I headed out to the desert this past weekend for a Joshua Tree engagement shoot. Joshua Tree is quickly becoming my new favorite place to take photos and with its immense landscape and building sized boulders it’s hard not to fall in love with this beautifully complex environment. I headed out a day before I met with Yazmin + Kevin so that I could do some scouting of the park and capture some early morning landscape shots. One of my favorite things about shooting here is that we have no restrictions as far as where we can shoot so best believe I have my clients scaling boulders for some of our shots together.

Yazmin + Kevin’s shoot was everything I was hoping it would be. It was a perfect blend of epic scenery, belly laughs, sarcasm, and a kickass couple that was open to all of my ideas and suggestions. The two of them even brought props with them for the shoot. If there’s one thing you should know about me and my photography is that I LOVE props. Even one little additional item in a photo can transform the image from good to spectacular. So while Yazmin got comfortable on a blanket her mother made for her Kevin serenaded her with a little classical guitar.

We started the shoot out in the Cholla Cactus Gardens. The first time I came to JT I heard about this location only in the last few minutes of daylight and it was nighttime by the time we arrived. This time around we made it a point for this to be our first spot. Usually I’m running around the day of the shoot looking for different angles and locations but today I had to be really careful not to get any cactus burs in my backside. Afterwards we spent our time chasing light, scaling boulders and sharing stories.

Working with my couples in such incredible locations is always a thrill for me, and Yazmin + Kevin’s shoot was no exception. I had the most fun with these two and I cannot wait for their wedding later this year!