Travel Bucket List | Destination Wedding and Portrait Photographer

People often ask what I do after wedding season is over, and while I wish I could say just sleep and travel, this is my time of year to not only take a break but to catch up on all of the tasks of running a business that get put off during the craziness of wedding season! Yes, I will be taking lots of MUCH needed time off, but one of the main things I'll be doing is gearing up and making changes for 2017.

Each year I try to make changes and take steps forward to having a photography business that not only serves my clients and gives them the best experience and images possible, but also feeds my passion, soul, and drive! One of the main things that does that is travel!! So, I've decided to just put it out in the universe that these are some of the places that I would LOVE to photograph people in. AND a special little deal for you, if you book a wedding, elopement, or portrait session in one of these places I will shoot it for free. FREE! 

I am not trying to discount professional photographers and what we do, this is just a personal goal of mine and my desire to photograph people in these gorgeous places is worth is to me to not make any money doing it. I still believe it is VERY important to value the hard work that professional photographers do and to pay for quality work, however I'm also a person that values experiences and I would love to capture epic portraits in these locations. Now, there is one tiny little catch, you would still need to pay for travel costs for me and my second shooter (airfare, accommodation the night before and night of your event/session, and transportation from airport) but that is it. 

I want to photograph adventurous and awesome people in gorgeous and epic locations. This is me officially saying it to the universe :) Where are these places that I will shoot for only travel costs? New Zealand, Iceland, Italy, France, Thailand, Australia, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa. Have a location that's not listed? Just shoot me an email and tell me more!

Mountain Elopement Styled Shoot | Glacier National Park, Montana

In October I got to cross off a state and national park that I have never been to, Glacier National Park in Montana! While we were lucky enough to go in fall when the leaves were still changing, that also meant there was lots of extra fog covering what I'm sure are some epic mountain views. We had planned to do a simple little styled shoot while there up in the mountains, but the weather just did not cooperate. Luckily though when you're in such a beautiful place your backup location is pretty fantastic as well! And even better was having the most wonderful couple to photograph!! These two truly exemplify the type of client that I hope to work with. They were both so sweet, kind, and fun, but then they were also adventurous and willing to do anything to get beautiful portraits. Amazing people + willingness to go the extra mile + gorgeous location = stunning portraits :) And huge should out to Renee at Madison Wedding Flowers for creating a gorgeous floral crown and bouquet!

Travel Diaries | Glacier National Park, Montana

I feel like I'm a broken record on this, but I really love to travel and especially in mountains!! I don't know what it is, but there's just something so special about the rugged landscape and fresh air that just excites and energizes me. Sadly though on this trip we didn't really get to see that stunning rugged landscape because of the weather. Fog and rain covered the mountains last week the whole time we were there! But it's just a good excuse now to go back :) 

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!

Jason + Mel | Windy Oregon Coast | Cape Kiwanda, OR

Last month I went out to Oregon to visit a good photographer friend, and I got to photograph some pretty cool couples while I was there! The first couple was Mel and Jason who met us out on the coast for an evening portrait session. This all seemed easy and innocent enough, until a storm came up fast and almost blew us away. I have never been scared for our safety on a shoot before until this one!

I have always loved the rugged Oregon coast, but when you're trying to take portraits in probably 60 mph wind gusts?! That's a just a little too rugged. Unfortunately we had to cut the session short, before we were blown off a cliff, but we had one crazy adventure and got some beautiful portraits before trying to make our way back through one of the craziest storms I have ever been in! I always love couples that are adventurous and willing to go the extra mile to get gorgeous portraits, and clearly Mel and Jason are one of my favorites!