The second Sunday this Fall, I made my way to the Gardens at SIUE for a super fun portrait session with the gorgeous Kristin Abell. My favorite approach to portrait sessions is more of a photo walk where I design a walk through a particularly scenic part of a location and then we all just hang out, talk, and take photos. I feel like, when working with clients, a casual approach is more comfortable and when people are comfortable, photos turn out much better!

Luckily, we scheduled this session for 8:30 in the morning so that we could take advantage of the gorgeous morning lighting and it certainly did not disappoint! As a photographer that prefers to shoot without flash, the morning and evening golden hours are my go-tos for portraits because it flatters everyone in the most wonderful ways. 

We began our walk at the entrance and took that first left which led us to a gorgeous scene with a backless bench among tall pine trees. After taking a few photos here, we veered off the paved trail and onto a natural trail for an area closer to the pond with more pines and a very serene feel. We stopped here for a few different compositions before moving on to the other side of the pond for the rest of our photos. There are countless places to stop for photos at the gardens including bridges, overlooks, benches, and stairs and there are tons of different species of trees throughout the park so it provides a great number of backdrops for photos within a small space.

Kristin was so much fun to work with and we had a blast during our session! Though I typically only shoot in St. Charles County, I hope to return to the gardens again for more sessions because it is such a stunning location and we didn't even make a dent in it!