Anniversary Session on the Mogollon Rim: Kyle & LauraMae

What do you do when it’s your 3rd anniversary, Covid is blowing up in the state, and temperatures in the valley are insane?! You drive up north for your Anniversary Session on the Mogollon Rim!

The Bush fire cancelled our original plans for their session. Additionally the Phoenix temperatures made other ideas a bit rough! Thankfully Kyle and LauraMae were so sweet to drive up here for their session.

After doing some location scouting on the lake, I had it all planned out. I was going to paddle out in our inflatable kayak to get some epic shots of them on the shore. Can’t you just picture that?!

And then…

In the most ridiculous of events I threw out my neck and shoulder PLAYING PEEKABOO WITH MOLLY. I would hid to the side of the bed and pop out, and then she’d laugh! Well I went to hide and I felt something slip and it took everything in me to get up off the floor and lying on the bed. Seriously, ridiculous. It’s okay, you can laugh.

So when that happened I got ahold of my friend Mikaela to see if she could be my official backup for the session. Thankfully she was game!! We worked all day on those muscles to get me mobile enough for the session, so I was able to go.

Mikaela came and shot with me still. It was such a nice evening up on the Rim with all of us. Mikaela and I got some funny looks being in masks and chest waders, but it was totally worth it. Kyle and LauraMae were so patient with us as we got the waders and got out in the lake. I loved this perspective and can’t wait to try again (and eventually try the kayak idea).

Willow Springs Lake

If these two look familiar to you at all, you might have been on my website recently or remember them from past years! This is the 5th session together with them, and I LOVE that I get to at least see them yearly!

See her cute sandals? I photographed those on her wedding day as part of her wedding details! I love that touch to the pictures!

When I’d gone scouting a few days before it was beautifully clear and blue skied, so when we got there and a storm had rolled in, it took a shift in where we would shoot and a slight change in plans to get on the right side for the light. But I loved the soft light that the clouds allowed! It let us do some fun things!

Oh Moe! He was just adorable and so fun the whole time! That face!!

Anniversary Session on the Mogollon Rim

Thankfully the storm didn’t reach the lake, but it did go right over our 2nd location, and it turned out to be incredible! I’ve never seen the air that crisp!! And the little smidgen of a rainbow was the perfect touch!

Mikaela is the landscape master of the two of us, and I love that she grabbed some that night to add to their gallery!

When the first spot we had in mind was occupied, we adjusted and ended up shooting in some new nooks there at the Rim that I hadn’t used before! I love how up for anything these two are! Finally at the end we caught the last bit of sunset glow and got the two of them snuggled up for the final series of shots.

Reason #7183 why having two photographers at a session is awesome…you get two artistic views! Mikaela and I both captured this moment, and our shots look different from each other (mine above left, hers below) but still both fun and able to stand on their own.

This is the 5th time now that I’ve been able to do ring shots for these two! Engagement session, wedding, 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd anniversaries! It’s always a creative exercise to find a different way to photograph a set of rings that you get to play with annually. The little rain puddles made for some neat quick ring shots!

Kyle and LauraMae, I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Thank you so much for patience as I moved a little slower than normal, and as we got the details figured out to even make this anniversary session on the Mogollon Rim happen. It’s a Covid miracle! 😉 It’s always a pleasure to see you guys and I can’t wait for our mural adventures when things cool down!