When I first walked around Volunteer Park in Seattle to get a lay of the land, I was a bit hesistant. There weren’t any spots that I got really excited about. It was just nice all around. You could definitely get some nice photos, but I was expecting more. I suggested a few spots to Rachel and she picked this spot. Well I love a challenge. This was a really fun shoot, and I know I say that about every shoot I do, but Rachel and Oisin in particular were so easy to work with. As soon as we started shooting, I could tell they were naturals. I barely gave any direction and they just enjoyed each other’s company and acted as if they were just on a date, if I wasn’t there. and that’s exactly how I like it. I want my couples to feel like their real selves and pretend like I’m not even there.

The area right in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum is a good starting point. From here, we have the Thomas Burke Memorial, which was a beautiful structure and beautiful steps that I was able to use to frame Rachel and Oisin. It was just a really unique scenery that we didn’t actually plan to use, but stumbled across it. Right next to the memorial is South Lily Pond. You can get a bit of the water tower right behind it but there were just some beautiful foliage right by the pond and we were able to get some fun shots there.

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Rachel and Oisin have rarely been professionally photographed, which I really found hard to believe when I was working with them. They just kept laughing and enjoying each other’s company. I love it when I’m able to capture natural expressions that don’t feel forced at all. I want my photos to not feel like my photos, but the couple’s photos in their true authentic self. That’s what Oisin and Rachel produced. They just did everything I was going to ask them to do, without me asking them to do it.

We came across an interesting viewpoint with a donut shaped statue and a view of the Space Needle from behind. We did so much with this and it was really fun to play around with. I always like to do a few shots where it’s iconic to the scenery. This is the one shot where you can tell this was taken at Volunteer Park and nowhere else.

We continue walking and spend the rest of our time in a more open area with a very interesting looking tree stump. I really wanted to incorporate this element into the shoot as is adds texture and an area where we can get a bit more creative. There was more opportunity for some movement here since we had more space, and the additional creative freedom that was allowed was really fun for me to work with.

As we concluded the session and started walking back to the Art museum, I see the city lights start to come out as the sun sets beyond the skyline. This lighting is my favorite to shoot after sunset. We photogs call it blue hour. It’s when the sky is dark enough for the city lights to come out, but not too dark where we don’t have enough lighting. Although I wanted to stay longer and get more photos, I have to stop at some point.

Overall, what an amazing shoot. It actually started hailing (typical for a March in Seattle) a bit before the session and I was close to reschduling the session. I’m glad my couple were more bold than me. The hail did stop and though the ground was wet, the weather cleared up and we were able to continue our photo session. I can’t wait to come back and shoot here again!