The more time I spend in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the more I find myself making up excuses to get back as soon as possible. Weekend off? Shouldn’t we be spending it in the mountains? Wouldn’t the dogs love to go on a walk at Max Patch? Is there a festival in Asheville? I’m pretty sure we should just pack up and go. Any reason is a good reason to have a North Carolina mountain engagement – time with friends, a wedding, or simply space to get away.

Although based in central North Carolina 1 out of 5 of the weddings I photograph takes place in the mountains. We spent 4 weekends in a row in Asheville last month, and will be back one more time later this fall for another portrait session and though that has meant more miles on the car, it’s worth every bit. There’s something so magical about the area that draws both my husband and I back to the area time and time again.

Recently we had a very lovely wedding booked in Black Mountain and got some time to head up a day early – and it just so happened to be a few days before our 3 year wedding anniversary so we decided to find an extra special cabin to celebrate – even though we’d be working, it was the perfect excuse to treat ourselves. From the moment I found this little cabin, I was in absolute love. I immediately started looking for some of our previous clients turned friends who live nearby to see if anyone had the evening open to join us, catch up a little bit, and shoot an entire session just on film. You should definitely recognize this pair if you’re a frequent blog visitor – they jumped in quickly and with full trust and excitement about what we had planned and I couldn’t be more grateful.

This entire session was shot on film with the Contax 645 and Kodak Portra 400 film, processed by the amazing guys at PhotoVision. I managed to not get knocked over by the current, and though I was sitting IN the river at one point both the camera, the film, and I survived to show off these photographs. I had so much fun capturing this session, and though it wasn’t a true North Carolina mountain engagement (Varian and Austin tied the know a few months ago outside of Washington DC!) – no one said you have to be engaged to get great photos. 🙂

There’s always a good reason to get photos with those you love – time screams by us so quickly that we’ve changed before we even realize it happened. Interested in a North Carolina mountain engagement, anniversary or family session of your own? Contact me to set up something deep in the mountains that you’ll truly remember!