Spending the evening with Gracie and Pedro at Rowena Crest was so much fun! Pulling up to the overlook, the wind whipped my Jeep’s door so hard I thought it just might come off the hinges and I could hear Gracie shout “You weren’t kidding about the wind!”

Rowena Crest, like any viewpoint overlooking The Gorge is such a wonderful spot for epic portraits, but you can’t be shy of your hair whipping in that strong wind that is almost always present. When Gracie chose Rowena for her engagement session I warned her about this, but she ensured me that she and Pedro were up for it and boy were they!

Since the wind was showing up in a BIG way on this particular evening, we snuck over to one of my hide-away spots which is much more sheltered from the wind and provided a great spot to teach Gracie and Pedro some basics about posing. Gracie went all-out for this session and even sported a pair of heels for the first time in years, so I appreciated her willingness to climb up a fairly steep and uneven hill to get out of the whipping wind.

As Gracie and Pedro warmed up to being in front of the camera I learned some fun things about them, such as how Pedro is a master-chef when it comes to cooking meat, but that before Gracie came along he didn’t really know what a vegetable was. They also shared with me Pedro’s passion for dance which he is passing along to Gracie and it makes me excited for their reception at their wedding!

Our second spot for the evening was all about the golden glow as we pulled off the side of the road to an inconspicuous little field, bathed in the scattered light of the warm evening sun.

Gracie and Pedro were amazingly trustful of me, as I can imagine that when you come to such a gorgeous place like Rowena Crest and your photographer drives AWAY from the cliff-side views and pulls you over into a random side-field it would be tempting to cast a little doubt on that photographer’s sanity. It’s one of the things I love best about my couples however, that they trust me to see the light and create beautiful portraits of them, no matter the unlikely location those portraits might occur in!

After taking full advantage of the flowing beauty of Gracie’s long dress, we headed over to the preserve across from Rowena Crest to enjoy those precious last moments of golden hour as the sun faded behind the hills across The Gorge.

Gracie and Pedro are such a wonderful couple and I’m so excited for them and their wedding next July!

Drop them some love in the comments below to congratulate them on their engagement!