September was amazing and exhausting. I was away from home every weekend – and from September 12th – October 7th, I was away from home except for a brief nights sleep on the 22nd. That means I spent more days away from home than at home! Filled with local travel, weddings, and long distance road trips – it was a month I’ll never forget.

Marooned in Aspen

Weekend One

When we reached Aspen we were dismayed to see that it was rainy and cold already – there would be no light for us this morning, but we made the most of it. We hit the trail and began climbing.

There were some deer in the groves running around and this one actually followed us for some time (he walked alongside us down at the base of the hill we were climbing up).

We eventually reached the top of the lake we were hiking towards and while the views were hauntingly beautiful it was cold.

It was also wet – gray and getting worse. After waiting with me for an hour (she’s a trooper) Sophie was about ready to head back towards the base camp and we began hiking down.

As we went down the trails were getting overrun with water so we took our time – but it was beautiful in the way that only reflective softly lit greenery can be.

Reaching the car we eventually began to see something we didn’t foresee seeing at all that day – light!

For a few brief but glorious hours we had light before the storm came back with a vengeance. We walked along a River that lead down from the trailhead – along the way seeing gorgeous mountain views behind us.

That’s where I got the second image below. The first was actually from the path down to the creek that you can see in the second image.

We came back into the park for sunset and it was beautiful again (how could it not be). However the light faded fast. My favorite image of the evening was this one as we drove in.

There was a brief splash of light right at the end of the evening however it was only lighting up the clouds, no dramatic light hitting the mountains – but that was okay, it was a quiet and gorgeous evening enjoyed in solitude.

The following morning we did a sunrise hike atop Independence Pass. This ended up being my personal highlight of the weekend. There was abundant frost in the shade we were walking through on this hike, and I loved photographing it as it caught the beginning of the day’s light.

The valley shown in the background of the scene above and as the center focal point below is one that I quite enjoy admiring. Photographically though the light was too far gone for my tastes by the time I was photographing it. IF you were able to get there around this time of year (so you get a similar shadow) but earlier (so you’re at the vantage point below for sunrise) THAT would be an excellent image.

New England w/ Newlyweds

Weekend Two & Three

The second and third weekend of the month were spent in New England. The first weekend was spent attending our friend Alyssa’s wedding near North Conway. The foliage was beginning to turn, and it was a stunning outdoor wedding.

The following week was spent in Vermont before attending another wedding for a second friend named Alyssa.

The wedding was again wonderful with an outdoor venue which worked perfectly and wonderful clear blue skies for the ceremony.

This week wasn’t spent taking that many photographs (was busy partaking in the moment) however I still got a few worth sharing here.

This first image on the left was from the first weekend, this was the view right behind the arch the Alyssa and Jordan were married under. The second image was from the grounds where we were staying for the second wedding. The soft morning light worked well for the scene and the framing of the dilapidation of the barn being overcome by the nature works well.

This final image is of the lighting and foliage at the reception from the second wedding. Not much to see or explain but I liked the way that the soft warm lighting of the string lights complimented the wood and rustic tones of the foliage in the background of the scene.

Beginning my Fall Road Trip

Weekend Four

I don’t want to go into too much detail about this week / weekend here as I have already prepared and am in the act of preparing articles going over:

The highlights of the trip.
Extensive details on what I did in Yosemite in a secondary post.

However, just know that it was an absolutely unforgettable road trip from Colorado to California and I’m excited to finish the trip off soon (I’m writing this on Friday October 3rd – so still need to make the return trip – since writing this draft I finished the trip, the finale was great! ).

However, here are some of the tippity top images from the trip (limited to what I shot in September).