With temperatures forecasted to peak at 38 degrees, no snow on the ground outside, and most tourist locations closed for the holidays, I had quite an interesting time nailing down locations for this engagement shoot in advance of the session. Since the couple and I had originally discussed wanting to do a shoot in a school environment and at Bushkill Falls, I went to two middle schools and a high school trying to obtain access to school grounds with no luck. I also went to two different closed waterfalls, including Bushkill, before I found old Sherman Theater and Raymondskill Falls.

While waiting for Rachael and Steve at Starbucks on the date of our scheduled session, I noticed a cute shot opportunity. Although the location was not really scheduled as part of the day, as soon as they walked in, I asked them to sit down for a minute, and we snapped a couple of quick photos.

After signing their wedding contract, the three of us headed over to Sherman Theater, where I had previously obtained permission to shoot. We went up to the VIP box I had been shown by the attending the day before, and I lit the couple ever so delicately by bouncing my SB900 Flash off the half-ceiling environment. I love the feel this type of lighting ads to a shot.

I moved the couple over to a little table set up near a curtained area and saw the opportunity for a nice silhouette. I asked them to kiss a few times for this shot and move the rose toward or away from them as necessary to position it just so between them.

I also took some romantic shots with larger-surface bounce flash lighting off the ceiling, like this one.

When we were done at the theater, we braced ourselves for the cold and headed over to Raymondskill falls. I trailed behind the couple to get a natural shot of them walking together.

It was a slippery hike to the get down to the view of the falls, and once Rachael and I reached the bottom, I caught a candid moment where she was looking at me, and Steve was slipping on the ice in the background trying to get to us.

When we reached the bottom, we saw the fall was partly frozen and breathtaking. Steve even joked to “forget us, get pictures of that!” haha.

I let them have their moments at the bottom, while I watched and captured through my lens.

Rachael asked for a shot of the ring, and I had the perfect thing in mind…

We headed back up, but not without stopping for a cute shot on the way.

When I first met Rachael, she told me her and Steve were a very easy-going couple. She could not have described them better! They have been absolutely amazing and FUN to work with and their wedding day can’t get here soon enough! Congratulations you two!!!