Grand Canyon Engagement

Last week, we had the pleasure of traveling down to northern Arizona for Sammie and Kevin’s incredibly fun Grand Canyon engagement session. We’ve been to the Grand Canyon a couple times before, but never for a shoot, so we were stoked when the newlyweds-to-be suggested it as a location.

We arrived two days early and spent the time hiking (the South Kaibab Trail and the Hermit Trail) and also location scouting the canyon and surrounding environs. As the day of the shoot neared, the weather forecast started calling for 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts on the day that we had planned on doing most of our shooting. Since we didn’t want to risk the couple being blown over the edge and into the canyon, we asked Sammie and Kevin if they would be willing to drive up a day early so we could get our shots in before the wind arrived. To our delight, they were flexible and drove up Friday evening after work.

Hence, this shoot was first time we’ve ever started with star photos. Since these are typically the most difficult images to pull off from a technical standpoint (both for us and for the couple), we usually save them for last. But, completely undeterred by the challenge, Sammie and Kevin knocked it out of the park and we came away with some stellar (see what I did there?) images as a result.

The next morning, we had an early start. We met the bride- and groom-to-be before dawn on a picturesque rock promontory facing east, just in time to capture the sun rising over the southern rim of the canyon. An idyllic morning golden hour followed and we spent the next few hours shooting along the canyon’s southern rim trail and braving the frigid temperatures, which were ironically colder than they were at the time in Colorado.

Sammie and Kevin, thank you so much for traveling all the way up north for your Grand Canyon engagement, for your flexibility and for your willingness to endure the freezing winds. We can’t wait for round two in June. Who knows, maybe it will be warmer in Estes Park!