24 Hours of Visitors

I find it fun to see where people are coming from to view my site. Most seem to drop by the blog. Here are a few of the locations. I'd love to hear from any of you. Thank you for visiting.

Ontario, Canada
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Papeete, French Polynesia
South Dakota: Sioux Falls, Brookings, Aberdeen, Rapid City, Lemmon, Vienna, Kimball, Flandreau, Salem, Pierre, Madison, Huron, Highmore
Minnesota: Minneapolis, Tracy, Bemidji, Grand Marais, Rochester, Edina, Shakopee, Hutchinson, Norwood
North Dakota: Grand Forks, Bismark, Williston, Fargo
California: Oxnard, San Franscisco, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach
Iowa: Marshalltown, Bettendorf
Michigan: Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Lansing
Newport, Rhode Island
Colorado: Englewood, Denver
Oregon: Albany, Beaverton, Corvallis
Arizona: Phoenix, Tuscon
Georgia: West Point, Atlanta
Anthony, Texas
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Omaha, Nebraska
Virginia: Herndon, Reston
Billings, Montana
Rochester, New York
Boca Raton, Florida

Blake 05.29.06

Blake was Brookings Baby #6. Yesterday I spent some time at his home getting some cute images.
CA

Eric + Amber 05.27.06

Saturday I traveled up to Watertown for the wedding of Amber and Eric at the First United Methodist Church. OMG I just had a blast the whole day, what a group! Amber was cracking jokes and keeping it light and fun all day long. I don't think I saw her stress once. And Eric, now I'm still wondering where that humor was during the e-shoot. Look out for their bridal party... some wild ones in that bunch.

Not only was it fun in humor, but the emotion showed by everyone was amazing. This was the first time I've been allowed up to the altar and it paid off. I got some images that I have never been able to capture before. It was amazing to see the tears and smiles and to see them close up in my lens. Simply fabulous!

After the ceremony we took an interesting ride around town and over to a nearby park where everyone relaxed and had a bit of fun. Then we headed out to the reception at the Watertown Event Center. Some Convention Centers are plain and don't decorate well, but not this one. It had a large lobby with some wonderful arches and the hall decorated very nicely. Not to mention the light from my flash bounced beautifully. We took a little detour as the bridal party stole the bride and groom. And then back for the dances.

It was a great time. Thank you for having us, enjoy a short view of your day.
CA

Memorial Weekend

I hope you all have a fab weekend. I'm shooting a wedding today (which you will see by Tues) and then off to the lake with the family.

Here's my goofball happy to be at the lake yesterday.

Name this car

Upon leaving our wedding last week I got stopped in my tracks when I saw this little baby. O she was pretty. I have never seen a car of this make before. Erin laughed at me and told me it was just a car, but this is not just a car! Anyone out there who can name it? I'll give you two guesses.

ETA:
We have a winner. It's an Aston Martin.... mmmmm.

I feel naked.

So while I was shooting Chris and Leigh's engagement a week or so ago I noticed she had a lovely channel set like mine. So I went to show her mine which had just been cleaned and wow, there was a missing diamond. O well I thought I'll just deal with it later, but how do you loose a diamond in a platinum channel set?

Well I got home from Kris and Maria's wedding and was playing with my ring. I'm sure many of you do like I and spin it and such. Well it wouldn't spin. It has somehow been smooshed and to show you how focused I was on shooting the wedding I didn't notice until I got home that evening. I could barely get it off.

Here is what it looked like before I took it back to the jeweler. I thought this would surely last a long time... only 5+ years. Now I feel naked with out my ring.

By the way Happy Anniversary honey. Wedding Day that is.

Kris + Maria 05.20.06

I apologize for not getting this up sooner, but better late than never. Here are Kris and Maria who had an amazingly beautiful wedding last Saturday. It was such a wonderful day... I arrived at the Cathedral in Sioux Falls to first be greeted by Maria's mom who gave me a big hug and made me feel so welcome. It was a beautiful day.

You should have seen it when Kris came up the steps of the St. Joseph Cathedral and opened the door to be surprised by Maria who just happened to be standing there. It wasn't even set up. He just kept saying how beautiful she looked. It was great! Maria's dress was beautiful. I'm excited to see all these lovely dresses this year. I love the way the designers are making them gather and bustle. The flowers were just as lovely, by Josephine's with a wonderful combination of different blooms.

The ceremony was a treat with some wonderful singing and a string quartet. The H2 limo transported us in roomy style to the cocktail hour and reception at the Minnehaha Country Club were wonderful. The food was great, the natural light a treat and the people a blast. I think I set a record for the number of times someone asked me which camera I was using, in case your wondering... a big black one.

All the little things made this a lovely wedding to remember. Thank you Maria and Kris for choosing us to be part of your day. Hope your having a blast on your honeymoon.
CA

Secret Bridal #2

Once again. I'm not telling.

