Adventure with Rachel & Nate!

For some reason, we had to jump over several hurdles last evening to accomplish this shoot! We were scheduled to meet at 7:45 at the Rose Gardens, but traffic WAS CRAZY and once I arrived I saw there were THOUSANDS of people swarming MY favorite photo op locations within the park. How dare they??? The gall! What's going on? I rolled down my car window while waiting for the cute couple Nate and Rachel and heard angelic vibrato. Apparently "Opera In the Park" was going on. A most lovely sound, but BAD TIMING for me (and it's all about me, right?). Anyway, when Rachel and Nate arrived we decided to scrap the Rose Garden venue and head up to another of my favorite haunts, Pitock Mansion. Ya know, the beautiful location less than two miles from the Rose Gardens! So off we went. Of course there was ALL KINDS of construction on Burnside AND a pack of runners to patiently wait for, so it took us nearly 15 to minutes to get up there. What the heck?! And by this time the precious light was fading - oh no! I love to shoot the 30 minutes prior to sunset, but with all of these delays we were pushin' the available light big time! We FINALLY get to the mansion and wouldn't you know it, the parking lot was uncharacteristically full. WHAT? Turns out there was a business alliance meeting and people were swarming this venue as well! Yikes! We went ahead and shot around them and actually talked to several nice folks. Only had about 10 minutes of adequate light for the shoot and that was at the highest ISO/widest aperture so as to avoid using flash (I'm not a huge fan of flash, much prefer natural light). I was worried, but once I saw the images, rested easier. They are so adorable and photogenic! Our adventure paid off!! Nate and Rachel, thanks for the fun times! You two are great - can't wait to capture your wedding in a few short weeks! Enjoy your slideshow: http://www.katiejervis.com/slideshows/FfolliottEng/