Gold Creek Pond Engagement Session in Washington
I don’t usually get to do a lot of winter photoshoots. Understandably most people opt for the heat of summer, the greenery of spring, or those popular fall colors. But winter shoots have a special place in my heart and this one is one I won’t soon forget!
I worked with Conner during my time at Target on the west side of Washington in Bellevue and it turns out he has a love for photography as well! He works a lot with landscapes, documentary style urban shoots, and photorealism stuff in photoshop. Very cool and it blows my mind because my photoshop skills are admittedly shit. Another fun fact about Conner is he really enjoys the outdoors, a lot like I do. Hiking and backpacking whenever him and his then girlfriend could get out! When he and Alexis got engaged he reached out to me asking about doing engagement photos. I was stoked knowing that they both lean more towards the adventurous stuff like me. We planned for October in the Cascades and as what usually happens with life and adults plans got changed and switched. What ended up happening was us picking a day late in January to meetup in the mountains!
I think this adventure session is a really good lesson in preparedness. Whether it’s middle of winter or the full heat of summer I’m a firm believer that you can’t be too prepared. I want to tell you about the hits and misses that I feel like came along with this shoot and what I learned from it.
Thankfully all of us being avid outdoor people knew what we were walking into on a January afternoon in the middle of the Cascade range. We were hiking to Gold Creek Pond, which in the summer you can drive right up to the shore but in the winter they close the road and you have to hike in. We all brought snowshoes in case there was fresh snow to stomp through. We had headlamps, gloves, hats, proper jackets, water, the whole bit. Thankfully this trail is also incredibly popular so if you find yourself in a pinch in this particular spot, odds are good someone is right around the corner to help.
It was soooo cold but we lucked out with a sunny day that helped hold off the frigid temps a bit longer. My one mistake of the day, and I’ve definitely learned my lesson, was forgetting hand warmers. I left them at my house before I left that day and didn’t realize till we were halfway down the trail. Now seeing that we all had the rest of the proper gear this wasn’t a huge loss, but when you’re doing a photo shoot with a couple odds are they usually aren’t wearing all their winter gear for the photos. Maybe just a jacket, and that’s where hand warmers would’ve come in handy. Something to stuff in a back pocket or a jacket pocket for a quick bit of heat in between poses. Even to stick in a hat.
We made the most of it and still had a lot of fun but you know I’m fully stocked on hand warmers now!
Even with freezing cold hands we got so lucky with a sunset really popped off for the end of this adventure session! I was worried we would be elbowing our way through crowds of people but as the sun began to set the groups of people who were enjoying the last bit of sun started to head back to their cars. Their loss because we were able to witness some of the best alpenglow I have seen in a long time. Winter alpenglow is truly one of the prettiest things to ever witness and it’s amazing because even once the sun goes down it’s only like 4pm, so you can still have an early night!
We enjoyed the last bit of sun on the snow capped peaks and then started to make our way back to our cars in the cold darkness. Alexis and Conner were such troopers on this journey and I so appreciate them for freezing their butts off for me. Always so happy I have the most amazing clients out there.
