Isabelle's Beach House

For my stay on the Vineyard I am at Isabelle's Beach House. I lovely B&B on the water. I love B&B's and this was no exception. Here are some images of my room the House and the View. I highly recommend a stay here. Isabelle and the others that run the place are very pleasant and friendly and aim to make your stay fabulous. So far so great!
CA


Isabelle's Beach House

My room.

And the view, this is from the hallway right outside my door as there was a screen on my window.

I'll try to add some more of the common areas and such after these images at a later time.

Flying to the Vineyard

Wednesday afternoon I caught my flight over to the vineyard Not a veyard like in California, THE Vineyard, as in Martha's Vineyard. An island off the coast of the commonwealth of Mass. (aka state of mass.) It was a short 30 minute flight on a little 9 seater plane from Boston. It was a beautiful clear day and I was able to see all around the area. I've never flown over the ocean before.

It started out simple enough with a subway ride. I don't remember ever taking a subway before. I was so afraid I was going to not get off at the right stop, not get on the right train, not know the proper etiquette on the subway and get me face smashed in, or even worse get my camera bag stolen.

But I made it safe and easy and people were pleasant.

After getting to the airport and having to disclouse my exact real weight. Not a big deal, just caught me off guard I headed toward my gate and on the way decided to get a smoothie at Dunkin Donuts. I tell you this place is popular out here. When I was walking in Boston everywhere there were cups in hand and there were lines out the door of the place. Where were on every other corner.

Aboard the plane we proceeded to the runway following the path of a big plane. It really made me realize how little our plane was.

And here is our pilot and all, yes all of the other passengers on the plane with me.

The view flying over the Cape I think.

And the view flying into The Vineyard.

Boston, MA

On Tuesday I flew into Boston, MA and spent the evening before flying over to Martha's VIneyard. I stayed in a hotel downtown so that I was in walking distance of lots of stuff.

Tuesday evening I went to sushi at Oishi and it was amazing. I sat at the sushi bar and indulged in some wonderful food and watched the chef's at work. My favorite there was their Maki, amazing!

The next morning I woke up and set out on the town. I traversed to Boston Common, the State Capitol, South Station, China Town and lots of stops in between.

Another Capitol building. They take the Celtics pretty seriously in Boston.

I enjoyed walking down the side streets with the private residences. This is where I would want to live in the city. I really liked this city.

And some found images along my walk.

The view from South Station. I looks almost fake.

And I was infatuated with this older gentleman playing a game of which I do not know.

The B Family

Another one with images I prepared before I left. This is my second time in the B family home. I love when I get to photograph the growth of the family. At these ages it's crazy to get them all in the same image, eyes open, smiling looking at the camera, so I always focus on lots of individuals to be sure and get excellent images of each child.

Here they are...
CA

Look at the lovely use of the sweet image from my last visit. I loved seeing it above the bed!

He was the size of his little sis during my last visit, my how he's grown.

And the newest addition. So cute!

PS... the vineyard is awesome!

Allison + Charlie: 05.03.08

I prepared these images before I headed out here to Martha's Vineyard, just didn't get a chance to finish the text. But as I lie here in my nice room I'm going to tell you about this fab wedding.

Allison and Charlie wedding was in Sioux City, IA on a nice sunny day. Maria and I had a blast photographing it. Allison was a lovely bride full of energy and always smiling. Such a pleasure to photograph!

We started at the church for the getting ready, formals and some details prior to the ceremony. Allison and Charlie decided not to see each other prior to the wedding so it was fun to keep them apart while moving about in the church. The ceremony was very nice followed by a few more formals and then off to downtown for some fun and well fun. I saw many bare butts that day.

After downtown was went to the reception which was decorated with white chair covers and bows in Allison's signature pink. We managed to sneak them away for some sunset lit images before the first dances.

Thank you for choosing us to be part of you day. We had a great time!
CA

Just a bit of flare.

The lovely Allison.

Handsome Charlie.

Some details...

The "B" was implemented on all kinds of stuff.

Loved this cake!

