An evening fall photography shoot at golden hour

How to maximize the short fall photography season in Alberta

Dave and Katie have been good friends with my husband Tyson and I for many years. We’ve had so many fun adventures camping and hiking together as well as being involved with each other’s weddings. When Katie expressed a desire for some fall photos of her and Dave I was so excited to combine my love of photography and my deep affection for these two.

I chose a location in Cochrane, the Cochrane RancheHouse, as the place for us to meet. We knew we wanted to do a fall inspired shoot and I loved the creative opportunity I had to shoot in the fall without bright leaves. The fall photography season in Calgary is so short, so I choose to focus on highlighting the quality of the fall light as opposed to relying on the leaves. I loved using the tall faded grasses and manipulating the best light to achieve some dynamic results. We found a pretty incredible tree with exposed roots, which was so fun to explore as well.

People ask me all the time if I prefer to photograph friends or strangers and I can honestly say that I love both equally because I connect well with people regardless of how long I’ve known them. Just because my subjects know me well, it doesn’t always mean they are immediately comfortable being photographed either. Hardly anyone is. Each person needs assurance and direction. I find men especially need a little extra push. The best thing I’ve found is to get them to focus on their wife or partner and then the natural expressions come forth.

I hope you enjoy this session and it gets you thinking about what type of shoot you’d like to do. I love to photograph in the fall and winter because of the warmth of the low light. The light during this shoot was so inspiring. I loved this session and it’s so hard for me to choose my favourites. Let me know what your favourites were in the comment section below.