Based in Ohio, Allen Meyer is a self-taught professional photographer specializing in commercial, travel, and landscape photography.

What started as a way to document weekend road trips while working at Deer Valley Resort, along with a few seasons spent living in the back of his car, has developed into a passion.

See more of Allen’s work at allenmeyerphotos.com or Instagram.com/allen_meyer.

During my college career, I had the opportunity to spend the winter as an Intern at Deer Valley Resort. I worked with a great team, and had a great experience. Several years had passed but I had the opportunity to return to Deer Valley Resort for four days of skiing with my girlfriend Leah.

This picture was captured from the backside of Bald Mountain on the Homeward Bound ski run. This run was always my favorite warm up during the season I worked at Deer Valley Resort. I took this photo while Leah was in lessons down below. She didn’t quite make it up this far by the end of her lessons, but she was skiing other beginner runs, and absolutely loving basking in the sun during chairlift rides. Leah is a complete sucker for sunshine, especially accompanied by mountains. She spent a majority of the ride twisted around, watching that mountain view expand behind her as we climbed higher and higher. I think the view alone was enough of a push to get her on those ski runs.

A post shared by Allen Meyer (@allen_meyer) on Feb 4, 2018 at 8:57am PST

Aspens in the snow are one of my favorite Utah scenes to come back to. When I found out I’d be returning to Deer Valley® and bringing Leah, I was excited to show her the glorious groves that lined the ski runs. As a photographer, the glittering snow and the aspens created such a crisp scene that couldn’t be recreated anywhere else.

In the weeks prior to our trip, Leah expressed a lot of anxiety about learning to ski. As adventurous as she is, something about sliding down a snowy mountain on two skis made her nervous; strange, I know. We showed up to the lesson area and I left her to find her group. When I came back, she was nothing but smiles, waving goodbye to her group members and telling me how she was a skier now, explaining what she was going to work on after lunch.

On Saturday, a storm threatened. The temperatures dropped and grey, foreboding clouds hung on the mountains for the majority of the morning. They made for some really intense photos. Leah was loving it, claiming to be getting the “full experience” with flurries against her cheeks. She spent her lesson mastering the foundations of skiing, and worked up the nerve to hit beginner ski runs. We ended that day of skiing with a long soak in the hot tub and a trip to the famous Seafood Buffet restaurant. We were seated right by the fireplace and indulged in crab legs and crème brûlée…one of the better Saturdays I’ve had in awhile.

A four day vacation was painfully short, but I was so grateful to be able to take Leah back to a place that meant so much to me, especially considering the Deer Valley experience we were met with. After spending the beginning of the winter skiing on the local hills of Ohio, it was nice to be back on ski runs with a view. We both agreed that we always forget how vast and powerful those mountains are until they’re within our view. A perfect mix of relaxation and adventure, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience returning to Deer Valley Resort.