Vendors:
Photographer: Cory Ann Ellis, AC Ellis Inc.
Florist: Pedal Pushers
Church: First United Methodist Church Sioux Falls
Reception: Lewis Bowl Annex, Sioux City, IA
Bakery: Sioux, City, IA
Transportation: First Place Travel
Caterer:Central Catering, IA
Entertainment: Terry Reidiger

Guinness

Today after an all too brief weekend with the family we headed over to Lori and Sully to see our new puppy. We've been waiting for lady to get prego for about a year and she finally had her litter. The poor gal has 13 pups to care for now. Andy and I went and picked out Guinness about a week and a half ago, but this time his eyes were open and we got to bring Ayden along.

Guinness is a brindle great dane pup from Lady and we are happy to welcome him into our family. I'm sure you'll see lots of him on here just like Ayden, but just a few updates until he comes home, he has to stay under mommies care for a bit longer.
CA

Ayden gave him lots and lots of kisses.

He wanted to bring him home now so he could sleep with him.

How long till he stands as tall as Andy?

And Lady taking care of her babies. She is a great dog and mommy! Ayden is petting Guinness in the back.

I'm out for a while until I have some down time on the vineyard. I will try to post on the road and do have some images ready for at least one post. Then when I come back it will be time to buckle down. Have a great week.

April + Travis: 05.23.08

Just a sneak peek from Fridays fab wedding before I head out. Three different treatments, just cause I was playing.
CA

Marquis and April: 05.24.08

This is a record. A guest at two weddings in one year. Marquis a soldier in Andy's unit got married on Saturday so of course I brought along my camera. I shot these from my seat, being sure to stay out of the way of the photographer.
Congratulations April and Marquis.
CA

Marquis

April and her dad walking down the aisle.

First Sergeant Ronnie and Sheri. Haven't seen them in a while. It was good to see you two.

And Tanika (sorry if I spelt that wrong) another soldier that I met and she was great to talk with.

Bromelaid

Did you know the most well known bromelaid is the pineapple. Yeah neither did I, but I'm infatuated with this plant so I decided to look it up. I loved the flower when I bought it, now it's got little purple and deep pink sprouts coming out. Ok so those are supposedly flowers as well and apparently after they flower they start a dying process that can last up to 3 years. Not cool.
Any here is mine in the flowering stage.

SWB Behind the Scenes

On Sunday prior to the workshop we had a get together at our house. It was great to hang out around the fire pit and relax.

Eric

Tracey

Michelle

And David. Such a fun person! And he appreciated my hot dog selection.

Some class images

And David at the end of day one goofing off.

From Tiffany + Eric

Most of the time when I see my image on a card I designed the card, but not this one. So it was a surprise when I opened an envelope and saw this card. Thank you Eric and Tiffany I had a great time at your wedding!
CA

AC Ellis Photography,
Thank you so much for all that you did to make our wedding day so special. The pictures were amazing and we will look forward to cherishing them in years to come.
Thanks again!
Love, Eric and Tiffany Coyne

Shoot with Beckstead in SD

On Monday and Tuesday we were fortunate enough to have David Beckstead here for one of his Shoot with Beckstead workshops. The workshop went very smoothly and I think all participants including myself took a lot from it.

Monday was full of shooting our two wonderful models Amanda and Maria. Tuesday was reserved for talking, critique and basically looking over the images.

Thank you to all of the photographers that came. It was great to see some of you again and to meet some of you for the first time. If anyone would like to get on a list to be notified of up coming workshops just drop me an e-mail. I hope to see everyone again soon. And a big thank you to David for making all the way out to SD we really do appreciate it!
Tim Larsen
Michelle Rudland
Eric Merrill
Tracey Vogel
David Bracho
Maria Lavallee
Raquel Leeper

Here are some image from me, check the links above for more from those photogs and Maria's in a few days. I'll try to get some behind the scenes images up with in the next few days.
CA

Amanda

Maria

From B

This note card is perfect from the gal it game from. Thank you B for the note, you were a blast to photograph and I can't wait to shoot you again!
CA

Cory Ann,
Thanks so much for making a stop in Minneapolis! I had such an awesome time being photographed!!! You've got a really great charm about you that helped me to relax and dive right in. I look forward to seeing my photos and I can't wait to do it again - I could become a regular!!!
- B

