Meet Josh and Jessica, a couple who has endured a long distance relationship for more than a year now. They met when Jessica attended college at UCSC and Josh lived locally with his family. Fast forward a few years and the relationship has bloomed to include family outings and tropical vacations, frequent flights to and from her [new] home base in Texas and Joshua’s home in Oregon.
She is on the executive track with HP and even her thoughts are well organized. Josh is a helicopter pilot with a free spirit and a smiley expression. The two love good food, good sake, and travel — oh, and Josh’s baby sister Dakotah!
This week, the pair reunited for a family holiday in Santa Cruz. We ordered perfect weather for their informal e-style session near the Crow’s Nest at Twin Lakes Beach.Seeing their expressions throughout the session, it was evident that this might be practice for an — ahem — different and more grand type of session in the future. No worries, and no pressure, Josh and Jessica!
Getting back to the shoot itself, we didn’t overly stylize it because we wanted to celebrate the local environment. Ever feel like there are a million people around but you are the only ones present? I’d imagine that this is how Josh and Jessica felt, as there were a million people around and they were the only ones featured. As a photographer, I am interested in isolating out the distracting elements; however, sometimes the distractions are part of the story. We saw people, extraneous railings, and aged driftwood throughout the beach and harbor.
Of course, to reinforce Josh’s willingness to engage in this shoot, we had to allow an occasional bite or two!
As the light changed, we just allowed it to do so; they gracefully pivoted around its dancing colors. This was the beauty of chasing the light; I loved the intimate moments between the two as the sun set. Looking back at the images now, I adore the couple’s sunset dancing and the light kisses.
Come home soon, Josh and Jessica!
So beautiful! I smiled through the entire post. Absolute LOVE.
love…..what amazing lighting!!!!!!
Absolutely love your work — you are so diverse and you did so much with the changing lighting. Beautiful and brilliant!