I didn’t know if this session was actually going to happen.  My clients and I had decided to take these maternity photos at sunset at West Medicine Lake Park in Plymouth, MN.  We chose this location because it’s a gorgeous park with many, many features and little places I love to place my clients so it doesn’t feel like we’re in the middle of a big city.  With tall grasses, ponds, trees, and little bridges here and there, it’s a perfect location.

We planned to meet roughly an hour and a half before sunset when the light is a beautiful warm golden color.  This is why we photographers call this the “golden hour”.  It’s the ultimate soft light for photography.

I’m very familiar with this park and it’s location because I live just a few minutes north of this park and use this park quite often for photo shoots.  My client, however, had recently moved to the area and weren’t as familiar.  It can be a bit confusing for those coming off the highway as there is a road called Medicine Lake Road.  One would think you could easily access this park via this road, but unfortunately you can’t.  After becoming a little lost, I got a call saying they were running late and needed directions to the park from where they were at.  I was able to keep them on the phone and get them there, but it ended up being about 45 minutes after our originally planned start time.

As the sun began to sink below the tree line, I was in fear we had lost our window and wouldn’t have much time in getting these photos done.  We did lose the warm, golden light, but we still manged to get some of the most gorgeous maternity photos I’ve taken to date using every last bit of light available as we shot until until dark.  Luckily my camera is capable of shooting in very low light conditions, so cranking up my ISO is what I did and on we went.

A few weeks later their baby boy was born and his newborn photos were scheduled.  I can’t wait to share those with you, as well.  That blog post will be coming soon!