From Shawna

I love Shawnas letterpress cards can't wait to see her again and to work with her. Thanks for the note Shawna.
CA

Hey Cory Ann!
I hope this finds you well - are you all ready for wedding season? We "officially" start this weekend! Yay : )

I've been meaning to write and say how nice it was to finally meet you in March! And I'm excited about working with you in Jun! It'll be fun : )

Good luck with wedding sason - I look forward to seeing your images online!
heart Shawna

Brooke and Miah: 05.17.08

Funny thing, I got a couple of weekends off from weddings and guess what, we end up being guests at them instead. So Saturday Andy and I headed into Sioux Falls to have some fun at Brooke and Miah's wedding. I didn't take very many images just a few of some of our friends and the first dance.

Miah and Brooke

Fitz

and Amber and Beatty

And my handsome husband

NYC, NJ, People

Ok the last post from my trip so I can get ready for todays wedding and ready for my next trip. I leave on Tuesday for the Vineyard. Ok anyway, a few more images from NYC and a bunch of self-portraits.
CA

lights in Rockefeller Center, which seemed much smaller in person than on tv:

Neil told me to take this image, he was right it is perfect with the graffiti and posters.

The night workers in NYC were all out. I would love to spend an evening photographing just them.

At the night club Neil and I went to to meet the wonderful Angelia Glass

Neil, love this guy.

Leaving New Jersey

The ceiling of the Washing Reagan airport

In the Minnesota airport I had to take an image of this an iPod vending machine

And some self serving self-portraits and such. I had to get a point and shoot so I could try to take some of these...
leaving for the airport

with Ian in the hills

in my room the morning after the wedding. Man was I shot.

with Neil out by the Hudson

This one by Neil just for Ayden

and this by Neil with Angelica in the club

and one last one with the three of us. I had no idea these two were hammin it up.

Ok that's it. Time for some new posts.

NYC

I actually made it into NYC thanks to the incredibly nice and talented Neil van Niekerk. Neil was not only kind enough to drive me into and give me a tour of NYC at night, but was also kind enough to let me stay at his home. Another gracious host. I am lucky to have some many photographer friends to take me in. I do have one other big thank you, but he will come later.

Neil thank you so much for showing me the city, it was wonderful!
CA

First Neil took me to a place on the other side of the Hudson River were I could see the city skyline. It was amazing. I was wow'd as we rounded the corner.

Then we headed into the city. I figured we were headed to a bridge. And this tunnel we were in just so happened to get us there. Well um no, it is a tunnel under the Hudson River. All the way across (well why would they only do it part of the way?) I was really taken by this tunnel and honked Neil's car horn. Didn't realize that is deserving of a ticket. But darn it it's a tradition handed down from my dad. No worries we weren't caught.

After parking we started walking the streets. I could not comprehend the amount of light that was available that late at night, simply from all the ad light. This is Neil.

And the trash. Interesting to me is they have no alleys so the trash is set on the curb to be picked up. This just weirded me out.

Just some of the ads.

more to come on this part of the trip and we are almost caught up before I leave again on Tuesday. Yep one more trip before I'm grounded to SD for a while. Back to the grindstone right.
CA

RI with Stacey

After spending a few days in Albany, NY I headed out to Providence, RI to stay with the wonderful Stacey Doyle. I didn't walk around as much with my camera as in Albany because I was busy with some retail therapy instead. Stacey was a wonderful host who even stayed up during my crazy hours I keep and drank some wine with me.

Thank you Stacey I had a wonderful time with you! And Paul and Guinness too.
CA

Some from RI...

The morning after the late night I arrived Stacey took me to a great little place for breakfast. It was actually a bar. I don't think I've ever ate breakfast in a bar. And it was so good. I tried hash for the first time and the french toast was the best I've ever had.

Retail therapy at the Design Within Reach store. I was in love. Stacey said I should work there. I should and probably would for a discount if there was one near by. They had the Noguchi Table, Nelson Bubble Lamps, and many other pieces I would love to have in my home.

Another capitol building. I only drove by this one, still cool.

