North Shore Engagement Session.
View this vibrant and breathtaking
engagement session on Minnesota’s North Shore.
If you're familiar with Minnesota's North Shore, you understand that the weather in that area is about as predictable as the mountains (hint, it's not predictable.) Storms, 70 mph winds, and rain kept us at bay and forced us to reschedule these photos. Finally, after months, May 25th was only a couple days away. And it looked like it was supposed to be a FREAKING GORGEOUS day. I was kicking my feet and giggling just thinking about shooting on the North Shore; it's literally every wedding photographer's dream.
Maddi sent me a text. The weather was indicating there could be rain all day, strong winds, and yet again, a ruined photoshoot. After some talk back and forth about our options, I said, "You know what? Let's just do it. It's just rain. Odds are, the weather will make a turn for the nicer again, by the time the day rolls around."
Somehow, I ended up being right. The entire day was filled with glorious sunshine and 70° weather and we were PUMPED. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, only a couple hours before, the weather made another sudden turn for the worse, forcing us to move the engagement session earlier than we were hoping for. Once again, however, upon arriving, the sun made an appearance and shone behind the clouds, making for the most glorious lighting, albeit, slightly chilly for those of us in short sleeves.
Mike and Maddi ran barefoot through the beaches of the North Shore, climbed rocks by the lake, and honestly, between the elevation and how giddily in love they are, it looked like they could've been walking on clouds. Between subtle hand touches, secret smiles, and lots of laughter, we created pure art. I was in constant awe of Mike and Maddi’s ability in front of my camera. Often times, couples find themselves in front of a camera and get instantly uncomfortable and nervous, which is totally understandable! It almost seemed, however, that I wasn’t even there. They were so entirely focused on the other, everything they did was so natural and beautiful, which I think is the reason we created the wonderful photos that we did. It’s never fun to be stiff or awkward and sometimes you’re able to feel that through the photos, afterwards. With the comfortability and ease of these two lovers on the North Shore, dreamy photos were easy to capture.
Afterwards, we traveled to Palisade Head, which boasts the most stunning cliffs, near Duluth, Minnesota. Mike and Maddi absolutely slayed with their outfit choices and my jaw, quite honestly, is permanently located on the floor because WOW. Talk about a spicy couple, radiating happiness, and love, who really understood the freaking assignment.
I balanced my camera gear in one hand as we hiked uphill and scaled some pretty treacherous looking cliffs. Of all days, of course, I forgot my nifty dual camera harness from Coiro, that would have solved all my camera balancing problems. Maddi was an absolute gem, carefully holding my camera for me if I needed an extra hand climbing a particular spot. After almost two hours of dreamy photos, hiking, gentle kisses, and a lot of fun, we made our way back to our vehicles, pumped up and full of energy.
Lo and behold, it began pouring almost immediately after we departed (damn North Shore.)
In exactly one year and one day from when this post gets published, Mike and Maddi will be getting MARRIED!!! I am counting down the days until these two wonderful souls become one and begin their life as, man and wife. Sometimes I wonder how I'm so lucky to have the most amazing couples hire me for the biggest day of their life. These two are going to be the most jaw dropping bride and groom y'all have ever seen and I'm SO honored to be able to capture it all!!
Enjoy some highlights from their session!!
