Amanda + Robbie | Colorado Engagement Session | Rocky Mountain National Park

If you know one thing about me it should be that I love to travel! So when I got the opportunity to go out to Colorado for Amanda and Robbie's engagement session I of course said, heck yeah!! I already knew this would be a gorgeous session because of where we would be, but what just makes it over the top and even better is Amanda and Robbie. They are just the kind of people you want to hang out and be friends with. Lucky for me, they are also madly in love and crazy adorable so it was just the easiest thing ever to photograph these two.

I also love that my couples trust me even when I come up with crazy ideas or something that may push them out of their comfort zone. We had initially planned to just go to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, but I had the opportunity to explore the park the day before so obviously I found about 10,002 locations I wanted to use :) These two were so awesome to go the extra mile (ha, literally) up in the mountains to just the most stunning views. It was ridiculously windy and it was cold, but the bigger the wind gusts the more Amanda would laugh! I can only hope to get to meet and work with more people like Amanda and Robbie, and to photograph in unbelievably gorgeous locations!

Ethan + Leslie | UW-Arboretum Summer Engagement Session | Madison, Wisconsin

I knew once I started picking favorites to share a sneak peek from this engagement session and it was so hard to narrow them down that I'd have to feature it in a blog post! I met Leslie and Ethan out at the Arboretum and right away I knew this was going to be a super fun session!

As you can tell they are so much in love and these two are just so much fun to be around! It was effortless as we wandered around the Arboretum capturing fun and candid moments, but also more intimate and loving moments between the two of them. I cannot wait for their wedding this fall and to get to hang out with these two again :)

Matt + Megan | Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

If you saw my last blog post about visiting a friend in Oregon last month you'll know that I got to do a couple portrait sessions while I was out there! This wasn't my first time in Oregon, but if you couldn't tell I'm kind of in love with it and am always looking for excuses to go back :)

Luckily I was able to take advantage of the gorgeous landscape and do some portraits at the Columbia River Gorge! And to make it even better, I had an absolutely amazing couple to photograph!! Megan and Matt are married and judging by this portrait session even more in love than their wedding day. These two were just effortless in front of the camera having fun with each other, laughing, but then also able to snuggle up for some more romantic and intimate moments. Basically it doesn't get much better than this! Super fun couple and gorgeous locations is all I can ask for really! I already can't wait to get back out to the PNW and photograph more couples in even more epic locations :)

Kacie + Matt | Adventurous Engagement Session | Pewits Nest, Baraboo

Whenever I meet with a couple I always love to find out more about them, their story, and their wedding day but I also want my clients to know who I am so they can not only feel comfortable with me, but trust me as well. Haha I always joke that I'm going to be your new BFF on your wedding day, but really, it's true! Your wedding photographer is someone that you are spending a great deal of time with and someone you are trusting to capture all of the memories from one of the most important days of your life. Trust is kind of important :)

From the first time I talked with Kacie and Matt I knew that they just totally awesome people and I wanted to get to know them better and work with them. The best way to do that is at your engagement session! What was even better though is that they had already put their trust in me to try out a new location that I hadn't photographed in! And even better something a little more on the adventurous side.

I am suuuuper afraid of heights (climbing up ladders makes my heart race) but I don't let that stop me from trying new things and I'm so excited that Kacie and Matt were up for the challenge as well. They braved some steep ledges to get some beautiful views at Pewits Nest, and I think it was totally worth it! They trusted me when I suggested this new location and I think we got tons of beautiful and unique portraits because of it!

Destination Elopements + Weddings | Hiking Washington National Parks

For a lot of wedding photographers it is the dream to get to photograph a wedding in some exotic or adventurous location. Haha I know I will raise my hand and yell "pick me!!" any time someone asks to travel somewhere for their wedding. But for me it goes a little further than that. I seem to have this burning desire to see the world and all of the unique and beautiful places in it.

For those of you that don't know, photography is actually my second career! I started my adult life as an accountant, but a semester studying abroad in college taught me that life is just too short and you shouldn't settle for anything. That is why I'm now following my passion as a photographer, and that is why I want to photograph more destination weddings and elopements! I LOVE getting to photograph so many beautiful weddings here in Wisconsin, but I want to push it just a little further than that. There are so many amazing places to see and experience and I want to do that with my camera in hand.

Last summer I spent some time exploring Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, and the North Cascades. I will hopefully be going back to the area of the PNW soon, but it's just a little reminder of the gorgeous places even right here in the United States that we should all take advantage of and visit. Haha and of course take advantage of having portraits in these epic locations :)

I've been posting a lot more images like this in my Instagram feed (@jendederich) to hopefully inspire people to not only get out and explore but to try something new and adventurous for their wedding, elopement, or portrait session. Happy traveling!