The idea was simple – I wanted to find a creative and unique way to capture Amy & Jordan’s love story in as an authentic way as possible. To truly showcase their relationship and the journey they’re on together and curate a visual bookmark to their story through our work together that they can look back on for months and years to come. So to make that happen, we decided to take a week and travel out to Colorado over Christmas break to photograph and film their love up in the Rockies – and let me just say, this Rocky Mountain engagement blew my mind.
40º18’47″N 105º38’59″W
We started our trip on January 1st during one of the snowiest and coldest blizzards Michigan has seen in quite some time. When we made it to our first stop, an AirBnB in Des Moines, Iowa, the temperature outside read -14ºF with a windchill down in the -20s. We settled in for the night and when we woke up the next morning, the skies were refreshingly clear and crisp. Temps were still excessively low but the bright winter sun streaming through the windows brought with it a calming presence and so we excitedly began our session together.
To set the mood for the trip and give Amy & Jordan some space to think, I split them up – Amy upstairs and Jordan downstairs – and asked them to simply write out on paper whatever they were thinking and feeling as they began this trip. No expectations, no specific prompting, just some space to breathe, think, and express on paper whatever emotions and thoughts were running through their mind. These notes would then be safely archived in the back of my notebook until the end of the trip. Once they had some time to reflect and think, I brought them back together and our journey together began. We captured some beautiful moments in the sunlit living room of our AirBnB before embarking on the 700-mile trek out to Denver. Along the way, we shared some amazing conversations about life, career, and I had the chance to really dive in to their relationship and get to know them in a deeper way than I have previously been able to – and those conversations set the stage for our next three days together.
Speaking of those next days – oh my word. I seriously cannot overstate how absolutely perfect our time was together. We spent three days exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, climbing mountains, exploring frozen lakes, and breathing in the cool mountain air. All the while, my entire focus was locked in on learning the details of and then finding creative ways to showcase Amy & Jordan’s beautiful love story on camera – and the process was absolutely heartwarming.
I honestly can’t express with enough emotional power the immense level of thankfulness I have for a couple like Amy & Jordan. It’s always been my goal to capture real, authentic, raw, and meaningful moments with my photographic work and to be given an entire week to just dive into one story was a complete dream come true. So ridiculously appreciative of the opportunity to capture these moments and I’m waiting with eager expectation for the next trip I’m able to take with an amazing couple to capture their love in a powerful and meaningful way.
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Interested in scheduling a trip like this for you and your love? I’d love to chat with you about what that could look like! Just give me a shout at hello@joshrexford.com and we can think through some details/options. Cheers!
