Denver Picture Guy

Corona Now Open! from Denverpictureguy on Vimeo.

Have you ever experienced a moment where when you look at what your doing right at that moment combine it with the sights and sounds around you, you find yourself in one simple conclusion…….. Life is truly amazing. That moment when everything you’ve ever worked towards or worked hard to become and achieve has led you to a certain moment that you have long been waiting for…… That was my day today.

As my alarm rang at 3:45 on a cold December morning I awoke to freshly charged batteries an full packed camera bag and two formatted memory cards. The days objectives………? To arrive at Eldora Mountain Resort before the sun rise to capture a time lapse showcasing the full moon setting along with the sun rising on a corona trail ready to be opened for the day. Leaving my home in the dark and driving up an almost empty boulder canyon, I arrived to a frost covered empty Eldora parking lot still bathed in full moon light…. A few minutes passing brought the arrival of the director of operations and my snowmobile driver to the top of the mountain for the beginning of the time lapse shoot. I quickly set up the camera at the base to capture the moon setting behind the mountain while I geared up ready for an early morning cold weather assault. after Dave grabbed his sled and I grabbed my skis we jumped on the snowmobile and started the crazy ride up the mountain. Now I have been down many a ski run downhill while on skis but flying uphill full throttle on a snow machine the same runs that I had since only been on in the daylight going down definitely brought a smile to my face and the first of many realizations of the day that I have the best job in the world.

Our destination was the lookout deck on the top of the Corona lift with promises of a majestic views of the continental divide, although the views did not disappoint the location of the moon and the uncertainty of the location of the sunrise made this location not of ideal choice. With just enough time to ski down and hike to a second location I decided to give it a shot. Skiing mostly in the dark with only the full moon to illuminate the run before me I found myself in a complete calm and excitement. Reaching the top of the ambush access I popped off my skis and headed into the woods in the search of a clearing to film the moon set and sun rise, 75 yards and whole bunch of post holing I found my outlook set up my new canon 6D with intervalometer and started firing away. After sitting attempting not to achieve hypothermia but slightly failing I witnessed the moon set and the beautiful orange glow of the sun rise on a perfectly calm windless day. With each passing shot popping up for review on my camera I got more and more excited. Following an hour and a half of shooting and the go ahead from the director of snowsports and marketing as well as Dave the director of operations (the designated athletes to film the first tracks of corona the run to be opened that day and highlighted by this video) that we were ready to hit the slopes and film, we made a quick run down filming one section at a time til we had enough footage for a short edit showcasing the conditions. reaching the bottom allowed me to film a few b-roll shots of our shiny new lift status board for the end of the film then it was banishment to the edit, 3 hours in a closed office with my laptop and headphones and voila the finished product.

The world we live in is majestic and beautiful and sometimes it just takes an early start and some hiking skills and one can be nothing short of amazed at where you can end up.

So get out there and enjoy the world you wont regret it.