Engagement session with Epiphany & Jesse at the University of Washington

Confession time!  I have been so busy this summer that I have not been able to keep up with all of my blog postings in nearly as timely a fashion as I like.  My priority has first been getting the all of the photos edited and ready for my clients, and blogging whenever I have any free time, which has not been very often.  First priority for blog posts has been weddings.  In this case, I actually photographed Jessie and Epiphany’s wedding just over a week ago, but had never had the time to get their engagement photo blog done.  So as you look through my blog you’ll understand why some events seem to be out of order.

Both Epiphany and Jesse are hard-core Dawgs, and met while they were both students at the University of Washington.  So it was only fitting that they would choose the UW campus as the location of their engagement photo session.  We arranged to meet at the big W at the entrance on the north side of the campus and started our session right there. The W makes a great prop for photos and we had fun posing Jesse and Epiphany at various places on and around the W, some of which you will see as you look below.

From here we slowly made our way into the campus proper, with various stops along the way to take advantage of the wonderful early evening lighting.  I loved the halo effect that the sun had on both Epiphany and Jesse’s hair when I set them up to catch the backlighting.

Once we reached Red Square we got a few photos in front of Suzzallo and in the square, then made our way to Rainier Vista.  It was very easy to see why this stretch had been given that name, as Mount Rainier was in great view as we looked to the south down the Vista.  Of course we had to get a bunch of photos with the mountain in the background!  This proved a bit challenging at times as various groups and individuals seemed intent on photo-bombing almost every attempt we made to get some photos.  But we persevered, and finally were able to get a lot of different looks without a lot of other bystanders in every shot.

It was pretty near a perfect evening for photos, warm and sunny and without the haze and smoke that plagued Seattle for much of the summer.  I just wish that Drumheller Fountain had been operating, it would have made for some amazing photos with Mt. Rainier as the backdrop.  But even without the fountain, Drumheller was a beautiful pond that reflected both the buildings around it and the fantastic evening light.

Surrounding Drumheller are a number of flower beds, and these worked great for another series of photos.  Both Epiphany and Jesse were outstanding subjects, almost like working with professional models, and aside from the occasional blink it was hard to take a bad photo of them.

Finally our time was running out, so we made our way back to Red Square where I got a couple of last photos taking advantage of the very low height of the sun for a few more fun shots.  It was fantastic being able to spend some time getting to know Epiphany and Jesse, since during a wedding things are way too crazy to be able to really relax and talk during the photos.