Another day, another astonishingly beautiful day in West Glacier. Kristina and Casey are getting married this summer just outside the West entrance to Glacier National Park and were in town meeting up with their planner Big Day Celebrations and other wedding vendors so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to grab some engagement portraits in the same area they'd be getting married in!
When Abby and Kyle first booked me for their wedding and added an engagement session, we always planned on scheduling it in the Fall. Partially because the Fall colors in Northwest Montana are amazing, but also out of necessity. Kyle is a Wildland Firefighter, and during the summer his schedule can be extremely volatile.
Thankfully, things worked out tremendously weather-wise. We did have a heavy dusting of snow that provided a lovely contrast with the Fall colors. I am so looking forward to their wedding this spring.
Lauren and Wade's wedding is this coming summer, but they wanted some portraits taken in Glacier National Park for their save-the-date cards. If you saw my last blog post, you already know what the Fall colors look like right now. As luck turned out, Going-to-the-Sun Road closed until next year the day before our session. No worries, it encouraged us to explore a handful of less-traveled areas, and it meant we practically had the park to ourselves. As soon as the road closes for winter, the crowds truly disappear, and it's a really special time to be in the park.
Cannot wait to get these two married next year.
When is a "day after" adventure session? When it's five months later. Lindsay desperately wanted some portraits done in the mountains, in the Fall but also wanted more predictable weather for the wedding day itself. The solution? A June wedding with a Glacier National Park portrait session in late October was the obvious answer. And while we were constantly getting spitting rain as we traversed Going-to-the-Sun Road, the Fall colors were popping off everywhere. It could not have been more vibrant, moody, and more in line with what they were hoping to accomplish.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Glacier is a cheat code for photographers, and I am not mad about it.
This past fall I was delighted to receive an email from a former coworker from my very first job after school. Her son—who was just starting elementary school when we first worked together—was entering his senior year in High School and she was wondering if there was any chance I'd be in Austin over the next six months or so for a senior portrait session! After I got over the shock of feeling super old I was happy to report that I would be in town that fall. I was able to piggyback that portrait session on my time in town to cover the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
We met up at a county park closer to their house and then headed into downtown Austin where we used the more urban environment as a backdrop and took advantage of sunset on the skyline.
Another young actor I've had the privilege of photographing on stage a half dozen times or more, Neva has been in many, many Alpine Theatre Project productions—often in the same cast as my daughter—and was looking for some updated studio headshot portraits. Here are the results!
I've known Gabriel and Elijah for over six years now. My first encounter with them was as a volunteer reader for my daughter's first-grade class which they happened to be in. From there our paths have crossed dozens of times as their parents founded Alpine Theatre Project which I've had the pleasure of working with for over three years both as a volunteer and as a theatre parent and they've been a part of some Whitefish Theatre Company productions as well.
They're aspiring stage, film, and television actors, so they needed some headshots for a conference they would be attending in the winter. Pretty happy with how these turned out.
The Genther family, like many families I have the pleasure of working with each year, were on their way around the country while taking the time to 'road school' their kids. I guess technically you'd call it homeschooling, but when your classroom is the wide-open country that doesn't seem to encapsulate the experience. We met up in West Glacier towards sunset, headed into Apgar Village, and they ultimately ended up in Lake McDonald to close out the evening. Pretty much the perfect way to end a session on a relatively warm late-summer day.
I've known Cole and his family for a few years now having photographed him and his sister multiple times in productions put on by the local theatre non-profits Alpine Theatre Project and Whitefish Theatre Company. And even did studio headshots for both of them earlier this summer.
Cole's mom had a very defined vision for his portraits leaning into the fact he is very much a 'theatre kid.' We coordinated with the technical coordinator of the Whitefish Performing Arts Center for some photos inside the empty stage, utilized the stage all dressed up for ATP's production of "Million Dollar Quartet," and okay since we're in Montana we did just a handful of outdoor photos with a view here in Whitefish.
This leads me to my biggest advice to seniors looking to have their portraits done. You should take the opportunity to have the portraits reflect who you are and your personality. No need for boring studio portraits.
Ashley and Matt were recently engaged and just happened to be here in Northwest Montana for a friend's intimate wedding day. In my extremely biased opinion, they had the magnificent idea to get some engagement portraits done while they were here. After all, it's awfully difficult to pass up the opportunity for engagement portraits at Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.
