Office Closed

Due to a death in the family the office will be closed until July 8 so that we may spend time with family. We ask for your patience and understanding during this time and will make every effort to respond quickly upon our return.
Thank you,
Cory Ann

PS. In the meantime read this incredibly funny blog: Mammoth Men

Flying

Some flying images, big planes and little planes. This concludes the images from the trip (minus portraits to come)...

Flying over an island full of seals on the way to Nantucket

Flying into Nantucket.

The controls on the little plane

Sunrise on Oak Bluffs

I seldom wake up that early when I'm at home. But somehow with out an alarm I managed to wake up to the sunrise multiple times on the Vineyard. This morning I was greated to some lovely skies.
CA

I want to blow this one up big on metallic paper. So much depth that is hard to see small.

and some shells for Ayden, he likes to collect them, as well as rocks.

Amanda + Jed: The Album

It's finally in Amanda and Jed's Couture Album. This thing is beautiful, made by the same wonderful people as our fine art album. These are a favorite for us as well as our clients. This is however our first album of this kind to go out. We are mailing this out to them asap, but will be ordering another one just like this for the studio sample.

Silk, Ribbon, full pano page spreads, flush mounted, custom designed, elegant, classic, modern and absolute georgousness!
CA

The Sky

You would think one would get tired of shooting the clouds and the sky, but lately I've become engrossed with the different shades of blue, the cloud formations, how the sun or moon can create a rim light on the clouds and so on. These three are from the Vineyard.
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Ava +

One of the days Joe and I flew over to Nantucket to see Zofia, another fab photog. Her are a couple of random images. Don't worry Zofia I'll post some from your shoot soon. Thank you for showing us around!
CA

The three of us.

Aquinnah Lighthouse

Are you all sick of travel photography yet? No worries I'm almost caught up on those and then it's back to our regularly scheduled program.

I spent most of my stay on one side of the rock. But one evening I headed over to the opposite side so that I could watch the sun rise and set on the water in the same day. While the sunset wasn't amazing I did have fun shooting the cliffs and the lighthouse.
CA

Fisherman

The Atlantic Ocean and particularly around the islands drops off very slowly. So you can walk a ways out into the water. On this lovely morning there were some fisherman out taking advantage of the great weather. I hadn't come prepared to photograph them I was looking at the sunrise, but they were a pleasant surprise and nice to talk with.
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My boys

I sure did miss my boys. Finally after not seeing Andy for about a month I got to see him this week. Why a month you may ask, well I was on the Vineyard and a couple of days before I got back he headed out for his Army Reserve annual training.
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Sunsets

Anyone having blog withdrawls yet? I'm about to, I like to share my images, but you know the time of year...

Here are a couple of sunsets from good ol' SD to hold you over.
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Cory Ann shirt

I am very fortunate to not only have a job that I love, but to have a network of friends who also have the same job that they also love. One of these such people is Joe Mikos. Joe is a photographer on Martha's Vineyard who is wonderful. Not only as a photog, but as a businessman and most importantly as a husband and father. I've gotten to meet and hang out with the whole family and I love them all.

Joe is the one who brought me out here. Such an incredible compliment to be commissioned by another photographer. To be not only trusted but to have your work respected enough that they want to pay you for your time, talent and travel to fly half way around the country for you to create for them. I was humbled and nervous. Wow what a tall order to live up to.

More to come on the fam and you'll see more of Joe too, but here are some images of Lila and Clara wearing their "Cory Ann shirts" that I brought them, 3 nights in a row. They are so cute! I even got to get in on bedtime.

Hey Joe tell the girls I said hi and read the Clara Pete's a Pizza for me.
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Heart

A little something I picked up on the Vineyard. A lovely hand blown heart.

Guinness: take 2

Yesterday we went and saw Guinness and guess who is coming home with us this evening. That's right he's coming home with us. We are so excited. He's getting so big. ok false announcement. It will hopefully be next week.
CA

No new family clients and e-mail

Hello all,

Just a minor announcement.

We have a full summer schedule and in an effort to better serve our current clients we will not be accepting any new family or portrait clients for some time. The timeline is not definite, but I am thinking 2009 we will open this up again to a select few. We are still accepting intimate, wedding and graduate clients. Although for graduates there is a very limited number of openings left.

