And the Colorado rocky mountain high/I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky.

Okay, I'm not really a John Denver fan, so if this were a Monty Python movie, somebody would be rushing into the frame right now screaming, "Stop that! Stop that!" There will be no singing on this blog.

Nor, apparently, will there be any more serious posts about the death of journalism and dopey interns in Florida who can't resist a chance to write about what they ate for lunch. In general, when I write too many posts that aren't wedding or portrait related, my sister will leave a sarcastic message telling me to get back to the nice pictures of brides. Thanks for the support, Jen.

Actually, I have no problem getting back to the nice pictures, because they're a little bit different this week. As some of you know, I just returned from a wonderful trip to Colorado, where I had the pleasure of photographing my friends Frank and Jessica and their family. And though I've spent time in  Montana and Alaska, Colorado was a new experience for me, one I'll be looking forward to repeating in the future. There was no humidity, the air was fresh and there wasn't a mosquito to be found.

It was quite liberating to go on a portrait shoot like this one, with no agenda other than getting beautiful family pictures over the course of a few days. And, needless to say, it's hard to miss when you have backgrounds like Aspen Mountain or Maroon Bells or, for that matter, the great old wooden bed on the porch. One assumes the pictures will come with the great mountain in the background, but more often than not, they come when the kids are playing in the fountain in the middle of downtown. That's why agendas in the mountains are just plain silly. As Frank and Jessica were telling me, one has to be laid back in Aspen, where the weather can shut the airport down in a heartbeat. And that's just the way we approached this shoot.

I arrived in Aspen via Indpendence Pass, and I'm kind of glad I didn't really read the guide book too carefully before setting out. Me and heights are like oil and water, so it's probably for the best that I didn't know that the altitude of the pass was over 12,000 feet. There was plenty of snow up there and a dearth of guardrails but I did just fine. (No, I was not driving like an old lady. Okay, maybe a little bit.) It really is a spectacular view, the wind whipping around and the temperature a good 20 degrees cooler than the valley. I was expecting the thin air to be more noticeable than it was, though I could feel it on the trail out to the overlook.

Once in Aspen, we just hung around the house. We drove up towards Maroon Bells Lake a few times, watched the kids skateboard and ride bikes, and had an amazing dinner at D19, a restaurant that serves the best "forever braised" pork osso buco I've ever tasted. Pretty much we kept it simple, and that's where good pictures come from.

Anyway, I won't go on too long today, since Sunday's post was a bit of a haul. I do want to take the opportunity to thank Frank and Jessica for their hospitality in Aspen. It was a wonderful first trip to Colorado and I can't wait to return.

 To see a little gallery of pictures from our Aspen photo shoot, which could, I believe, be mistaken for a Ralph Lauren ad campaign, click here.

Take care, and I'll have some pictures from the great wedding I did at Hillsborough Vineyards this past Saturday in a few days. And for those of you who want to start humming some John Denver, you may begin now.

Matt