Alli & Thomas’ Mountain Engagement Session

The sun was hanging low in the autumn sky before we even began the ascent to this open field in the Blue Ridge mountains. October’s sun casts long shadows just about all day long, which creates an ideal situation for me given that the low evening light is my favorite time to take photos. That being said, driving up the mountain through gullies and backside ridges made me a bit nervous we were going to miss all the evening light as the hike up to the summit was still ahead of us. I told Alli & Thomas they were a bit crazy to be willing to drive a couple hours and hike a couple miles for a photo shoot to which they replied: “Yeah, that about sums things up for us. We pretty much always go the longer and more difficult route.” I’m so grateful for their spirit of adventure because it certainly paid off.

When we summited to this open field, the light was just beaming down on us, only then to give way to the most gentle evening glow. “It’s like we’re walking into heaven,” I said at one point as we climbed further up the ridge under golden clouds. These two were so fun to spend the evening with and we all agreed coming back down that even if we had not taken a single photo, the trip up there alone was worth it all.