Photographing in the Painted Hills of Central Oregon has been a goal of mine ever since Dom and I visited this stunning geological site in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument four years ago. At the time, Dom’s dad and brother were visiting from overseas and The Painted Hills was part of our huge tour of Oregon we’d planned.

This site is just breathtaking. The site itself dated back from 35 million years ago when this area was an ancient river floodplain. The famous colored bands that give this area its name are from changes in climate that occurred as the different soils were distributed through time.

When the climate changed to become more tropical, reddish and yellowish layers formed from the different soils rich in iron and aluminum. The bands of red were from a more tropical period while the yellows are from a drier and cooler time. The darker, black colors came from vegetation that grew along the floodplain.

This site is really one of the natural wonders of Oregon and if you haven’t adventured around here, put it on your list! At a 3-4 hour drive from Portland, it’s the perfect site for a weekend getaway and can be combined with exploring the fossils and other cool sites in the National Monument.

For this long-awaited adventure session, Taylor and Joshua were game for starting at sunrise which meant that we had the hills practically to ourselves!

Driving out to Redmond the night before, Dom and I spent the evening with a Kate Holt Photography Couple who had their wedding a few years back and now have an adorable little son who we love to visit whenever we’re in the Bend area.

Taylor and Josh chose to stay at a hotel in Prineville, celebrating Joshua’s birthday and getting all the last-minute essentials for their engagement session.

Dom and I met Taylor and Josh through our bi-annual Engagement Session giveaway and we’d been e-mailing back and forth with outfit styling ideas and just general excitement about this stunning setting to celebrate their engagement.

Waking up at 5:30am, Dom and I hit the road and after stopping for the obligatory coffee and breakfast burrito we drove straight to the Painted Hills Overlook.

The sun was just about to crest the hill and I had a moment of panic when I thought I might have mis-timed the session start time, as the morning light began to fill the valley 30minutes prior to when Taylor and Josh were supposed to arrive.

One of the beautiful things about planning a fall engagement session however, is that even in a super-sunny high-desert environment like Central Oregon, the chances of having a slightly cloudy horizon in the early morning is quite high. Breathing a sigh of relief as I saw some clouds move in to give off that breathtaking sunrise glow, Taylor and Joshua pulled up and hopped out of their car, ready to jump in front of the camera with an enthusiasm that I just loved!

We ran over to the side of the overlook and just launched right into it! Taylor herself has a background in modeling so she was a natural in front of the camera, and Joshua is just one of the nicest people you ever could hope to meet with a smile that radiates the whole environment around him so within minutes of starting we were creating magic!

Taylor and Joshua’s engagement session just seemed to continue to go from good to great to impossibly amazing as the light fluctuated from soft to direct and offered everything you could ever hope to have in a portrait session from golden glow to bright contrast and of course that stunning lens flare that had Dom and I swooning over what we were seeing from the back of the camera!

Not only was the setting of this incredible session just out of this world, but Taylor and Joshua were also just the most incredible people to work with and I found myself thanking my lucky stars that they were one of the lucky couples to win our engagement session contest.

Taylor is, of course, absolutely stunning, but she also has this total tom-boy personality that had her walking barefoot across gravel and completely impervious to the morning chill. Josh and Dom hit it off immediately, bonding over a shared love of winter sports while I took the time to snap a few solo portraits of Taylor and her stunning engagement ring.

Taylor and Josh also have one of THE coolest engagement stories Dom and I have every heard! Joshua really wanted to plan something special, as he and Taylor had been dating for a while and although they both knew almost from the first moment that this was their forever relationship, they both were quite young when they started dating so it just made sense to wait a little to move toward marriage.

For his proposal, Joshua made a special reservation at a wildlife center and asked Taylor’s good friend to tag along to also take photos. As part of the day, Josh had set up a private meeting with the wildlife center’s rescue Cheetah where he and Taylor were able to get up close and personal to this stunning cheetah. At just the perfect moment as Taylor was enraptured with seeing such a rare and gorgeous animal up close, Joshua got down on one knee and proposed. Josh showed Dom and I photos on his phone and a little slideshow Taylor had put together of the event as photographed by their friend.

What an amazing story right?! Joshua definitely scored a perfect ten with that fantastic proposal!

Taylor and Joshua are planning their wedding for next summer and Dom and I couldn’t be happier for this fun-loving and wonderful couple!

Check out some images from Joshua and Taylor’s gorgeous Sunrise Adventure Engagement Session in the Painted Hills below and be sure to leave a comment of congrats for them in the section below the photos!