For so many reasons I appreciate this day more and more. Not just because it was in one of the most magical places on Earth, Olympic National Park, but because within these photos there’s so much that I learned about people and about love.
I’ve been friends with Farrah for almost as long as I’ve lived in Louisiana and she’s always been a creative, passionate and incredibly upbeat person. I remember the day we were painting in my room, years ago, where she was telling me about this guy named Drew, she was head over heels and knew that day that Drew was the person for her.
Fast forward several years later and I receive a text from Farrah asking me to document her and Drew. I was so thrilled, one because I would finally get an idea of this relationship Farrah has been raving on about for years, but also because Farrah and Drew never take photos together and have an incredibly private relationship.
Being a wedding photographer there are a lot of expectations to get these crazy incredible photos in these epic locations and it’s so easy to impose our idea of what love is onto people that we sometimes forget to take a step back and let people show us what their love is. This session showed me love in a new light and I feel incredibly grateful to have been trusted by Farrah and Drew enough for them to fly me out to Portland.
I decided to reach out to Farrah and Drew to ask them about what they remember about their time together and the feelings and moments that stood out to them the most, here’s what they shared:
“My absolute favorite parts of that day would have to include skipping rocks. It brought back a lot of childhood nostalgia for me and it’s a part of me that Drew didn’t really know about. That and climbing the tree stump! We both laughed at ourselves the next day because you really don’t realize how much harder that is to do as an adult! And climbing that stump is sort of how I see our relationship too. Sometimes adult life is a little difficult to navigate, but I really do love that we push each other to do our best at everything. There’s a lot of personal, kind of hard to explain, feelings too. A lot of the things we said to each other had mostly just been shown through actions, and there was something really magical and sort of defining about saying so much out loud. We say our love out loud a lot more now. And every time I do, I feel like I’m on the beach again, under this giant magical tree, being held by my best friend while I hum a song about pizza.”
Suggested viewing tip: ***Click Spotify or Youtube to open up Alt-J ‘Warm Foothills‘ while you scroll through (grab a glass of wine if you’re really milkin’ it)***
If this session got your adventure juices flowing be sure to take a peek at Sarah and Tim’s Haystack Rock Engagement Session.
