With Wedding Season off to a soaring hit, I'm at last feeling like I can title myself as a Traveling Wedding Photographer. A title I will proudly and confidently wear.
This weekend I'll be making my travels up North to Mitchell, South Dakota for a wedding at A1's Pheasant Ranch. Which is located in Emery to be exact. I've been in communication with my clients for quite some time and I can't believe the date is finally here. It's an absolutely gorgeous venue and I can't wait to shoot there and finally meet this darling couple.
While this area is significantly flatter than the photos I'm about to share in this blog, it's certainly going to be gorgeous. With temperatures in the High 70s, it's an absolute dream for wedding photographers in the month of June.
I've been traveling to South Dakota for quite some time and every time I go, it has this way of alleviating all of the stresses life may carry. The air feels light and crisp, reminding me of a drive through the Colorado Rocky Mountains. And the views are absolutely unreal. I particularly love making a trip there in the fall especially if it's during a Husker away game. Watching the Huskers play from the Bumping Buffalo Bar & Grill in Hill City, was a blast!
We're a little nuts, so generally we make a long trip in the middle of the night and end up at Evans Plunge by 6 am for a shower and soak. Then carry on our way through Custer and beyond.
A few years ago we stayed in a cabin at Custer State Park and spent the weekend hiking on some of the main trail heads. Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to South Dakota a few times, including during the Annual Sturgis Rally and for a friends wedding.
Prior to our friends wedding, we decided to hike Black Elk Peak (formally known as Harney Peak) and boy was it a little tougher than at first anticipated. Maybe tougher isn't the right word, but it was certainly longer. 7 miles roundtrip and about 4-5 hours. Being pretty physically fit, I imagine it could have gone quicker but of course I tend to delay the hike as I can't ever resist pulling out my camera to get all of the dreamy shots for my own viewing pleasure later.
With cloudy rainy skies above, it made for the moodiest shots particularly enhancing the shadows of the needle shaped mountains or rather Cathedral Spires.
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With having a little bit more free time on Friday, my associate photographer and I are planning to make an earlier trip to make our way to the Badlands. An area I've been wanting to shoot, but having not had the opportunity. At the price of gas, my usual case of wanderlust may regret the cost later - but my heart certainly won't.
Whatever will this weekend bring??