Later that evening we went to have sushi and it was BYOB. That's right we got to bring our over booze! I hadn't seen this before and thought it would be a great idea for some Brookings, SD restaurants as it's so hard to get a liquor license around here. The sushi was yummy. I love sushi!

The beautiful Stacey. This gal has some serious style! And she even got me to go to a second hand store. I'm not too good at sifting through other peoples old clothes, but this stuff was nice and I even bought a dress and a skirt.

The houses were cool.

And one last image from about all I saw of Connecticut as it was so green. Pretty, pretty drive.

NY day 2 and 3

These are the last images I have from Albany, next up RI with the fabulous Stacey Doyle. However the blog my die down a bit as I am hosting a workshop by David Beckstead and won't be having much time on the computer. So if you call or e-mail or want to see more on the blog just be patient I'll be back soon to fill you in on the rest of the trip.

CA

A couple of textures

A random person on his stoop. I love that all the building have these wonderful front stoops and people hang out on them. I also love that people there don't think I'm weird for taking their picture, they just let me shoot away.

OK this is an odd one. I went up to Ian's work. And you know I notice random stuff right? Well I had to use the restroom and this is the view that greated me. Love windows to look out of in bathrooms.

Some ivy, it really gives buildings character

And last the underground tunnel. There is a whole city underneath the city. A post office, stores, food places, banks everything. This made me think I was in an insane asylum, but totally cool!

The States

It is a personal goal to visit all 50 US states. Unfortunately I still have a few to go, but this last trip let me knock off a few.

Here is my colored in map of the places I've been. Where I need to visit are still white. Anyone want to take me in for a few days so I can visit your area or better yet hire me to come and photograph there...

I need: Arizon, Oklahoma, Lousiana, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia.

Wow is that it? I'm getting close.
Other things on my list: skydiving, bungee jumping, visit Europe and Australia

I like to take pictures of the signs as I cross the border. Most of my images are on film, here are the ones I got this trip. I know they aren't that great, but normally I don't have a place to stop and take them. Still it's my little thing I do.

I missed Mass. maybe driving too fast or something.

Ian + Elena: 05.10.08

Just a little peek before I'm back to the admin side of this business.
CA

I hope next week to blog more from both Ian and Elena and also Charlie and Allison.

Happy Mother's Day

I know it's a bit late. But I was away.

Ayden and Andy called me to wish me a happy mother's day. And my dad and mom sent me some yummy chocolates. Roxie, Andy's mom got me some body wash. I asked my boys for one thing, a clean house to come home to... that came true, the house looked great!

I was happy to be home with my little babe. Here is one of my phone messages he left me, I had saved it and was checking my messages just now and heard it again ...

"Mommy, I miss you and love you... and... uh.... and I miss you very very alot. Could me and you camp outside when you come back home?"

Just took this of Ayden sleeping in. How could I not love being a mom to this cutie.

NY day 2 Pt. 2

Here is the second half (or maybe third) of my walk around Albany. This is the capitol plaza area.

I am back in the office and am working hard to answer the 140+ e-mails that weren't junk, the phone calls and getting some computer stuff done. I will be blogging to clear my mind in between. If you've e-mailed or called I will be getting back to you, please be patient as I sift through everything.
Thank you,
CA

The capitol... anyone else confuse capital and capitol? I've seen many capitol buildings and this is definitely a favorite. I like that they didn't use domes in the architecture. There were many interesting things that I found while walking all the way around it. It was closed so I couldn't go in.

The State Education Building which was amazing in it's own right. I didn't count, but there were so many columns that I couldn't fit them all into the camera frame even with my wide angle lens.

I loved this front of one of the other buildings.

NY Day 2

Well not my real second day, but the second day I wasn't working. On Saturday I photographed Ian and Elena's wedding (those images to come), but on Sunday I took there dog Brandy with me on a walk in downtown Albany. I enjoyed the architecture, the flowers, and just relaxing.

Here are some of the images I took, with Brandy's help.
CA

Brandy.

NY Day 1

On Friday my good friend Ian, his brother Justin and I went for a little walk in the hills above Albany. Ian's wedding was on Saturday, I finally got to meet Elana (wife now) and even though I haven't gotten to see him for 4 years it was just like yesterday. I sure did miss him and it was great to see him again.

