We’re excited to see that Style Me Pretty has featured Stacy and Rob’s wedding. It most definitely was a beautiful celebration!

Check it out here!

For more information please visit our website. To book a session, wedding, or event, contact us.

It’s no secret that we are huge fans of Sara Lovell. We’ve worked with her before on weddings and her hair & makeup work is always flawless. We’ve also picked her brain before in this interview, check it out. So, when we got to work with her recently on this stylized session with Chris and Lauren, we knew it was going to be so much fun that we’d want to do it again!

What, you might ask, is a stylized shoot? It’s a collaboration of talent with a theme in mind to pull inspiration from. It can be an era, a movie, a poem, a book, basically it can be anything in your wildest of dreams.

Here’s where it gets good for all engaged couples…we are giving away one of these photoshoots complete with the hair & makeup talents of Sara Lovell along with a consultation that will make your dreams become a reality.

Check out the details of this epic contest on our Empire West Photo Facebook Fan Page. We can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

We have been going through all of our amazing weddings from this year and decided to put together a little montage of our favorite moments. Enjoy!

We had a nice leisurely morning on Sunday complete with pumpkin waffles and bacon. Then, Dan and Brienne took us to Clear Creek Canyon to do some hiking and of course we took some photos.

Me & Zach and Dan & Brienne just hanging out enjoying the view.

The whole crew thanks to Zach’s arm reach!

After a quick bite to eat in Golden, we headed out to Washington Park for our session with Haley and Dave. We couldn’t wait to meet them! Here’s a teaser.

We headed out from Winter Park bright and early on Saturday, just as the sun was rising. The scenery was amazing and we had to stop along the way to try and capture the beauty.

Grand Lake

Here are some views from the roof of Dan and Brienne’s apartment in Denver. You may remember our dear friends from their amazing mountain-top wedding.

Ranger IPA in a can!

Great American Beer Festival!! Here we come!

Outside the convention center.

We were a tad overwhelmed when we walked in. There were more than 2,200 different beers from more than 450 of the nation’s finest breweries.

This shot was taken after Dave dropped his cup. At GABF when you drop your cup everyone within 300 yards of you will stop and yell “ohhhhhhh!!”

It was the 30th anniversary of GABF.

We had to stop at the Genesee station to represent ROC! Here we met ‘Dude’ the volunteer that was pouring for Genny.

Bacon Brown Ale from Uncommon Brewers? YesPlease.

Zach tried his hand at the bean bag toss and won…

What did you win, Zach?

He got himself a brand new shiny plastic harmonica.

Dave, Dan, Zach and Len

Me and the little bro

Zach gives his seal of approval

Yea, it’s safe to say that we will be back. The GABF was a blast and we got to taste some amazing brews in the company of some awesome people. Good times!!

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day Three’ fully image gallery (82 photos)

Sunday was our last day in Colorado, but we had some fun planned including an engagement session with one of our 2012 couples. Here’s a quick peek at Day 4.

Before we left Fort Collins, we had to show Zach one of our favorite spots in the foothills – Horsetooth Reservoir.

Horsetooth Rock off in the distance

Zach showing off his mad levitating skillz

Enjoying the view

After we hiked around and soaked in some gorgeous scenery, we hopped in our Turbo Volvo S60 T5…oh wait…did I forget to tell you that our rental car was upgraded? Well, yeah it was, and this car was flippin awesome!

We stopped for lunch in Estes Park at another favorite spot – The Wipiti Bar & Grill. Where else can you get served up a fine ale in a boot?

Aspen Trees

After lunch we started our trek through the park via Trail Ridge Road.

The Continental Divide, also called the Great Divide, is a natural boundary line separating waters that flow into the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico from those that flow into the Pacific Ocean. It runs north-south from Alaska to northwestern South America. Pretty cool, eh? You can read more about it HERE.

Zach’s awesome shot of the Hasselblad’s viewfinder.

Poudre Lake

From there, we kept climbing until we were up above the treeline. Eleven miles of this highway is above treeline, the elevation near 11,500 feet is where the park’s evergreen forests come to a halt.

We traveled along the windy roads across the tundra’s vastness to its high point at 12,183 feet elevation.

We were approaching dusk and hadn’t seen much wildlife, but we knew that it was the mating season for elk, so our eyes were peeled. Just as we made our way down towards the park’s exit we saw a giant bull elk in the distance.

We parked the car and got a little closer.

HA!

Here he is bugling. It was such a cool experience. There were several herds around us that we couldn’t see, but their sounds were unmistakeable.

Here’s a little video for ya!

We seemed to be interrupting this guy’s dinner.

Another bull elk leading his harem across the street.

