Kaylee & Jordan’s Misty and Moody Ecola State Park Adventure Session on the Beach
I was so excited when Kaylee and Jordan reached out to me about an adventure session in Oregon, because we actually already knew each other! These two are originally from Iowa and had modeled for me before during one of my mentor sessions, and they had so much fun, they knew they eventually wanted to do a full session with me. When they got married, they asked me to photograph their wedding, but I wasn’t available for their date. They’re both in the Air Force, and they got stationed in Arizona after their wedding, so they moved away, and I wasn’t sure we’d ever get to do the session they wanted.
But wouldn’t you know it, when I posted on Instagram that I’d be shooting on the Oregon Coast, they were following along and they reached out to me immediately. They had always wanted to travel to the PNW, and they still wanted to so a session with me, so they thought an adventure session would be the perfect opportunity to finally visit Oregon! It COULDN’T have worked out more perfectly!
For their session, I knew I wanted to shoot at Ecola State Park, which is just a little north of Cannon Beach. Kyle and I went to scout locations at Ecola the day before, and the weather was gorgeous, sunny, and bright. We found the most EPIC spot that looked out on the coast with these incredible rock formations in the ocean off in the distance. Of course, the day of Kaylee and Jordan’s session actually ended up being the most typical PNW day - it was super cloudy and rain was in the forecast all day long. During the session, we were getting rained on the whole time, and the mist hovering around us made it feel like we were inside a cloud. I was SO thankful that Kyle and I had found all our photo spots the day before!
Kaylee wore a freakin’ GORGEOUS burgundy lace dress that was stunning against the foggy and misty beach backdrop. We climbed rocks, explored a little deeper into Ecola, and the tide was low so we got to go down on the beach and walk through the rock formations too. We saw starfish in the sand and you could just HEAR the mussels and clams hissing all over the rocks - it was the craziest thing! These two romped around on the beach, took off their shoes and got their feet wet running through the ocean, and Kaylee even got her dress all sandy and wet. Their session was definitely a TRUE adventure session. I would say, “Hey, would you do this?” and they would instantly say, “YES!”. I fall in love with couples who aren’t afraid to get down and dirty for their session EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. because when you’re not afraid to get a little messy, you have the most fun and your session ends up being the BEST.
It was so much fun getting to know Kaylee and Jordan a little more and to see their adventurous souls shine. They love to travel the world and lived for this epic photo session. Even though their wedding back home in Iowa was beautiful, Kaylee had always craved a little bit more adventure in her wedding, so she even brought her wedding dress along to the shoot to have some more photos taken in it! I wrote about the first half of our session in her wedding dress right here.
When Kaylee and Jordan’s session ended, it was getting dark. We looked up into the trees and there were these clouds rolling in that made the entire scene super moody, and I instantly wanted to come back to this beautiful place. I love the PNW so much, and the Cannon Beach area especially has my heart for life. I wish I lived there sometimes, but for now, I just can’t wait to go back and shoot more epic adventure sessions there!