From Nottingham to Aspen — via a ski season that never quite ended.
I'm Darren. I came to Aspen from England in 2004. Originally for one ski season, then another, then for good. I spent the first few years just photographing the place: the way the light moves across the Bells in October, how a snowstorm changes the valley overnight, the particular quiet of Ashcroft in February. In 2014 I started turning the camera toward the people who come here too. The couples who get engaged at 11,000 feet. The families who travel every year and want proof that it happened. The small weddings that feel exactly right because they're exactly the right size. My approach is unhurried. I plan the logistics, location, timing, light, backup plan so you don't have to. Then I get out of the way and let the session find its own shape. The best moments aren't posed. They happen when people forget I'm there.
“A GOOD PORTRAIT IS INCREDIBLY HARD TO CREATE. IT’S ABOUT THE CONNECTION AND THE EMOTION, NOT JUST THE PERSON.”
— PETER HURLEY
