{Chance + Ashley | Tucson Engagement Session | A Random Orchard off of the side of the I-10 | July 2012}

I hopped in the car, checked my gps to make sure I wasn’t seeing things–yup, i was meeting my couple about an hour away in a place I had never been. Admittedly, I was anxious. I typically like to be in charge of scouting out locations–making sure I know where light is going to hit, where things are, have my plan-of-attack all set up in my head… but I was taking a chance this time. An hour later I arrived at a Starbucks that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. The monsoon dreariness lay thick and threatened to spill out from pockets of darkness that mingled with other hopeful pockets of blue sky tinted with little flecks of gold–a tease of a sunset that made my little photographer’s heart whisper a quick prayer for something cool that evening. As we talked wedding details and downed a few preliminary glasses of triple-filtered water, Ashley explained that there was an orchard right off the freeway exit down the road. A what?!  Potential green stuff? No. Way. Skeptical, I carpooled with C + A over to this perfect little oasis and I ate my heart out. I. LOVE. GREEN. I aimed to keep poses casual and natural–to really fit the chill personalities of the two engaged. On a side note, speaking of eating hearts out, all mosquitos available in a 100 mile radius must have received the same memo that there was a pocket of lushness waiting right off of I-10. It’s been a week since the shoot and you could still play ‘connect the dots’ on my legs with the remnants of the darn bugger’s thankless feasting. Chance & Ashley bore down and delivered some wonderful snapshots of tender lovin’ despite the bugs. Even when I found myself standing  in a  red ant nest while snagging that last set of images over looking the nearby quarry,  C + A graciously let me go into an intense ‘excuse me i’m going to silently freak out and try not to cry’ zone for a minute as  i stripped off sandals and swat the crap out of my feet. Oh the things we do for a good shot. I’ve got battle wounds from this session…but now that i get to share a few highlights, i’m feeling much better thanks. :D | lkm