Mount Graham Engagement & Family Session: Steve and Yesenia

Every session I want to say, “This session was so special!!” But it’s true! Each one is!! This Mount Graham Engagement Session was special in many ways!

Steve and Yesenia were my first couple to officially book for 2020. Yesenia messaged me months before I reopened to see about the possibility of having me shoot their wedding and I was doing serious happy dances when they wanted to wait and book with me!

While we met at her brother’s wedding right before the business break, I was so excited to get to re-meet them and to dote on them. They wanted to have not only the traditional engagement session, but have their kids involved as well. I was all aboard! It was so fun to start this engagement session as a family. They are so cute together. The boys were just the sweetest with their little sister!

These kids are all waiting anxiously for their local schools to start back up. I’ve heard such mixed answers from kids and teens, but all three of them are excited about the idea of getting back in the classroom, back to managing the stage, and back to being with their friends!

She just loves her big brothers, you can tell by how she looks at them. They didn’t hesitate at all to hold her hand and make faces to make her smile.

Mount Graham Engagement Session

After photos as a family, Grandma and Grandpa took the kids back down the mountain and we got some shots of Steve and Yesenia as sweethearts. The same sweetness, kindness, and love that I feel from them all as a family is there with them as a couple.

Sometimes once couples get alone time in front of the camera they feel awkward and don’t know how to switch to sweetheart mode. These two made the transition seamlessly! It felt so natural and I loved that they just stayed snuggled and happy.

These two are incredibly hard working! Steve is going to school while working hard for Coca-Cola. The dream is for them both to teach at the same school. They make such an amazing team, I can imagine any school would be anxious to have these two teaching for them!

The Ring

While Steve and Yesenia changed outfits, I was able to take a few moments to photograph her ring. I love seeing what each couple picks and to see how it fits them so well. This gorgeous ring is so elegant and classy, just like Yesenia!

Noon Creek Crossing

Just as we got up the road to the crossing, a growing thunderhead blocked out the sun. It changed up the plans for the second part of their Mount Graham Engagement Session a little, but we just turned to get the light and I love what we created together there!

These two have such a great time together. Getting them to laugh, interact, and smile was not hard in the slightest. They have such a content joy that radiates from them!

While deciding on a location for their shoot, we through around some spots down in the valley. I am SO glad we shot when and where we did! Being on the east side of a mountain, I shoot earlier than normal for a Mount Graham engagement sSession as I know we’ll lose the light earlier than in the valley. That ended up saving us!

Arriving back down in the valley we discovered a big storm hitting. The wind and dust was horrible and parts of the valley were getting slammed with rain. 20 minutes after getting off the mountain, the rain hit right where we had been. If we’d shot in the valley we would have gotten caught in that storm and been rained out. I can shoot in some rain. Monsoon rain…that can be something else! Everything came together amazingly for these two!!

Steve and Yesenia, thank you SO much for meeting me up on the mountain! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you. You were so easy to visit with, so fun to get to know, and so beautiful together. I loved getting to meet your sweet kids. They were so respectful and so good. And your photobombing Dad…I loved it! You two have an incredible calm joy about you and I can’t wait to come photograph your wedding in a few months!!