Fleeting Time & Wonder: An Appalachian Mountain Engagement Session
Kendel and Josh have a way of finding joy in the simpler trappings of life, in quiet reflective, in silly moments together, and in the small moments of mundane. It was beautiful to be in the presence of that energy.
Maybe that’s why choosing a location for your engagement photos can feel so freeing. You don’t have to choose somewhere simply because it looks beautiful. Think about the places that already feel like you, places that represent your interests and personalities. Carver’s Gap was that place for them. Located just on the border of Western North Carolina and Tennessee, the landscape does all the talking.. and does it well. Accompanied by the morning fog, being out there felt quiet, inquisitive, and just right.
I remember asking them during planning, “How would you describe your relationship?” They answered: fun first, filled with laughter and lightheartedness, perpetually on the same wavelength; like best friends who somehow became family. And that’s exactly how their connection found its way into their engagement session, along with the little pieces they wanted to weave into their story:
a typewriter for the story they’re writing together,
a small antique clock for the passing of time and its beautiful uncertainty,
a briefcase for the journey they’re on and continue on,
packs of matches for the passion they share, and for both being fire signs.
It really adds another layer to the photographs when couples bring pieces of themselves into a session. These things become more than props. They become the story you’re writing, the road still unfolding ahead. It becomes less about a “photoshoot” and more about the feeling underneath it all.
When you look back at your photographs, how do you want them to feel? Lived in. A true reflection of who you were, what you loved, and how it felt to be together in that season of life.
As a photographer and a lover, I’m learning the most important things aren’t the perfect poses or having every detail figured out, but more so that you laughed, had fun, and made each other smile, like really smile.
And, of course, how could we forget the polaroids!
These are the kind of sessions I live for. The wandering, the laughter, the effortlessness. If this spoke to you, let’s capture your love in a way that feels true to the two of you, too.