Here are some images from our walk. It was after this that I waited until 11:15pm for my bags to show up. Glad I had a good start to my day. There are a lot and more to come if I can get an internet connection tomorrow.

I'll be back in the office on Thursday for anyone trying to reach me, I'm in RI today.

Ian under the falls

eSATA

I'm a nerd, it's official. I think my new eSATA drives are super sexy in their sleek silver case. With their JBOD mounting and hot swappable drives....

Anyway. This is what I spent most of Wed doing. Downloading my files from my regular Firewire external drives to these eSATA drives. Much better way for me to store all of the amazing images I take each year. The firewire drives are now allocated to other computers and jobs, while these little guys are in charge of all client files, business documents and such. This is a quicker more user friendly method for me to store my files. The ability to hot swap my drives into the same case allows me to store multiple drives in other areas and not be daisy chaining all those externals together. Hopefully I'll also be able to use this new system to eliminate all of the dvd's I use as the second back-up (instead using extra drives).

I got my eSATA PCIx card from the wonderfully helpful people at Mac Gurus (who's eSATA burly units are also nice)
and the eSATA drives and unit are purchased from G-Technology. They are the same company I have used for a few years for my firewire drives.

Fire Pit

Still with out a bag...

Miss my guys. Here is the night before I left. We got a fire pit. It's a great way to bribe Ayden to pick up sticks in the yard. I'm excited for some spring time fun.
CA

New Shoes

My new cole haan's, which unfortunately are lost somewhere in airline land.

I have arrived in NY for the wedding I'm photographing on Saturday. I'm so excited to be out here! I'm glad that I was smart enough to carry on all of the photography essentials, because all of my other stuff in my one checked bag (hey did you know that now you have to pay $25 extra for more than one bag now?) is officially lost. Ok well maybe not lost, but will not arrive until noon tomorrow.

More later.
CA

1001 Contest Amended/Extended

So it seems that a few of you can't tell time and thought the deadline was tonight. So here's what I'm gonna do. Since I leave for NY very very soon (have a huge list of stuff to do) and don't have time to judge and post I'm going to give everyone an extra week. That would be the 12th. The evening of the 12th, when the clock strikes 12 on the 13th the contest is over. Hope that's clear for everyone. For those of you who did it in time - good job, I'm loving the entries.

In celebration of 1000 posts I'm going to hold a little contest for all you blog readers out there in cyberland. The prize is good so I'm going to make you all work for it....

What you can win:
First prize: 4GB silver iPod nano
Second prize: 1GB red iPod shuffle

How to enter:
Send me an e-mail containing your name, mailing address, e-mail address and a picture containing the following three items in the same image. Toaster, the words "AC Ellis", and a rock. E-mail to: acellis@mac.com Other items may be in the image.

Who may enter:
Anyone who is not an employee, affiliate or family of an employee of AC Ellis Inc. However, I do expect to see something from Maria and anyone else who wants to submit for the fun or it! You may enter up to two images each. Send in an image of any size you want, but at least 760px on it's widest side.

How the winner is selected:
In a completely biased process by me (cory ann). I'll pick my favorite image. There are no standards on composition, focus, color, lighting or camera. Photoshop is ok. It will simply be what I like. Creativity is key.

Deadline:
All e-mail submissions must be submitted by 12:00am, May 12, 2008, winner announced soon after on the blog.
Changed

What if I already have an iPod?
Photographer Option: You may select to trade out your prize value for some AC Ellis Templates.
Client Option: You may select to trade out your iPod for a standard session and an 12x8 print
Random Option: select from a variety of my personal random images to be printed and signed and delivered to you.

Release:
By submitting your image for the contest you and giving permission to AC Ellis to post your image and name.

and because no post is complete without an image.

Intimate of C

Allison + Charlie: 05.03.08

Just a little peek from yesterday's wedding

Becky + Brandon

Becky and Brandon met me for their engagement shoot on one of the colder days before this spring. You would never have guessed it by the smiles on their faces! *sigh* Aren't engaged couples so cute?!
Maria