Back in November, my friends and I had planned an autumn photoshoot at the Big Tree, as a celebration of fall, nature, and majestic places. Obviously, that didn’t work out, and due to fire, we ended up going to a different park for our photos. The results were beautiful, but I still wanted to go back to that original idea.

It’s a good thing I live in a place where I can recreate fall photos in January, yeah? I mean, in all honesty, the leaves don’t even start changing color here until late November, and it rarely looks like picturesque autumn in town for more than a few days. So we were always going to have to put our own spin on the theme.

Unfortunately, due to timing and illnesses, only my friend Sarah was able to participate in the shoot. So in a way, this was completely new to me – the first time I did a shoot for an individual, giving them direction without them having other folks around to influence and shape the photos. Sarah did an amazing job, both in taking direction and in making suggestions, and we had a really fun morning together.

My former friend-photoshoots have been prop-heavy, but this time I wanted to keep it simple. I brought a bag of leaves (the same kind as the Big Tree sheds, so no worries about that!) and a handful of scarves that I recently took home from my late grandmother’s collection. Sarah brought a couple different sweaters and jackets to switch around, and then we took photos in different spots all around the tree. There were portraits and leaf-throwing shots and flowing scarves. We got a few shots together as well.

The whole morning was laid back and fun. After the shoot, we went to my favorite coffee shop, Mildfire Coffee, which is where I previously had that lovely interaction a few weeks back. Reneé, one of the two I mentioned from that former encounter, was working that day, and my dad and stepmom happened to be in the café at the same time. Some small-world moments that made the day extra awesome. Sarah and I got drinks and spent some time chatting afterwards, which honestly is the best part of doing all this with friends! As a side note, it makes me think back to 8-9 years ago, when my social support system was so very small and too many of my people were moving away (because I live in a military town, and that happens). I had no idea just how much my life would change when I first attended a hike hosted by a Meetup group just over three years ago.

Anyway. These photos came out gorgeous and I had so much fun editing them. It’s just what I pictured, without knowing exactly what I was picturing, when I first thought of this shoot last fall.