Nathan and Morgan's Engagement Session - An Unexpected Journey

     As we bumped along in the flatbed trailer being pulled by the muddy four-wheeler, I thought to myself "I hope it isn't far.  The sun is moving."  As we drove over ant mountains (not hills... MOUNTAINS) and battled our way through branches and briers, I thought "What have I gotten myself into?  The sun...it is MOVING and we don't have a single image on the card."  As we splashed through mud and swarms of mosquitoes, I began to think, "This is silly.  There is no way this pond is going to be worth all the time and trouble we have wasted getting here!  The sun is SETTING soon!!"
 
     I was wrong. I was very wrong.  Once we made our way a mile or so (could have been 10 miles for all I know!)  back into the brush there was a pond....and a flat-bottom boat.  Nathan had a plan.  He would be taking Morgan out on the pond in that boat for one very special image. He wanted them to stand in the boat in the middle of the pond for one of the images. After chasing a mouse from under the seat and removing a handful of crickets from the boat, they were in the water.
 
    Then suddenly it all made sense.  They stood, and then suddenly he dropped to one knee and held out the little velvet box.  He proposed to her right and proper there on that little pond in the middle of nowhere.
   
   To be totally honest, I missed a couple of shots. I was so moved, I think I gasped at one point and possibly jumped up and down a bit.  Kind of hard to take a clean shot when that happens.
     
     I  was so excited I could hardly stand myself.  No matter what happened for the rest of the session, I had this great story and these great images.  And then the rest of the session happened.
 
      We rode back to the house where Morgan and Nathan changed clothes.  There were cowboy boots and suspenders and khaki pants and an old newsboy cap. We were on a farm with old barns, rusted silos, and a donkey named Izzy.  My life couldn't get any better.  And then we began the poses.
   
    This couple is so ridiculously in love it just oozes out of them. They fold seamlessly into one another.  They gaze longingly into each other's eyes as if I am not even there and it isn't even awkward.  They are loose and fluid with one another.  And they are happy.   My life couldn't get any better.  And then he broke out the guitar.  And then she climbed up on a horse. And then they collapsed on the greenest patch of grass with the most perfect tilt.  Sigh.  This totally just happened.

    As I drove home almost 3 hours later, I thought, "I should have paid THEM to take those pictures."  :)  I will be photographing their wedding in September. Life just doesn't get any better.

Sandra's Pond

Footnote on lessons learned here:

1.  Don't go to a session prepared for what you THINK you are going to do.  Go prepared for whatever might arise!  I would give ANYTHING if I had brought my 70-200 zoom out to that pond!!

2.  This session was a raging success not because of anything I did or really even anything that Morgan did, although her being gorgeous and full of her own ideas was a huge plus; this was a huge success because NATHAN had ideas and because Nathan was INTO the session.  He wasn't just her prop, he was her partner in this adventure and that made the whole thing work.

3.  Anything...absolutely anything a kid does in a session will be precious!