elcome to the journal for April O’Hare Photography! Here you’ll find all of my latest photographic outings with the couples, families, seniors and small businesses that I get to work with and make beautiful photographs for. You may also see a personal post here and there discussing my life or my travels with my teeny family of one husband and three cats! Sometimes I even write advice articles with tips to help make your photo experience better which you can check out under the “Educational” category.  

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Denver Engagement Photography During Spring at Roxborough State Park

May 8, 2019

Table of Contents

Roxborough State Park Engagement Photos, An Inspiring Alternative to Red Rocks

Spring Engagement Photography at Roxborough State Park in Littleton, Colorado

A Roxborough State Park engagement photography session is truly an experience that will wow you. Roxborough is a gem of a state park here in Colorado.  I love that it’s not a ridiculously long drive from the Denver metro area too because we all know what traffic is like these days.  The proximity to Denver makes it an even more enticing option for my wedding couples who are looking for a majestic location for their engagement photos.  They do charge a permit fee of $55 but most of the pretty and convenient locations in Colorado require some sort of permit these days. I like Roxborough as an alternate location to Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Red Rocks is awesome for true music lovers who absolutely cannot sacrifice the real place for their photo location. But, for those who just love the pretty look of those incredibly dramatic red rock formations, Roxborough State Park is the perfect alternative!

A Colorado Engagement Photo Love Story

Michelle is the oldest friend that I have.  I met her all the way back in 2nd grade! (I think?  My memory stinks, maybe it was 3rd grade?) Either way, one of my best elementary school memories with Michelle is that we both LOVED to read the Babysitters Club book series and we would start all kinds of “clubs” together and we’d rope her cousin Leanne in on it too.  One of them was “Babysitters Club” obviously, but we also tried to do a “Gardening Club” and a “Cooking Club” and a bunch of other ones that I can’t remember. The most hilarious part of these clubs was that we pretty much just liked starting them and deciding a bunch of things about them in one afternoon of play time and then we’d never actually do anything with them.  We’d figure out a name, a bunch of rules and expectations, the main focus of what our club would be about and then when we got back together for play time the next day, we’d just move on to playing Hungry Hungry Hippos or Barbies or American Girl dolls or whatever else was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. In hindsight, our lack of follow through was a little disconcerting, but it doesn’t seem to have affected us too badly into adulthood, haha.

We’re all grown up now and I am so excited for her that she has found the love of her life in Curt.  They are such a great match. They tease each other and laugh very easily when they’re together. Right now, they’re going through a lot of big life moments with getting married and planning a future together.  Michelle has lived up in Boulder County for a long time now and she’s moving down to the South Denver area to live with Curt. This means a job change and of course planning the wedding with a fairly short notice too. So I’m glad we were able to meet up and capture these photos of them at this momentous time in their lives.  

Roxborough State Park has the perfect engagement photography session trail loop

Now that they’re living and spend time here on the south side of Denver it made sense to find a location down south for them.  They enjoy going on the occasional hike together and Roxborough has one particular loop that despite being a teensy bit on the longer side for a session ended up not actually feeling that long since we kept stopping to use the beautiful backdrops we were finding.  I have to carry gear and it’s roughly 2.5 miles roundtrip from the visitor’s center at Roxborough. Thanks for helping me carry my ladder, Curt! We did the loop that takes you up to the Fountain Valley Overlook and the Elk Valley Overlook as well. About halfway through the loop there is this really cool old homesteading stone house and at this time of year there were lots of spring blossoms making it extra pretty outside.  Michelle gets terrible allergies from the flowers but luckily we managed to get some with the blossoms without a bad flare up. I did however manage to somehow get some Poison Oak on my legs though so if you are ever out there for your own hiking adventure watch out for that stuff. I come into contact with it quite often due to my job.

Roxborough State Park does require that you and your car be outside of the entrance gates which are about a 5-10 min drive from the Visitors Center by closing time at 8 pm.  So you can’t photograph here past sunset which I sometimes like to do for the dusky night sky photos. We were hustling toward the end to make sure we were out on time. I’m proud to say that we timed it perfectly.  Check out some of my favorites below!

It’s hard to pick a favorite from this session but I think it’s a toss up between these last two photos for me!
Right around when I said “Ok, last one.” Never believe a photographer when they say that;)

You can find information about Roxborough State Park at their website HERE

Like the look of these Roxborough State Park engagement photos? You can find another spring photo session done at Roxborough HERE

Be sure to take a look at the ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY to see my all time favorite engagement photos!

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