Mountains are central to human imagination, symbols of nature’s power and wildness, priming the human mind for adventure and spiritual awakening. Mountain elopement photographyis oftenregarded as one of the most rewarding styles of photography while also being the most challenging, as it requires a very different skillset.
Thousands of couples like to capture their special moments from higher elevations. Mountain elopements are emerging as an adventurous wedding trend stemming from adventure elopement, which is all about turning one’s wedding day into a unique experience. The required first step in covering a mountain elopement is to plan and choose a suitable location. This is definitely one of the biggest decisions one has to make in order to turn their wedding day into a memorable one.
Couples often get overwhelmed while looking for the best mountainous location for their big day. That’s where elopement photographers come in. To help you capture your most memorable moments, Kristi Ronning and her husband Ralphieoffer photography and videography services throughtheircompany,Opal and Ox.
Born in Pine Island, Minnesota, on July 30, 1991, Ronninghas become a recognized elopement photographer. She always had a burning passion for art and photography. As a kid, Ronning loved taking dance and theater classes. She started exploring her dancing skills in first grade. In a stroke of good fortune, Ronning’smother boughther a disposable camera when she entered the second grade, whichwas soonsubstituted for a digital one due to her ever-increasing love for photography. At the age of 19,Ronningbecame a professional photographer, exploring different aspects of nature. From that moment onwards, her passion for photography grew tremendously.
Ronning’s style of photography is typically influenced by her childhood memories of dance and theater. She likes to incorporate fun fashion pieces into natural landscapes. While exploring her photography talent, she discovered her skills in elopement photography. Despite being a completely self-taught photographer, she has quickly become one of the most prominent elopement photographers in the world.
She is best known for climbing mountain peaks with couples and documenting their weddings at elevations over 10,000 feet. She started shooting on a Hasselblad 907x medium format digital camera. Her continuous efforts haveenabled Opal & Ox to beautify the most special moment of their clients’ lives.
Ronning and her husband have been running the company and shooting weddings worldwide since 2012. To Ronning, life is all about uncovering different adventures. Her exceptional skills have given her the talent to add color to her clients’ special day.
Opal & Ox aims to capture the essence of nature in special moments. With that in mind, the company also offers family photography as well as maternity portraits, senior portraits, newborn portraits, and elopement portraits. To Ronning, photography is not just a way of capturing and telling a story through pictures but also a way to preserve an epic adventure.
Besides being recognized as an elopement photographer, she received fame as a street photography artist. Her aesthetic work was featured on the cover of Montana Bride magazine, volumes 18 & 19, with one of the first mountaintop cover photos. The magazine did a 9-page spread on Ronning’s3-day overnight hike in the mountains outside Yellowstone National Park.
Ronning’s unique photography is appreciated and sought-after by many people around the world. She is still diversifying her skillset by exploring different styles of photography. Her future endeavors include working on her first photography book and filming a documentary on her life. As a woman, Ronning has broken all barriers put forth by social norms, empowering women and making them believe that they can do almost anything they set their minds to.
