Adventure Engagement with Kaitlyn and Drew at Snow Lake

I first heard from Kaitlyn mid June. She reached out via email to talk about booking an adventure engagement in the mountains in Washington in October. Drew had his heart set on a hike up to Snow Lake in the fall and then a photoshoot with their two dogs. In 2020, Kaitlyn and Drew had to cancel their wedding due to Covid, so this photoshoot would be the beginning of a weekend celebration for them. Unfortunately, Snow Lake closed for trail maintenance while we were planning so we had to shift locations - but in a nice surprise, it opened back up a week before our hike and we were able to photograph there!

We decided to schedule the session on a Friday at the end of September, a day that both Kaitlyn and Drew could take off of work and it wouldn’t be full of weekend crowds. Just an hour outside of Seattle, Snow Lake is one of the most popular hikes in the state - and for good reason! It’s a moderate/hard hike the clocks in around 7.5 miles round trip with 1800 elevation gain. Being one of the most popular hikes in the state, it has been well funded and the trail is clearly marked and cleared. It would be a wonderful hike for a more beginner hiker that is in good shape.

Being a slower hiker and wanting to get to the top to scout and claim a good location, I decided to hike up by myself about an hour before Kaitlyn and Drew. We met up at the top around 3:45pm, right along the trail. Drew hiked up with a backpacking pack packed with Kaitlyn’s wedding dress, a suit for him as well as another change of clothes for them - I was beyond impressed! After some snacks for them and the dogs and a cool down time, Drew and Kaitlyn changed into their first outfits - the dress and a suit!

I spent the next 45 minutes photographing them around the lake in these outfits. Kaitlyn looked like a queen as the afternoon light shown through the mountains. Their two pups, Buddy and Ranger joined us on this adventure and were such a wonderful pair. Ranger was adopted a few months prior to our shoot and clearly looked up to his brother Buddy. They enjoyed running around, chasing each other and dipping their toes in the water during our session.

For outfit two, Kaitlyn and Drew chose something more casual and we headed down to the water! We had the space all to ourselves so we let the dogs off leash to enjoy some time in the water. By this time, they definitely knew me as my appointed dog photographer name, ‘the cookie lady,’ and wanted to take up all of the attention for photos. I got so many wonderful photos of them, plus how amazing are Buddy’s ears?? He’s pictured above. Just as we were shooting these, the sun dropped behind the mountains and lake grew still, creating a stunning reflection of the mountains on the water. If you were in Washington during the fall of 2022, you know how bizarre our weather was at the end of the year. We had wildfires blazing and incredibly warm weather which pushed back the fall colors - I mean it was 85 degrees in October! We ended up with a beautiful day though on this particular fall day which was such a blessing.

The day was amazing and remains to be one of my favorite work days of all time. Kaitlyn and Drew are such an awesome couple, I had so much fun them throughout the day. After we finished up the session down by the water, we decided to pack up and head down. As they dressed back into their hiking clothing, I turned to Ranger and said “Ok bud, I have a vision, let’s see if we can do it.” I led him over to the rocks and he posed for me with the mountains behind him. It remains to be one of my favorite dog photos of all time, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

The sun was beginning to set, which we had anticipated and planned to hike down in the dark. It was all of ours first hike in the dark and I think we all were definitely glad we were not alone! We made it down around 9pm in the pitch black with our headlights shining as bright as we could.

Thank you for trusting me with this project Kaitlyn and Drew. I look forward to photographing more adventures just like this one!