Sarah + Josh 05.19.06

I feel special Sarah and Josh came down from Shakopee to have me do their engagement session. They were wonderful sports who did everything I asked with out a complaint. I think they got some neat images because of it.

We started at the Pavillion (Brookings Inn) where they met. It was fun to walk around the area and find all the different possible backdrops. Everyone was watching us and Ann had to harrass me when she came out of the restraunt to see me standing on a table in the lobby. She said she knew it had to be me. Then we went to a field and to Medary Acres and ended up in the street outside the studio.

Well here they are. I wish I could come to Hawaii and shoot your wedding. Ann thank you for letting us have free reign of the place.

ETA: The show.

Alexandra 05.19.06

Brookings Baby #5 was Alexandra. What a sweet little thing that would have much preferred to sleep through her entire session.
CA

In Memory

I know many of you are checking for a few new posts. I apologize for this taking some time, but I'm going to dedicate this blog silence to the memory of Amanda and Ashley Loban who were killed in a car accident on Monday morning. I'm preparing some things for their memorial (when I should be shooting Ashley's senior portraits which were scheduled for today) and will get back to everyone else in a day or two.

Now go and hug those that are important to you, take lots of pictures in case something ever does happen and I'll be back soon.
CA

Jack & Sara 05.16.06

Sara and Jack came down from the cities for a visit back home and I was able to schedule their engagment too. We had a good time. They were a blast to work with and we found the most amazing light at the end of the shoot. Here they are.
CA

ETA: Per the request of Mrs. Rehder after I slacked for a whole day, the slideshow.

Mother's Day

I sure hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day. Ayden got out of bed and brought me a pink carnation and told me Happy Mothers Day. Andy was still sleeping so he must have remembered it from the day before. I was in bed asleep when they got home so it was nice to finally see my baby after days of busy shooting.

We decided to repeat last year and went to the zoo, only this time we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It is huge and has some wonderful exhibits. The new desert dome with the kingdom of the night was amazing! Ayden enjoyed it a lot, here are some images, I think I need to teach Andy to use the camera so I can be in some shots.
CA

Dawn & Parker 05.13.05

Saturday Dawn and Parker finally got married, they've been dating for a while... They were married at Peace Lutheran Church which has this amazing wall of windows to let in wonderful natural light. I was so happy to see this, they just laughed at me. They let me play with the windows and also a skylight at the end of one of the halls. I was enjoying all the light and the people.



After the ceremony the wedding party headed out to a location of my choice... a parking garage for some shots. We then went to Stogeez, a cigar bar on Philips. The images from there proved far better than any typical bar. Again I was happy with the natural light and managed to get some fabulous images. We ended at their reception at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

It was a wonderful day, thank you for letting us be a part of it.
CA

Heidi & Marty 05.12.06

Friday was the wonderful wedding of Heidi and Marty. Pulling up I think Erin and I both were in awe at how beautiful Heidi looked and the style and richness of her dress. And the bridesmaid dresses were lovely as well. Marty didn't look too bad in his tux either. Heidi did a wonderful job pulling all the vibrant colors together.

Heidi and Marty got married at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Sioux Falls, it's a neat church with the alter directly in the center of the room. The reception followed at Westward Ho country club and the cake there had to be the best strawberry cake I've had.

It was an honor to be part of your day congratulations!
Cory Ann

Enjoy your show.

Secret Bridal

Early Friday morning we had a fun little shoot. Some of you know what it was about and why it was a bit of a secret. So here is one little tease from this absolutely fab bridal.

Rehders 05.11.06

On Thursday I also had the pleasure of doing a family session with the Rehders. We had some good playing time and some fun bath time. These guys are always such a blast and it's great to end the session with a big hug from Ema.

Here they are!
CA

Lindsey 05.11.06

Thursday was a crazy day with a lot of things happening. One of which was phase one of Lindsey's graduation images. Lindsey is one of my models this year, clothed by Tuli. And looking as awesome as ever. Here are two from her shoot, more to come later.


ETA: The show.

Mock Bridal

Thursday started with some training for Sara. I set up a mock bridal shoot with Gretchen as the model. We walked around and did different stuff and I tried to tell Sara what I look for and what's going through my mind as I shoot. Gretchen was a great model!

We stopped by Bloomingvilla and got this cool piece of Ginger, they always have the neatest stuff in there! And then this second image is taken with a dumpster as a backdrop... trying to show Sara to look for backdrops all over.

Thank you Gretchen for being our muse.

The M Family 05.10.06

On Wednesday I drove down to Omaha to pick up Sara Ash of Sara Lil Photography for 5 days of working and training with me. We got started right out of the gate with the Mileys who were kind enough to allow us to shoot while they made cookie and played. Here are a couple of mine from the shoot. I'll try to get an image of Sara before she heads back... busy week!

PS. The cookies were yummmy!

