One of the joys of being a photographer is capturing special moments for your family members! My younger sister and her husband are expecting a baby boy next month. In April, I traveled to Idaho Falls to take their maternity pictures (a to drink lots of soda. Because if you don't know, Idaho + Utah have the best soda shacks).
Being that it was still spring, some of the go-to locations in/near Idaho Falls (Tetons, Swan Valley, Island Park) were still covered in a decent amount of snow. Which I am ALWAYS up for adventuring in the snow — but that just wasn't the type of location these two were looking for. My sister and I asked around, read a lot of blog posts, and scoured Google Earth looking for the perfect location.
AND BOY DID WE FIND IT.
We found Arizona in Idaho
After speaking to a local photographer, we heard about this location. While driving, this desert-y spot comes out of nowhere! To be honest, we kept passing neighborhood after neighborhood, with the landscape looking nothing like the photos we had seen. But then all of a sudden, YOU ARRIVE. I seriously felt like I was in Arizona. When you pull off the road, there is a HUGE cliff that looks like the rock you might find in Arizona or Southern Utah. I am not sure what the plants surrounding us were called but, again, definitely looked like desert plants than Idaho plants.
We also completely lucked out with the magical weather. If you have ever been to Eastern Idaho, you know that the wind is a constant companion. And it was quite windy every day I was there. EXCEPT for the day of our session. Hallelujah! It was so warm and the sun was such a rich, tangerine orange and the air was completely still. We timed our arrival perfectly as the sun was starting to descend over the hills, creating the most brilliant saturated glow. My sister started out in a floral, flowy dress that really looked wonderful up against the scenery.
But I have to say, their outfit change was where the magic happened. Jeans and white tees, so classic.
A jean jacket moment ~
As golden hour faded into blue hour, the temperature began to drop. But we had yet to pull out the finishing touch — a perfectly oversized jean jacket. Watching my brother-in-law watch my sister during some of these solo photos was the sweetest. She was glowing and it was almost is if you could peak into the future for a moment and see all the joy that was soon to be. It was so special for me to witness and document.
Before we hopped back into the car, I noticed that the moon was out and bright and couldn't pass up trying to capture it in our final photos (see below). Even though it's only been a month since I was there, I am so eager to go back — because this time, they will have a perfect little bundle in their photos.
