jackson hole wedding photographer | valentine's day special.

Recently engaged or know someone who is? Take advantage of the Valentine's Day special. Book your wedding by February 14th and receive a free engagement session ($325 value!). Looking forward to meeting all of the new brides and grooms of 2013!

...and now i need a snowmobile.

Being that it is my fifth winter in Jackson Hole, I dreadfully have to admit that some of my favorite runs are getting, well, a bit boring. It's strange, because I am so incredibly privileged to live in a place like this, but after time, I have to start turning down other avenues for new adventures. Since I was a kid I always wanted to try new things, and that desire hasn't changed. I know I still have many places to explore in the backcountry via bootpack, but I have found that my desperation for a new type of terrain has started to take over -- this isn't helped by the fact that it hasn't snowed in about a month. My lovely little lift-accessed resort is now plagued with icy slopes that are just not fun on my snowboard. Maybe if I grew up on the east coast I would feel different but a Northwest girl doesn't do ice.

That being said, I was beyond stoked when my friends Halina (badass chica riding for High Society Snowboards and local outerwear company Burgess Custom) and her equally rad boyfriend Tyler Van Martin (a Salomon skier) contacted me to go on a snowmobile mission with their recently acquired sled and uber-experienced sled friend Blaine. The mission? Find location, build jump, take photos. My type of day in the backcountry! Maybe with a little snowboarding for myself thrown in as well ;)

A cold cloudy morning led us to the trailhead of Mosquito Creek, a popular snowmobile area. Of course everything took forever and we didn't end up taking off on the trail until 10 am. With six people and two snowmobiles, things were certainly interesting! I thankfully got to ride tandem, as I'd probably be a complete idiot trying to operate such a machine, nor did I want to be one of the two unlucky (sorry David!) that had to tow behind via rope on the woop-infested trail. All went well despite the lack of a third sled and we were invited by bright blue skies as we rode along.

Of course after about 30 minutes down, Tyler and Blaine decided to take off on their own and "scout" for a jump location. Okay with the rest of us, as we decided to lap a pretty little powder hill, complete with a log jump. Fun!

After some time waiting, eating, riding, taking pictures and more waiting, the boys came back. We were forced to ride up a really steep hill where the only way to not get stuck was to gun it, making for a fairly terrifying ride for me on the back! I'm pretty sure my butt was off the seat the whole time and I almost lost my goggles. I nearly pulled Blaine off the sled! Couldn't have been more thankful for those handlebars. Turns out our jump location was down in a gully area and Halina and I had a blast riding right back down. The gully was full of perfect powder and we towed behind the sleds for a bit to get to our destination.

Well, turns out our jump location wasn't quite as perfect as we thought. Scenic yes, but a good landing? Hardly. Nevertheless, it was getting late and we couldn't keep riding further into the backcountry and still build a jump, and shoot photos before sunset so that was the spot.

The crew spent some time building while I played around with Halina's splitboard. Want one so bad! I skinned around and scoped out some angles for the shots I wanted to get, set up my flash (so convenient that I just got to strap it onto the back of the sled!!) and was good to go. Soon, "dropping!!" was a familiar phrase and it was on!

Blaine gets after it on the jump.

After a fairly quick session, we packed up our gear and headed back. Tyler got stuck in the gully so I had to post-hole my way back up to the trail while Blaine helped get him out. We rode out watching the alpenglow light up the surrounding peaks.

Sharing beers at the Stagecoach after, I couldn't believe how excited I was to have shared a new experience with my friends. Of course David and I were already gushing about getting a snowmobile, but sadly that will probably have to wait. I guess that's it until our next adventure :)

jackson hole wedding photographer | featured on Style Me Pretty!

I am so excited to share with all of you that I received my first feature on Style Me Pretty! These were the photos recently posted of the dreamy engagement session with Annie & Chase up at Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park. I can't resist that mountain backdrop either. It's all wrapped up pretty on their blog today. Check it out here! Be sure to leave a comment and show some love when you visit the site. Enjoy!

jackson hole engagement photographer | chase & annie.

Annie & Chase are two awesome people that I've met during my time living in Jackson Hole. They met here, got engaged here, and are getting married here! Their wedding is this summer but we decided to do some engagement photos during the winter. Since the two of them are badass skiers, running around in the snow for a few hours didn't seem to bother them much. We took these classic Jackson Hole engagement photos in Grand Teton National Park at Mormon Row. I love these barns. They are so rustic, and provided the perfect background for this wintery photo session. With the crazy blizzards that have been rolling through this December, we got super lucky with cloudy skies, light snow, and no wind. Enjoy these photos -- I love them! Thanks for hangin out Chase & Annie :)

jackson hole engagement photographer | mormon row engagement session preview.

Got to spend this beautiful winter day with Chase and Annie. Here's a little preview. Can't wait to share more of these with you. So much fun! :)

jackson hole photographer | winter is here.

What an amazing weekend! Winter finally arrived in Jackson Hole, dropping a foot of snow in the Tetons. The ski resort opened up the whole upper mountain and we were able to ride fluffy, beautiful powder all weekend long. I'm off for a little backcountry tomorrow and some engagement sessions in the snow later this week. Stay tuned for some winter wonderland loveliness!