A few times a year, the weather just throws us a good, old fashioned curveball. Forecasting is notoriously difficult in this part of the world, and sometimes, despite all our research, weird weather just happens. According to the weather, there were forecasted to be light, possible chance snow showers happening at the top of this mountain lake hike.
Just to clue you all in: it was definitely not snowing when we got there. Instead: it was freezing, torrential rain. Like, everywhere. At a steady pace. For hours and hours. It soaked aaaaalll of us.
This engagement session most definitely won the Forthright Photo award for rainiest, coldest shoot of the year (mostly because 38 degree rain just seeps into *everything* and somehow is way worse than just regular snow, in my opinion??). The rain got through all our waterproof bags, into our camera gear (shout out to Nikon for weatherproofing the snot out of all their gear, they aren't kidding around!), and through all our coats and many layers.
Luckily, some hot apple cider, handwarmers, a few umbrellas, and these two being *incredibly* good sports about the unpredictable nature of the PNW all went a long way into making this a super fun session, despite the challenge of shooting in a downpour. We were able to get some really unique shots because of the rain, and I was so happy we were able to capture the magic that is the Pacific Northwest on a rainy, moody day. My camera did actually seize up at one point and quit working for like, 15-20 minutes from how wet it got, but that's why we always carry a backup camera body!
After sticking it out at the top of the lake for as long as we could, we basically ran our way back down to our cars at the trailhead to warm up and dry off a little. Just before we lost the last of the evening light, we headed out to a gorgeous little river-side spot off the highway for a few last portraits.
I said it once, but it bears repeating: Sara & Kyle were such rockstars this whole shoot. They were super sweet, incredibly flexible, and embraced the crazy weather with open arms (in short: every adventure photographer's dream clients), and we cannot wait to hang out with them again at their wedding this coming year.
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