Eastern Washington Engagement Session – Alexandra + Anthony

Trust is one the greatest things a photographer has to ask from his/her clients. It’s this very trust that is what builds the connection and allows the photographer to create without unnecessary boundaries. Hopefully your engagement and subsequently your engagement session are a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can certainly understand the pressure a couple may feel to play it safe and get it right. However, with that being said there is no reward without risk. And I sincerely appreciate it when people allow the risk and let the dice fall where they may and let me decide the specifics when it comes to organizing a session.

I’ve known Anthony for going on nearly 10 years. We’ve played in bands together, spent time couped up in rickety vans on tour together and have grown to be close friends; the type of friend that you truly admire and enjoy for a number of reasons. When he announced that he had found the lady he wanted to spend his life with I was so stoked for him and eager to meet Alexandra (Alley for short). Alley is a fellow photographer based in Montreal, Quebec in the mysterious land of Canada where things seem to make infinitely more sense than they do in the other portion of North America that I call home.

Alley was in town for about a week and we jumped on the opportunity to do this engagement shoot and we settled on shooting in Eastern Washington. I’ve been trying to schedule a shoot out East for almost 2 years and I’m so happy this one came together as well as it did. The Eastern side of WA is dramatically different than Western WA (which is the part that most people are familiar with; Seattle, grunge, rain, evergreens and the Puget Sound). Whereas Eastern WA is essentially an semi-arid desert that consists of miles and miles of ancient flood plains dating back to millions of years ago, this has produced very fertile land and thus the Eastern side of the state is very much rooted in agricultural pursuits of many types.

We crossed the Cascade Range that separates and divides the State and headed towards Vantage, WA. There is a famous monument on a hill near I-90 that depicts Wild Horses running, that was our first stop. We then continued into Frenchman’s Coulee which is a stunning sight to see, towering basalt columns and dusty warm and grey/green tones really set the scene apart from my normal surroundings. While we may not have had the warm setting sunlight I was hoping to find we still had plenty of help from Mother Earth in the form of gusts of wind that made everything dance and sway in the breeze and inspiring landscapes.

Alley and Anthony’s fashion sense really shined on this shoot as well, they styled their look themselves. Alley had a little help from Sam & Bee Event Design, a friend of hers in Montral who provided the handdrawn calligraphy on the back of Alley’s denim jacket. Alley further personalized her jacket by hand stiching “RIDE OR DIE” on the breast.

While on location I also shot a little video which is welcome change of pace for me. I’ve embedded that video below for your viewing pleasure. Soundtrack provided by Jesu from their album “Conqueror”.