Vicki and TJ | Alamosa Engagement
Savannah Chandler Photography | Colorado Elopement Photographer
When I first spoke with Vicki and TJ, we were trying to decide on an amazing location for their Colorado engagement session. Somewhere a little different than where everyone else goes. When I mentioned that I’d be at my cabin in the San Luis valley the week they’d be in town, and that it was just a short drive away from the Sand Dunes – we knew we’d found the perfect location.
TJ had mentioned that he was interested in trying to get some Milky Way and/or star shots if the sky was clear enough. We talked about logistics – things like waiting for Blue Hour to conclude, the temps dropping, and crossing the river at night to get back to our cars. Night shots are quite a lot of work for just a few images – but those few are typically my personal favorites <3.
We met near the base of the Dunes, and headed up for some sunset photographs before the sun dipped below the horizon. We didn’t have the intense sun with shadow/light play that I’ve become accustomed to, but we did have some stunning softer light. There was a storm out to the West of us, hiding the sun and creating for some dramatic skies off in the distance.
Once the sun dipped, we picked out a Dune that we’d shoot on in the dark and waited for the stars to start popping out one by one. First, we could see satellites start to dart across the sky then slowly the dark night started to appear.
There’s an amazing app (shoutout to PhotoPills) that allows you to project what the night sky will look like on the terrain you’re at. We had seen that the Milky Way may start to hit the horizon over the mountains, and we got just the start of the galaxy before we wandered back to the cars in the middle of the night.
Thanks, Vicki and TJ, for adventuring out to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night for your adventure engagement session.
Cheers –