If you are looking for a fabulous portrait artist in the Eastern South Dakota area I recommend Rod Evans out of Sioux Falls and Heather Kallhoff in Watertown.

Current/Previous clients of AC Ellis are of course still welcome to schedule sessions we love to have you back.

Also I tried something new with my e-mail and phone and seem to have encountered many technical difficulties. So if you have called or e-mailed in the last couple of weeks and you don't here back from me by the end of today please get ahold of me again. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Have a great day!
Cory Ann

Hiatus

I apologize for the blogging hiatus, but I'm busy working on client images and products. Upon returning home from the vineyard last wednesday I just missed Andy before he headed out for Army training. Thursday I cuddled with Ayden and prepared for the weekend weddings. Friday I woke up to a flooded basement and called in the team of Total Maintenance. Lucky for me they know what they are doing and I was able to stay on track and focus on a fab wedding.

So anyway, that's why I'm not blogging. It will resume probably next week with more images from travels, clients and stuff. In the meantime here are a couple of images of what the office now looks like relocated to the kitchen table. I like the light much better, but am having trouble focusing in chaos.

This is what it normally looks like, clean and with out the ball (remember I got a new chair).

Tulle

There is some amazing talent on the Vineyard and on one late morning I got to spend it with two of the best. Joe Mikos a great friend and the reason I came to the Vineyard took me over to meet Lisa Pyden.

Lisa Pyden is the owner of Tulle Bridal Boutique, prior to moving to the Vineyard and opening her shop she was a photographer. And an amazing one at that. She is one of those photogs that has a completely different way of looking at things and can just blow you away. Now her shop does the same thing as you walk up and see designers like Carolina Herrera and Monique Lhuillier.

While there I was drooling over the lovely gowns and saying I needed to get married again so I could have a reason to buy one when Lisa suggested I try one on. It was so pretty and felt so nice. Joe started shooting away while Lisa accessorized. Wish I had done my hair for the occasion.

Thank you Lisa for sharing your shop with us and for letting me play dress up. I guess we like to do that no matter what age. Your boutique is lovely and I wish you all the best.
CA

Joe and I

The shop and the dresses.

Me in Monique

Katama (South Beach)

On another outing I traveled to Katama aka South Beach. There is a lot of public access to the beach here, but when you are driving up all you really see is the dune so I didn't know what I was in for until I parked and walked in. To my surprise I saw breaking waves. Such a vastly different view than I was getting on the North side in Oak Bluffs. Not really knowing my directions in relationship to the rest of the world on the Vineyard I quickly realized this is the side that faces the Atlantic Ocean rather than Nantucket or Vineyard Sound. This is more of what I remember from growing up in Cali.
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Oak Bluffs

I spent most of my time in Oak Bluffs, mostly relaxing and not with the camera in hand so much. But I did stop to take some images of the wisteria a fabulous hanging tree/vinelike flower. And also of the gingerbread houses. These little cottages are built incredibly close together in crazy colors. There must be hundreds of them. There is a story and history to them and you can read about it at the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association.

Edgartown in brown

Just an outing on the vineyard.

Morning on the Vineyard

Written before the post went live because I had to process the images...

This morning I woke up early to my alarm. It was 5:30am. I wanted to see the sunrise on the ocean. Growing up in California I only got to see sunsets. I looked out the window and the sun was peeking through some clouds just above the horizon line. By the time I grabbed my camera it was hidden. I didn't even make it downstairs. But there was this fisherman on the end of the jetty and I thought I catch him, but as I came down the stairs he was walking back to his car. So with camera in hand I set out to take some images.

As I stepped on the sandy beach I realized how long it had been since I'd been in sand, particularly on a beach, on an ocean. Yes there are beaches elsewhere, or so I've learned now that I live in South Dakota. There are beaches on lakes. I know it's just not the same. Then I walked to the wet sand a different consistency beneath my feet and then over to the rocks. I found a couple of tide pools full of life. Gosh how I've been away from the water a LONG time.

Now I'm sitting on the porch of this lovely beach house listening to the hum of my typing clash with the sound of the waves on the beach. Technology meets nature. The sun is higher now and the warm oranges and pink of the sunrise are barely visable, but I'm waiting for it to peek through again. A bit higher this time, but still I'm sure it will be lovely.

Here are some images I took while on the beach this cloudy morning.
CA