Dave taking some shots with the Hasselblad

Here are the results

As we exited the park and were driving towards our hotel in Winter Park, I started feeling a little lightheaded and nauseous. Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous motorway in the United States and it seemed that I had a case of Altitude Sickness, which is not fun and quite scary. My symptoms were dizziness and vomiting -TMI? We contemplated driving to Denver from Winter Park that night. That way we would be sleeping at a lower elevation, but since I wasn’t experiencing any headaches we decided to stay put and get an early start to Denver the next day. If you ever have symptoms of Altitude Sickness, please take this seriously, it isn’t a joke and it could be fatal. Read more about it HERE.

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day Two’ full image gallery (100 photos)

OK enough of the dramatics, stay tuned for Day 3 which was the inspiration for making this trip out to Colorado – The Great American Beer Festival!! One word :: INSANITY. Here’s a teaser.

We try and make it out to Colorado as often as possible. There is just something about the mountain air that keeps us coming back for more.

Our first day was very beer-centric (which may or may not have contributed to my altitude sickness the next day – but more on that later.) My brother traveled along with us to celebrate his 21st birthday,  so we took this as an opportunity to introduce him to some of the very best craft brews around. First stop was one of our very favorite breweries – New Belgium. Their brewery tour is 2nd to none. Not only are they environmental stewards,  they make some of our very favorite beers as well.

We were lucky enough to be one of the first to try their new Lips of Faith IPA – Fresh Hop.

Our good friend Dan and I enjoying a sample.

Their motto is a great message and one that I think has inspired us along the way.

Can anyone guess what Dan is holding out for us to see?

After our lovely tour at New Belgium, we continued on the quest for great craft brews. Next stop – O’Dell Brewing. They had so many different tasting trays, so we wanted to try them all.

I’m pretty sure Zach and Dan approve!

We decided it was time for some grub, so we headed on over to The Mayor of Old Town, where they have 100 beers on tap. The food here rocks and we had fun making up our own rules for the game Farkle.

Dave even got a chance to check out their keg room. Look how immaculate!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to hydrate and get ready for what turned out to be one of the most amazing days ever – our drive through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Click HERE for ‘Colorado :: Day One’ Full Image Gallery (55 Photos)

Here’s a teaser from Day 2 – Stay tuned!!

Melissa and I had a chance to head back to one of our favorite camping spots in New York – Sugar Creek Glen! One of the best parts about this camp site is you need a 4×4 to get to it, and the jeep gets us there with no problems.
The first obstacle is getting across the river, only way is to drive through it. Second obstacle is the extremely steep old logging road that takes you up to the site, 4 wheel low and head out the side window to make sure we stay on the path.

We were able to arrive at camp in the middle of the week so we ended up being the only people there. That meant we had the glen and waterfalls to ourselves to relax and of course take photos We brought along our 35mm Canon AE-1 and our medium format(120 film) Hasselblad 500cm

We did end up cutting our trip short due to all the hungry bears at camp. The camp owners were using ammonia to keep them out of their garbage and we were the only other source of food. So, with a fresh dent in the jeep from a bear checking out the food in it we headed out.

Here are some of the images we captured with the film cameras -

Colorado is always an adventure and we were so grateful to visit last week. Ever since our last trip to the Rocky Mountains in ’09, we have been dreaming of the day that we could get back. There is something about being in the mountains that we really can’t explain, it’s just so calming and peaceful. To tell you the truth, it feels a little bit like home and being with great friends just makes it better.

Our trip started off with some unexpected ATC delays out of Rochester. This type of annoyance used to be so much worse when Dave smoked..this time we just shrugged it off and headed to the bar for some lunch and a Guinness. Congratulations to Dave for being smoke-free for 18 months, I’m so proud of him!!

After we re-booked our connection, we headed to O’Hare and Dave spotted Niagara Falls on the way. Check it out! (Photo taken with the HTC Droid Incredible)

After an exhausting day of delays, we were so glad to have made to Denver. Here is the view from atop Dan & Brienne’s comfy apartment in Downtown Denver.

The following day we headed out to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which was A-MAZING! Here, we all practiced some extreme stair sports! Good Times!

Then, we headed to Mount Falcon Park to enjoy some more views.

Falling Rock Tap House has over 200 beers on their menu. To say that we were content would be an understatement, Colorado has some of the best microbrews in the West!

The original Dan & Dave.

We love downtown Denver!

Lots of beauty and history at the Colorado State Capital Building.

After picking up Brienne from work on Friday, we headed up to Vail. Here is a shot from the car of Copper Mountain. The groomers are carving out the half pipe.

At this point, we are ridiculously excited because we’ve never been to Vail and because we are about to witness our dear friends speak their vows atop the mountain where they had their first date. Talk about a great experience.

Here is a sneak peak from that very special day. Stay Tuned!

Rochester, NY – January 25, 2011 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Empire West Photo has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Photography!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Empire West Photo stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Empire West Photo for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Empire West Photo is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today by clicking here.

For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire.com, the nation’s leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives local businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. Businesses that join the WeddingWire Network appear on WeddingWire.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), ProjectWedding.com and Weddingbee.com (both part of eHarmony), and Celebrations.com (part of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, NASDAQ: FLWS).