By Utah Wedding Photographers James Erick Photography Utah
The Winter Silverlake Engagement with Morgan & Tyler was so much fun, including standing on stumps, walking on logs, ice skating without ice skates, and a teeter totter. (we will get to that).
It has been a strange winter. Up to this point it had not snowed very much, so we had to go to a location that was as high up in the mountains as possible. Silver Lake, located at the base of the Brighton Ski Resort, has been on of my favorite winter shoot location for a long time.
There are many beautiful places in Utah to do a winter engagement session, but you must keep a few things in mind. First, and most important, it must be a place that you and your clients can actually get easily by driving. If you or your clients can’t get there, you don’t have a Shoot. You are already going to have to walk in the snow to each shoot spot you choose, so nobody is going to want to walk a long way to get to the location in the first place. Locations near ski resorts offer the best access as the roads will always be plowed.
Second, you have to know how much snow is at the location you are going to. I once did a bride & groom session up at Aspen Grove near the Sundance ski resort, and the snow was 3 feet deep, so I had to walk in front of my clients to make a path up the hill to a location I love to shoot in. It was rough walking a mile in three feet of snow!
Third, and maybe the most important issue with a winter photo shoot, is how safe is it? A few years ago, again at Sundance, I was walking with some clients in the snow in February when we started to hear wind rushing by us. Before we even knew what was going on, a heavy mist of snow surrounded us, and we found that we were extremely near an avalanche. It took about 5 minutes for the air to clear and for us to be able to see again. My clients were from Texas and though it was cool. I knew that we had missed serious injury or worse because the path was wiped out where we had been just 5 minutes earlier. So, if you are going to areas where there are steep mountains near you, beware.
Fourth (I know, this is getting long, but necessary), are your clients prepared for a winter shoot? I can’t tell you how many times clients have shown up with high heels or sockless slippers, or no jacket, and have ben literally freezing. I have had to end photoshoots for fear of freezing my clients. I wear ski pants and thermals and a heavy Jacket to all winter photo shoots where I know I will be in the snow. I never want to be the reason for a shoot to end early.
And last, what is the weather going to be like? If it is going to be socked in cloudy, you will have a white on white background, and that does not look great for pictures. Partly cloudy, great. Sunny, great. Snowing, pretty. Weather will play a big part in the outcome of the pictures.
But today we were at a safe location with not a lot of snow that was easy to get to and it was a beautiful day. It was not even that cold, about 40 degrees. And Morgan and Tyler were ready to play.
You might have noticed that there was a noticeable size difference between the two. Morgan is about 5 feet tall, and Tyler about 6 feet four. That made for a challenging but fun shoot. I had Morgan stand on a stump in a couple of pictures just for fun. And when we found a log that had been wedged between two trees, making it balance in the middle like a teeter-totter, it was game on for Morgan & Tyler.
The pictures above are just a very few of my favorites from the Winter Silverlake Engagement with Morgan & Tyler. Enjoy!
For more information on Winter Silverlake Engagement with Morgan & Tyler shoot location, please visit my Utah Photography Locations web page.
For more information about James Erick Photography Utah, please visit my website at JamesErickPhotographyUtah.com.
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