Colorado Adventures That Make My Heart Smile

4.5.18 - Vital Root on Tennyson ~ 12 PM MT

We’re sitting at Vital Root after enjoying a well-crafted, fresh, lunch filled with flavor and crunch.  There’s a woman breast-feeding out in the open and it’s kind of hard for me to focus, but here we go.  Heather thinks that breast-feeding in public should be less stigmatized and a more common practice, and it does make sense in the same way that we should be more in tune with where our food comes from.  As we distance ourselves or create social stigmas around human practices that have gotten us to where we are as a society, we are very literally losing some of the community associated with our humanity.

The last three days have felt like a vacation in Colorado: on Monday Heather and I lounged in the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs outside of Buena Vista; on Tuesday Heather rode Limbo and I climbed at Earth Treks in Golden; and on Wednesday David Miller and I carved down the slopes at Keystone and smiled and laughed in our descent.  Each day contained moments of levity that are within a couple hours of our home in Arvada, providing us places of refuge and relaxation to panoramic summits and high speed descents with meandering roads and adventures in between. 

The common thread running through all of them was a sense of gratitude that continuously left our lips.  Heather and I were borderline tripping balls as we gazed to the sky in a creek side hot springs pool, thinking upon where we are both literally and psychologically.  The strong sunrays, the quickly drifting clouds and the smell of the fresh green pines combined with the sound of the constant trickle of the cold creek over the warm rocks lured our minds towards serenity.  The next day, clinking our glasses together at Kline’s Beer Hall after each of our endorphin sessions on horseback and climbing wall, respectively, made the pints go down that much easier.  On the chair lifts and on the slopes, Miller and I smiled and laughed, asked and answered, and thought, felt and shared stories.  When we plopped down into lounge chairs beneath the blinding high-noon sun we were billionaires, basking between snowcapped mountaintops gazing upon the best that the world has to offer.  There is luxury and then there is gratitude and appreciation – without the latter, the former is empty and broken, but without the former, the heart can still smile.

It’s weird to think about a person meaning more to you than your longest friends, but David Miller has achieved such status.  There is significance in the way he approaches conversations, welcoming the mundane and the magnanimous with an equal hand as if each holds equal importance.  In a paradoxical way there is wisdom in understanding the whole spectrum and listening to each wavelength as you try to hone in on someone’s frequency.  We all walk around with our own thoughts, suffering through our troughs and celebrating our crests, and it’s easy to forget that everyone around us has their own path but when you talk to Miller you feel like he’s listening in an attempt to sync up.  Being completely in concert with another’s wavelength is more than likely impossible, but that’s how I felt on the mountain with Miller – and that’s what happens when you listen to a song that resonates with you; or when you somehow spend an hour or two in front of a piece in a museum. What I’m trying to say is when you find someone who tries to sync up with your wavelength, don’t let them go, because they don’t come around that often, and human connection is invaluable. 

Wedding Photographers in NYC

3.2.18 - 5004 Cody Street ~ 1:05 AM MT

            Heather told me tonight that she really appreciated my partnership today.  She told me that she could count on me to tidy up the house, to research SEO stuff for Apollo Fields, and that trusting someone else to handle things isn’t easy for her.  Since the beginning of our relationship we’ve always trusted each other because we haven’t given each other a reason not to.  It’s wonderful that that reality is also seeping into the business partnership that we’re creating.

            I know that few people are lucky enough to find a significant other whom they can communicate with, work with, and even enjoy being with for a long period of time.  Often times it’s hard enough to even get along with yourself for awhile.  Yet here we are as a couple in pursuit of a creative endeavor that incorporates and celebrates the things that we are both best at individually.  There are even fewer people who can be part of something like that.

            As I explained it to several people at Oasis tonight, Heather and I’s partnership and eventual marriage was borne out of the recognition of a pattern of mutually beneficial decisions and actions.  To us, concepts like eternal love are irrational fantasies seated in the rationality of the human mind; pursuing them is akin to letting your conscience be commanded by a belief in heaven and hell—it allows imaginary ideas to take precedence over the human faculty of rationality.    

In the past three years Heather and I have taken countless trips, published a cookbook, moved across the country, adopted a Doberman from a sandwich shop, had our Jack Russell become paraplegic, acquired a horse, and fought and laughed in between.  Many things have stood in our way but none of them have stopped us.  Our relationship withstands the things that come our way because we know we control our actions and that we will be there for our partner when they get in their own way. 

            To say that, “we don’t fight” is a misnomer and an oversimplification—we hold different opinions all the time, but it’s a matter of choosing when and where to dig our feet into the mud.  It takes emotional will power to cede your pride in the name of the greater good of the relationship, but learning to govern your feelings in order to foster an atmosphere of trust, support, and honesty will always be worth it.  There are times when I or Heather knows that the arena we have chosen to fight in is a waste of time or that we were not meant to share this same battlefield and we’ve learned that that’s OK.  Our altercations are a matter of recognizing what works and what doesn’t, or what’s harmful and what’s helpful.  It’s less of a fight and more of a concerted effort at honest communication aimed at understanding.

            Through all of the fun and tears we strive to create love and act out of rationality and reason.  It’s less exciting than the love stories we’ve been told and sounds less sexy than the hyperbole of unoriginal wedding vows, but it’s the closest thing to being human that I can imagine.  If Heather and I love each other enough we will bring another human into a world where creativity, rationality, and reason are the concepts dangling above the crib, slowly spinning on a hand-stitched mobile as stubby, wrinkly fingers reach for the sky. Instead of pursuing imaginary fantasies we are writing our story one thoughtful camera click and pen stroke at a time.

Guanella Pass Campground Wedding Photography in Colorado

Emily & Ole's Wedding In The Woods | Colorado Campground | Apollo Fields Photojournalism

DIY RUSTIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY | CAMPGROUND INTIMATE WEDDINGS | ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHER ERNY PHOTO CO

Emily and Ole had a laid back wedding at the Guanella Pass Campground this past July. Celebrating with close family among the aspens and evergreens, their Colorado campground wedding was nothing short of perfect.  

During the ceremony, Emily read from her own personal journal, opening up her heart and sharing her intimate thoughts and feelings from when she first met Ole.

And I couldn't help but notice the leaves she had tucked inside her journal pages, dried out and preserved for years to come. As a nostalgic person myself, this made me love being a part of their day even more. 

And then I found out that Emily's bouquet, in all of it's beauty, was the dried version of the very first flowers Ole ever gave her. It turns out she had been saving them for this very day. I can't even put into words how amazing that is and how much I adored it!  

After the wedding, we drove up to the top of Guanella Pass for some intimate couples portraits of just the two of them. As soon as we arrived, you could see Emily and Ole relax. It was obvious that they felt most at home in the quiet of the mountains. Mt. Beirstadt stood tall in the background, which while unplanned was also awesome since that was one of the first 14ers Emily and Ole ever climbed together.  

This was their perfect wedding. From the do it yourself touches, to the breath-taking views, to them including their adorable French bull dog, Winston, and his adorable red bow tie. If they could do it all again, I'm not sure they could do it any better. 

Emily and Ole's Colorado Campground Mountain Wedding

Photography:  Apollo Photo
Journalism:  Apollo Journalism