autumn garden of the gods engagement session

This session is truly so close to my heart.

I met Jess back in fall 2015 — she was a college roommate and became one of my first and closest friends in Chicago. I met Clay on their first date, and I’ve gotten to watch their love grow through the past five years, from first dates, working together, moving in together, moving all the way out to Denver, to their engagement on a beautiful glacier hike. I don’t know two other people who were meant to be married as much as Jess and Clay are. I spent Thanksgiving of 2017 with them at their apartment in southern Illinois and, when Jess stepped out to run an errand, Clay confided in me that he was planning to propose. I was so excited that I think the noise that came out of my mouth was very similar to a turkey call (appropriate for the holiday).

If you don’t know me, I am THE WORST at keeping secrets. I am truly an open book about 95% of things, and I’m what’s called an external processor, meaning I process my life through journaling or talking to loved ones. So I had to bite my tongue for TWO WHOLE YEARS until they got engaged on Jess’ birthday in 2019, and I thought it was going to kill me. You can imagine my joy when they became engaged, and I felt so lucky and honored for them to ask me to take their engagement photos this year. That drive between Chicago and Denver is no joke, but my boyfriend, Brice, and I were excited the entire 14 hours over.

We were planning on shooting at St Mary’s Glacier, where Clay proposed, but the mountains got hit with a snowfall last minute. We switched our location to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and it ended up being absolutely perfect. It was warm enough for Jess to wear a dress and we shot through golden hour, sunset, and my beloved blue hour. The landscape was absolutely stunning — I kept tripping over my feet since I was looking at everything and not concentrating on walking.

Wanna see what I mean?

Jess & Clay’s autumn engagement session at Garden of the Gods, on digital and medium format film.