You guys! Below you will see one of my very favorite engagement sessions with one of my favorite couples! I’ve known Valerie for a solid decade now as she is one of my husband’s cousins. When she contacted me that she was engaged and was marrying a meteorologist, I knew I had the perfect location for their session. It is so picturesque (see what I did there?!) and has the biggest skies! About 5 years ago, we did a styled bridal session at the Gloss Mountains outside of Enid, Oklahoma, and I’ve been dying to go back with the right couple. We drive by this spot every time we go to southwest Kansas to see my mom but rarely stop. We decided to go ahead and schedule the session for a weekend that we were headed home so we had both kiddos with us too. It worked out great though because Heath dropped me off with Valerie and Michael and he took the kids into town for dinner. We walked all over  the park, including all the way to the very tippy top. My fitbit recorded 37 flights of stairs that day…if that gives you any idea how high it is. The day was windy but when is it not in Oklahoma so we just worked with it. I love the effect! Here are a few, ok a lot, of my favorites from the session!
Headed up the mountain now!
Here’s a post for photography nerds. Below is basically the same shot but the one on the left was with a 35mm lens and the one on the right was with a 135mm lens. The wider angle lenses make backgrounds look further away while longer lenses compress the background and give you more depth-of-field. Lens selection if very important depending on the look you are going for! I personally love both shots and think they work well together.
Here we made it to the top of the Gloss Mountains. That view!
The above photos are all back lit. I shoot this way 90% of the time because I love the glowy warmth it gives my photos. I did want to get Valerie and Michael some deep blue skies though so I turned them around and shot with the sun lighting their faces. Its a completely different look! I love changing it up every now and then!
Below has to be one of my favorite photos ever! I was wanting to get a dramatic shot with some sun flare and just as I was taking the shot, three buzzards started flying over. I think it add so much to the photo!
I mean, seriously. How adorable are these two?!
Just before sunset we found a nearby canola field for a few shots. The sun went behind some clouds at the end so we didn’t get to shoot as long as I would have liked before losing light but what we did get was stunning! I love this fence and the Gloss Mountains in the background.
And with a sunset like that, I had to throw in one last silhouette!
