I have a confession to make… shooting in the dead of winter is not my favorite. Not only because it’s freezing outside here in northern Arizona, but also because the trees are dormant and brown, with no leaves or blooms in sight. It’s easy for me to feel a little more uninspired during this season, because if you know my style, I am all about shooting in locations with greenery and lots of warm glowy sunlight peeking through. And if the location also has flowers blooming too? Well that’s the ultimate swoon-worthy spot!
After shooting Maeson and Cullen’s winter engagement session in Prescott recently, I’m starting to rethink how I feel though! We ended up getting beautiful bright, warm, and glowy images even right in the middle of February with snow still on the ground!
Finding a location that would help us achieve this did take a little bit of work though! At first, we had plans of going to one of my most popular locations up in the pines, since I always recommend going somewhere with evergreen trees this time of year, so we still get some greenery and life. Well, that was the week we had another huge snowstorm, so I drove out to the location a few days before their session to find that there was literally snow up to my knees there! I let Maeson know, and gave her the choice of staying there or going to a different spot that had less snow. Since she was planning on wearing a dress and heels, she understandably decided they wanted to go somewhere else.
So we ended up going with plan B- after I also drove over there to make sure it wasn’t covered in snow either! We went to an area that has huge beautiful evergreen trees that still stay nice and green during the winter. Even though it wasn’t our first choice, it ended up being the perfect spot! (It’s actually the same location where I took my own pregnancy announcement photos also in February a few years prior!) Looking at these photos below, it almost seems like it was just this warm, beautiful sunny day and you’d never know it was about 40 degrees when we took these! 😉
Their beautiful engagement session definitely helped me to feel inspired and was a great reminder to myself that you can still get gorgeous images full of life no matter the time of year! They are also just the sweetest couple and I am SO excited to document their big day later this spring!!
I would love to know, who else feels the same as me during winter? Or are you someone who thrives in the cooler months?
