This was, by far, the longest way I’ve gone for an engagement session. Over 20 hours, lots of movies in the plane, lots of snacks, little sleep, but I made it to a place I’ve always wanted to go to, Australia!

I met Sheena and Sebastian in Minnesota when they reached out about having me photograph their wedding in September. We hit it off right away, connecting on many levels. It was during that meeting I mentioned how fun it would be for them to have their engagement session in Australia, since that’s where they have lived for the past 9 years, and also where their love story began. They loved the idea, and hired me for the wedding, AND, to my surprise they also decided to bring me to Australia so I could do the engagement session there.

This is only part 1, or probably a 6 or 7 part series on my time there with them. These photos were taken a couple of hours from Brisbane (where they live), in Mooloolaba. I’m not sure you can tell, but it was raining the entire time we were shooting. Being we only had the weekend for photos, we went for it anyways, and I’m so glad we did. I love how the clouds look because of the rain, and absolutely LOVE the diffused lighting we got because of it too. I decided to move this session from sunset time to about 3pm, so the sun was strong behind the clouds. The lighting was stunning!

Although I had done beach seasons before, the mix between the rain, sand, wind, moisture; it all made me want to be extra careful with my camera, so I decided to shoot the entire session on my 35mm and not open the camera up to the elements at all. To be honest the more I shoot with the 35mm, the more it’s becoming my favorite lens. I toss between the 35, and the 50, but on this trip I shot almost exclusively with the 35mm. I did not use a camera casing, or rain gear, and also chose not to use a filter on my lens.

Stay tuned for a whole lot more sessions from this trip, including a woodsy/waterfall session, a Brisbane city session, more beach sessions, and an in-home session including the cutest kitty cat, Bella! Pretty proud to say I can now call myself a Brisbane Australia Engagement Photographer!