Chris & Leigh 05.09.06

It is officially that time of year, can you tell? I haven't been able to blog. Well I am going to try my best to keep up the blog, but the slideshows are going to have to drop to mostly only weddings now.

So on Tuesday Chris and Leigh came up to see me. These two are so much fun. I think this one image is the only time Leigh quit laughing. You can't be around these two and not smile and feel the love between them. It was a great day, they were great sports and I'm looking forward to their wedding in Nov.

Here are two I like.
CA

Flowers & Ice Cream

Today marked the end of leisurly weekends for me. Tomorrow it is officially wedding season as I will have weddings every weekend for the next 7 weekends before I get a break again. It sure does seem like this off-season has just flown by, I keep asking myself.. was there an off-season?

So to make good use of the wonderful weather today Ayden and I went to Medary Acres and got some flowers, dirt and a pot. Ayden liked the water fountains the best but also enjoyed feeling all the wonderful textures of the plants. Then we went to Hy-Vee and got some ice cream (I love the new containers by blue bunny) and cones. On the way home I managed to get a shot of Ayden playing with the wind, he recently discovered the joy of sticking your hand out the window. I'm going to miss my fun weekends with Ayden, but am looking forward to making some kick arse images with all my couples and I will have at least a couple of days a week dedicated to him.

On a side note, fun outings like this make for a great family images. So if your thinking, gosh I wish I had some like that of the cool stuff we do... well just call and work it into your family session or do a slice of life session. Remember I'm booking quickly so if you are thinking of a session this summer please call ahead to book it.

A bunch of the images. Please enjoy.

Lake Season Officially Open

Yesterday opened the start of Lake Season. The Ellis family has been going to their cabin on Lake Madison for some time. At the start of the season everyone shows up to put the docks back in the water and to clean out the cabin. I played with the camera of course. Joni's kids love my camera, while Ayden avoids it. So here are Brodee, Baily and Bo, look at their eyes WOW. And yes Brodee is peeing on the tree.

And one of Ayden waiting inpatiently for the dock to go in.

Enjoy.

Lynsay & Brent 05.05.06

Last night I traveled down to Palisades Park to shoot Lynsay and Brent. I have shot there many times before, so I was trying hard to challenge myself to shoot something totally different. I played with lens flare a bit, used the lensbaby and even climbed a tree. I think we got some great shots, and I don't think they look like anyone elses. So mission accomplished.

Enjoy your show.

My little man

Get Tattoo'd

Today I got some temporary tattoo's in and Colton got to be the first to show them off. Here he is modeling the tattoo on his back just like Andy and I have...

In case you didn't know or hadn't noticed the letters in the logo are A C and E. Andy, Cory and Ellis, or Ayden Clyde Ellis. We hired an art student years ago to design it specifically for us about 9 months before Ayden was born. Andy has his in the middle of his back and me on my lower back. Ours are only the letters and they are straight up and down. But once I started the business I decided to use them for the logo too. I turned them and put them in a box to make the AC Ellis Photography logo.

But now everyone can show off this unique and cool tattoo... at least temporarily. If you want one just ask, I've got a bunch.
CA

Trifon 05.03.06

Yesterday I took the second half of Trifon's graduation images. We went to the golf course, a nice field and to his home. I think they all made for some nice backdrops. I had a good time with him and his dad and especially everyone of us not being capable of tieing a tie, even with instructions. The neighbor had to come over and help. But it got done.
CA

The slideshow.

Us by Evans

A few months ago we went to have our family portraits taken. Of course you know we couldn't go to just anyone. We needed to go to some that I would both respect as a person and as a creative photographer. So we chose Rod Evans from Evans Portrait Gallery in Sioux Falls. Today I just got a disk from them with some images for me to share with all of you. At the sake of loosing you all as clients here is his site of fabulous work. Evans Portrait Gallery.

And to prove that you can purchase the one with out you smiling... we purchase in a 20x24 (would have gone bigger, but our apartment is small) of the last family one.

Enjoy.
CA

Dena & Chad 05.01.06

Monday Dina and Chad drove all the way from the cities for their e-shoot. We lucked out and had a beautiful evening. These two were so easy, I hardly needed to direct or anything. And Chad, yeah we're gonna get along, love his honesty. It was a good time. O and we joked about Erin being my walking bag, that was funny.


Enjoy your show.
CA

Davis Family 04.29.06

On Saturday I traveled up to Watertown to photograph the Davis family. As was in awe as I pulled up to their beautiful old home. It was wonderful with wood trimming, stained glass and just a fabulous amount of character. I take it as a huge compliment that Becky chose me to photograph her and her family... you see she is a photographer. She's just beginning, but I expect she'll be my competition soon, she already admires one of my favorites. We had some fun, Max was cracking me up in his darth vador outfit. And look out when he plays light sabers, he doesn't go easy on you. Here is their slideshow.