In keeping with the winter theme of the last post about my shoot in Deer Valley (read more about it here), I bring you the new Four Seasons Vail.  The week before shooting Deer Valley I spent the Thanksgiving holiday shooting the newest property for the Four Seasons brand.

Looking like it was plucked out of the Swiss Alps, the new Four Seasons Vail is stunning.  Situated in downtown Vail there’s lost to walk to as well as an amazing mountain just waiting to be conquered.  Enjoy the shots from the shoot.  Much more to come later this spring as this was a pre-opening shoot.

As most of the country in covered in snow, I thought it would be appropriate to start this year off with a new mountain resort I shot a few weeks ago.  Situated on what can only be called the world’s nicest site, the new Montage Deer Valley pretty much has an entire mountain to itself.

While many people aren’t familiar with the Montage brand of resorts, you soon will be.  I’ve had the pleasure of shooting their resort in Laguna Beach as well as Beverly Hills.  Marketed as a hyper luxury resort (I’m currently working on trying to copyright that phase!) the Montage properties do not disspoint.  I would put them up against a Four Season or Ritz Carlton any day of the week.  On top of being visually stunning, the service at Montage properties are incredible, you really get the feeling that their employee’s sole purpose in life is to make you happy.

And speaking of their employees, let me first say that this shoot would not of been possible without the incredible effort and cooperation from the Montage Deer Valley staff.  To get ready for the onslaught of press releases and publications, it’s often necessary to shoot a project prior to being opened.

Anyone who has been involved with even a small residential project knows that the weeks/days/hours leading up to the opening or completion of a project is quite a mess and sometimes can lead you to believe you are in fact months away from being done and not hours.  With over 1200 people on site each day to wrap up the resort in the final week of construction, getting a clear shot can be quite a challenge.  Needless to say there were very long days and lots of post production.

Even with morning temperatures reading 5 below zero, there’s not much that will stop me from hiking up closed roads to get the shot.  Good news though, the shot from that mountain journey is being selected as Montage’s new signature shot for the resort which I couldn’t be more honored by.  So without further adieu, I give you the new Montage Deer Valley!

This week I headed back out to Aspen Valley Ranch for a summer shoot of a property I shot this winter.  Situated on 800 acres of land just 10 minutes north of Aspen, Aspen Valley Ranch does not disappoint.  Planned as cluster of luxury homes on a full service ranch, AVR completed their first home on this incredible piece of land early this year.

You can read more about the great shoot we had this winter here 1,2,3,4.  I’m always amazed by how different mountain properties look and feel when shooting both winter and summer versions of them.  While stunning vistas of snow capped mountians are great, I’ve always felt that during the winter some of the finer details of a property get overlooked or hidden.

One of these details is a great stream that passes through the property.  During the winter the stream is completely covered up, just like so much of the great landscaping that has been done at this property.  Either way the project is sensational.  I’ll let you be the judge on what’s better, summer or winter.

Enjoy the first teaser shot and be looking out for more imagery in the future on this one.