Outdoor portrait sessions are so much fun! We get to capture you in an environment that is comfortable and familiar, the scenery enhances your environment and captures your story, and being on location is a great way to feel more in the moment for your session. I adore capturing clients on location, especially engagements and couples sessions because they really do tell your story as a couple.

This engagement session with Anna and Ryan was a long time coming. The pair reached out to me back in mid-2020 about capturing their recent engagement and what a crazy time the entirety of that year was to begin with. I was also amidst my move from Chicago to St. Louis and had no more openings while I was living there. So we waited a few months to get back in touch and finally we set on a date in the fall of 2020. A mere couple of weeks prior to our scheduled session, Ryan called me saying that Anna had broken her ankle and was going to have a recovery period before being comfortable walking again. It wasn’t until summer of 2021 that we were able to coordinate a date for the session that ended up coming to fruition (but just barely!)

We had discussed and planned out the session months before and finally it was the morning of the shoot date. I had left St. Louis to drive to Chicago and nearly an hour outside of Chicago, it began spitting rain drops. It was cloudy and a tad gloomy and my heart immediately sank. I knew that Anna was getting her hair and makeup done for this session and at this point, it was too late to reschedule the session. It was a great lesson in waiting things out, trusting your gut, and being prepared to go with the flow. We ended up with a session without any rain, that was overcast and windy, but all in all ended up quite lovely! You could clearly see the skyline view from Lincoln Park (something else I was worried about was the fog coming off the lake with rainy days) and there wasn’t a drop of rain during our session.

One thing is for certain with outdoor sessions, especially if your photographer is traveling to you: the weather will rarely be exactly how you imagine it to be. It’s important to expect the unexpected, be prepared to go with the flow, and at the end of the day, remember the reason for getting your photos taken. It’s to capture this moment in your story. That story isn’t always going to end up precisely the way we hope it will, but that’s what makes it uniquely our story to tell. That’s why I encourage and remind my clients to embrace the things we cannot control and yes, absolutely plan the things we can control to our hearts desire. I am here for you and will guide you every step of the way.

Anna and Ryan were so sweet together for their couples portraits. They went with the flow and we captured some beautiful moments of them together that they will hopefully cherish and look back on with fond memories of this wild ride for years to come.