This photo shoot was my first at Tibble Fork Reservoir in American Fork Canyon. Autumn comes earlier to the mountains and it slowly creeps to the valley floor. So chasing autumn leaves can easily start in early September.
Mickey and Erica wants family portraits with their son and their 4 dogs. This meant finding a location that allows dogs on or off the leash. Some canyons are watershed areas, meaning the water is considered drinkable and it’s protected.
They wanted mountains, autumn leaves, and water. Tibble Fork Reservoir worked perfectly. We had the reservoir and we found a creek for the water. And we had a variety of trees and mountains to work with.
People may not care about a photographer’s gear, just the photographer, but my lighting kit is my pride and joy for creating amazing portraits of people. Do I need the light? Yes! Can I photograph without the light? Also, yes! But I love using the tools at my disposal.
It’s a behind the scenes photo with my portable lighting setup. This is one of my many secrets to awesome photos.
While everyone was changing outfits, I grabbed this photo of the sun setting over the Wasatch front. What a beautiful light! And the client can have it for a keepsake.
And we used that perfect sunset as a background as well!
We had to be patient, these trees where quite popular with other photographers and their respective families. Once they were available we ran over and made the most of our time.
Autumn is perhaps the most popular time of the year for family photos. It’s no wonder due to the color of the trees and leaves. Any time of the year can work for photos, even winter. But autumn does have a bit of magic. September is usually the start and we can usually find autumn leaves even to November. It depends on how much rain we have in the summer.
Here’s that creek I mentioned. I try to get the main family and then the parents together and then the individual photos. We can do any combination you want.
The nice thing about this location is we can turn 90º and we have a completely new background. The next series of photos was shot in one spot and we would just turn. North, east, south, and west. It all worked.
We’ve almost wrapped up the photos. One photos is my light stand acting as a clothing rack. Always handy for a change of clothes… bring as many outfits as you want.
The other photos is the obligatory covid-19 mask photo. Very colorful!
Last Photo
I always keep my camera out till I am in the car and driving away. We had wrapped up shooting when Mickey asked for one more photo with their son.
Always be ready for more photos!
Thanks for checking out the blog post! I always get on a hot streak and blog for a few days and then I get busy. Hopefully, I can keep up posting more photos. I have so many portrait sessions, weddings, and even commercial work I need to share.
So let me know if you have questions or want your own photo shoot!
