotel room. So I drove aimlessly around seeing some of the sites and enjoying the magnificent scenery! Not able or willing to continue driving with a plan I called Andrea not knowing if they would be ready yet. It just so happened I was just a few blocks away from them and they could head over right away. This is when I learned they were in a bit of a hurry to get to our destination at the Rocky Mountain National Park because out of all days, that day was chosen for a bike race that would eventually close some of the roads that we needed to take.
Fortunately we didn’t have any problems getting to our location. It was about an hour drive through the mountains, and I’m still blown away at what Andrea and Derek get to look at every day!! How awesome is that? I have some iPhone pictures/video I took that I’ll be sure to include. When we pulled up to our first location, the scenery was breath-taking, and I so mean this in the literal sense and metaphorical sense. I had always heard the Denver area was pretty rough if you weren’t accustomed to the altitude, especially from watching different sports and they would mention it, but I guess I just figured it was only bad if you were doing anything physical. We walked up about 10 steps and I was so out of breath, I was practically embarrassed. I work out, I play different kinds of sports throughout the year, so how on earth would I be so out of breath? That’s when Andrea mentioned something about the altitude and the realization hit in that the altitude really does affect you, not just during physical activities. I would be in the car driving and I would notice my breaths were very quick and short, it was definitely kind of weird, but it all added into the experience, so it was exciting. haha
I could go on about each location, but I would fill up this entire post with words, and I know many of you want to see the pictures. But at one location, next to a lake, we were taking pictures when we saw a lot of people running toward the bank of the lake and we looked out and saw a moose had made it’s way out into the water to get a little snack. Andrea and Derek have been out in Denver for a couple years now and they said they had never seen a moose until their shoot, which I guess is kind of cool that it was during the engagement shoot. I’m going to say it’s a sign that they chose the right photographer. 😀 That was a pretty fun experience as I was hoping to see some sort of wildlife, reason why I brought a 500mm zoom on this shoot. Later on, after the shoot was over, we saw quite a few Elk on the sides of the road.
Overall though, the experience of working in Colorado was fantastic. Working with Andrea and Derek was equally as great, and the two of them are so amazing!! I had a blast getting to know them, hanging out with them, and even playing tourist with them for a while. They were such a fun couple and I know their wedding day will be absolutely amazing. Seeing the mountains (for the first time I might add) was definitely a trip, and it’s a trip I hope to make again very soon.
