North Shore Engagement Portraits
Joannie and I are pleased to share Alex and Alyssa’s North Shore engagement portraits with you today. Alex and Alyssa were part of our 25th Annual North Shore Weekend for 2020 just last weekend!
Our future newlyweds on an old fire escape.
Weather-wise, this was one of the best weekends we’ve had in recent memory. Both days, we had pleasant temperatures, very light winds, and for the most part it was overcast (more on that to come), and even foggy at times too. It made for creating great images (almost) all weekend long.
A Spring 2021 Wedding Date
These guys will be getting married next spring at St. Phillip the Deacon with a reception at the beautiful Golden Valley Country Club. Once winter gets here, we’ll really be looking forward to the warmer weather returning along with their wedding day!
Dueling Sessions
In addition to Alex and Alyssa’s North Shore engagement photos, simultaneously, we photographed senior portraits for Josh. Josh is a 2021 senior at Hill Murray High School. We’ll be sharing his great senior photos down the road. We’ve had great success with our “dueling sessions” concept for the past several years. It allows us to cover a lot of ground with two clients at the same time. This year, we started out the weekend at the beautiful Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota.
We had one little wrinkle in the weather department and it happened at Glensheen on Saturday. About thirty minutes in, it started to sprinkle, followed by a pretty steady rain. It didn’t look like it was going to last, so we all stopped where we were and used one lone umbrella and our reflectors to try and stay dry. It kinda worked. Sorta. Not really.
Alex & Alyssa (like all of us) waiting for the rain to stop at Glensheen Mansion.
The small reflector that Joannie and I were under began to leak. So when the rain slowed up for a minute, we all headed for better cover inside the stable. After about a half-hour, the rain stopped (for the whole weekend), and the sun even came out! Then it was back to work.
Engagement Portraits on Lake Superior
After a whole bunch of fantastic photos all over the property, we departed Glensheen Mansion and headed up Highway 61 towards Two Harbors, MN. Josh’s parents, Andy & Josie, knew of an old wooden boathouse on the way, that would be our next photo stop. Having never been there, we followed them to the location. There it was, a well-weathered, wooden structure right on the pretty Lake Superior shoreline.
A pretty partial B&W photograph of Alex & Alyssa enjoying the pretty view.
We created some really pretty images there, including a few with a large ship off in the distance. From there we headed to Two Harbors, MN for some fun images in the business district, a late lunch at the local Irish Pub, and then some more cool photographs down by the iron ore docks.
Alex & Alyssa at the iron ore docks in Two Harbors.
Split Rock Lighthouse
Our final destination was to be Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. But on the way there, we made a real quick detour at Iona Beach. I’m talking real quick! Because of the rain delay and the unplanned (but really enjoyable) late lunch, we were running out of daylight. I asked everyone if the lighthouse photographs were important to them and everyone agreed that we should try to get them. So after just a couple of photos of Alex & Alyssa, as well as Josh, we hit the road once again to try and beat the darkness.
It was getting pretty dark but that didn’t stop us from getting the money shot at Split Rock!
It was pretty dark out, but using a tripod and one of our high powered strobes in a large 48″ softbox, we got some much-needed light for all three of them. Alex and Alyssa’s closing image says it all!
Alex & Alyssa (after sunset) at Split Rock Lighthouse.
Just One More Thing
We’ve put together a cute music video with some of our favorite North Shore engagement pictures from throughout Alex and Alyssa’s photo session. After watching, you might want to plan a trip “up north”. – M&J