If you've made it this far you're bound to wonder why the last image in the whole article is of these two amazing people wandering away view headlights through what looks like the woods. The story here is perfect and deserves being told. In fact I'm going to tell the story first a little out of order I guess because the photos are so freaking beautiful but before we talk about this engagement session, this sunset, or how cute these two are together let's skip to the funny parts.

"There's a road closed sign up ahead"

Honestly, for most people this would have been a bit of a red flag. Nope, they kept pushing. They’d already driven over 3 hours from Little Rock, that’s after Mark drove up from Dallas. At this point they were commited and surely, whatever it was, wasn’t that bad right? Wrong. I ran back up from the parking lot to ask one of the park rangers about the road up the mountain they were taking and he smiled and said in the most non-concerned way “ya, there was a big land slide and they’ll have to turn around and come up the other way". Well - the problem with shooting the last hour of the day is that with a 45 minute detour we’re left without time to shoot. So what do two med school students, a photographer, and a jeep cook up? Well first I had to get across the bar ditch, under the fallen tree with just under 2 inches to spare as long as I was at the right angle, back across the ditch, down the closed road to the other side of the land slide all the while they were hiking across it and up the road to me. Easy right? Sure, in the day light - life got a little trickier the second time around but it was the foundation for an absolutely incredible afternoon. We were all in this together.

We spent hours just getting to this view of the Ozarks.

There is no way we’re going to waste it. So the tricky part was finished. A short hike from the parking lot at the top of the mountain down to the bluffs left us with endless views of the mountains around us, two totally happy and in love people, and one dorky artsy guy with a camera. It was time to get to work. I always tell our engagement session couples the same basic pep-talk. “Don’t Over Think It”. To be fair they’ve all been given this before we even show up.

The essential guide for making your engagement session awesome

My genuine approach to these things is simple. By the time you show up, the hard work is done. You’ve likely fretted a little about your outfits. You’ve google mapped the location a few times to make sure you’re on time. In this situation, you’ve decided to drive on a closed road with almost no cell phone service gotten out and hiked across a land slide only to jump into a jeep on the other side with a photographer you’ve never actually met in real life before… You get my point.

The actual photos sometimes feel like the easy part.

At least for the couples that let go and just have some fun with this. And Olivia + Mark did. We hiked off the edge of this bluff line in every direction. Watched the sun slowly dip lower and lower until these two were left standing in the muted mirky dusk of a perfect afternoon on the edge of a huge drop with nothing to do but cuddle up and stay warm. I’ll undoubtedly get asked about poses, settings, camera stuff, and who knows what else from this article but let me sum it up as simply as I can.

When I focus more on the people than the perfection of the image my work tells an infinitely more valuable story. The poses in these photos aren’t poses. I may have prompted a few movements or suggested a few ideas but ultimately this isn’t pose, it’s honest intimacy. The settings aren’t complicated in these shots. I didn’t even take any lighting down from the back of the jeep, didn’t get nervous when the sun went away, didn’t mind shooting into the sun, with the sun, or without it, and didn’t panic and over shoot every little moment. Instead the idea was to make these memories not only theirs, but my own. I wanted to enjoy this sunset as well. I wanted to breath the crisp air, to enjoy the drive in, to watch the yellow leaves shake in the breeze. As photographers sometimes we get so caught up helping other people remember important moments in their lives that we stop living our own… Not Me.

I didn’t become a photographer for the cameras. I did it for the people.

So there you have it. A drive back under the tree to the landslide in the dark and we said goodbye to White Rock Mountain. 2.5 hours later I was back home in Bentonville absolutely sure that I had shot something special. Hours earlier two sweet people stepped out of their car with big smiles totally willing to trust my process and when they hiked back across the landslide to their car in the dark after the shoot we all left as friends. I can’t wait for their wedding, can’t wait to see these important moments and memories arrive in their lives over the next few months and I’m so grateful I had the chance to share this special place, and this perfect sunset with them.

But Miles - we need engagement photo tips please

Funny you should ask because we have a ton of resources just for you. So if you’re hoping to have a session like this, whether we’re on the edge of a mountain or dodging yellow cabs in Brooklyn or staring at art in a museum in Bentonville together here’s plenty of resources to get you started!