Latourell Falls Engagement Shoot

Let me start by saying that I normally don't photograph couples. I used to but now primarily focus on the motherhood experience - maternity, newborn, breastfeeding, and family sessions. But when my long-time friend, Wendy, from Oklahoma messaged me saying she was eloping with her fiance in the Portland area and they wanted me to be their photographer in the Columbia River Gorge next to a waterfall, how could I refuse?

I immediately said um. YES PLEASE! And on we went! We started at Rooster Rock State Park, but the water level was still too high this time of year to make it down to the riverfront with clean shoes, so we immediately headed to Latourell Falls in the Columbia River Gorge - a perfect location for a photoshoot because it's not a long walk or difficult, not too many people for a cloudy Monday evening, and you can walk right up to the waterfall for amazing and dramatic photos.

I first met Wendy at a music get-together at a mutual friend's house in Tennessee. She plays the mountain dulcimer, as did I back in the day, hence the mutual friends! She is a beautiful woman inside and out. Her story is remarkable - both she and her fiance have been through an incredible amount of hardship before meeting one another and bonded over a similar understanding of loss mixed with optimism and hope.

Not too long after they met, Wendy had a stroke caused by a brain clot, resulting in a loss in the ability to walk, talk or remember things. Her daughter, a nurse, took her in for a year to literally get her back on her feet. Garrett, her fiance, was living in another state at the time but dropped everything to come and help as well.

He took her out on short walks, requiring hiking sticks and are in these photos as a reminder of just how far she's come since her medical emergency in 2021. Their bond is unmatched and I am so happy they found each other and I felt so honored to capture their story.