It's been a long year, the business has been closed due to Covid and I had no idea if kids would be back at school this year, let alone having any events to look forward to, so you can imagine my surprise when I re-opened my business and was booked right away for a Prom Session! 

I was excited to pick up my camera again as I looked for locations with water in the background, as requested by my clients, near where the Prom would be held. After some research and location scouting, we decided on Core Creek Park, which has a lovely gazebo, walking trails lined with flowering trees, and a few docks. 

Before we knew it, the day of the prom had arrived, the weather was gorgeous, the temperature was comfortable and there was a gentle breeze. I pull into the parking lot near the gazebo and froze, what was going on? The parking lot was full, and the gazebo was down the path but I could easily see it had a huge crowd around it. I stepped out of my car and asked someone walking by if there was an event being held there, and she tells me it's prom. Oh no, we had chosen a very popular prom portrait location, and I had no idea! 



The next hiccup was finding out the guy is not allowed to post photos wearing his uniform, so unfortunately I am not able to include him in this blog post.

The good thing about location scouting is discovering multiple locations to use so you always have a Plan B. I decided to start with a spot near the parking lot where there was a stone wall the couple could sit on with the flowering trees in the background. Not even 5 minutes after we began, the prom group left the gazebo and surrounded us, over 50 people were standing next to the couple, behind me, and all around us as they began taking more pictures together. I quickly moved us to another spot where we had beautiful flowering trees. I pulled down the end of one of the flowering branches to take photos through, wondering how I was going to hold it in place when her dad quickly stepped in to hold it in place for me (thank you helpful parent!) 

After a few minutes of Angela's heels making standing on uneven ground unpleasant, we decided to do some walking poses on a paved path instead, I moved us to a piece of the path that was off to the side (there was still a good sized crowd going to and from the gazebo on the main walkway.) There was just a hint of a breeze to blow her dress as they walked, which really added to the feel of them walking together. 
After walking back and forth a few times, we got lucky and the gazebo had cleared out, so we quickly went for it before someone else did. 

The two of them made for such an adorable couple, smooching and cuddling through the session, which even the parents were trying to peek around the gazebo to watch their session. It was making me laugh so I say to them, let's get you two on this side of one of the columns so I can capture the parents trying to peek at you. They were not in on the joke so as soon as they saw me switch sides tried to move out of the way, and I was like no wait, stay there I want you in the background for this, and the rest of the parents jumped in too, haha! 

Angela is an adorable yet beautiful young lady, she stood at just around 5 feet tall, so had these incredible high heels to add some extra height for the day. I have to give her credit for being able to walk in them, I definitely would've fallen several times if it had been me! I was able to capture this great detail shot at the end of the session when she switched into regular shoes so she could drive. 

After getting all we needed from the gazebo location, we walked back through the crowded parking lot to a nearby dock to have water in the background of their photos, which I was amazed no one else had tried to use for their portraits. Though once we started walking out on the dock we quickly discovered why as Angela's heel slipped between the dock boards and tripped her up. (No one was injured during this session, and the boards were wide enough that she was able to walk and stand on them without any further issues.) We also discovered that the bridge and part of the dock near the shore were very stable, but the further out you went, the more the dock rocked, and it became quite windy when you reached the end. We only took a quick photo before heading back. 

These ducks were very interested in our photo session when we reached the dock and decided to quack VERY loudly while swimming back and forth under the couple while they stood on the dock bridge, it was quite comical, and I had no idea ducks could be that loud. 

Our session was over so Angela decided to go check out the noisy spectators, and take a few pictures with them.

Overall I LOVE this session so much, everything ended up working out so well in the end. These were my clients responses to seeing their photos. 

Angela's Mom, Chris- "OMG. Amazing pics. Gonna be tough to narrow it down.  I love them all." 

Angela- "Had so much fun! Thank you again the shots look amazing!!"