Some sessions have a personal connection you don’t really expect going into them, and Sharon and Jackson’s engagement session at Lost Dutchman State Park was one of those for me.
We spent the evening exploring the desert around the Superstition Mountains, but what made this session especially meaningful to me had nothing to do with the location.
Sharon is a nurse who works with transplant patients, which obviously hits pretty close to home for me as a heart transplant recipient.
I still remember those days after my transplant. There were so many medications, moments where I was completely out of it and a lot of uncertainty about what recovery was going to look like. The nurses and healthcare workers who took care of me during that time became such a huge part of that experience.
So when I learned what Sharon does for a living, I immediately had such an appreciation for her and the work she does.
Getting to Know Sharon and Jackson
Of course, their engagement session wasn’t about transplants. It was about these two, their relationship and getting to spend some time together before their wedding.
And they made my job pretty easy.
Sharon and Jackson were so comfortable together. There was a lot of laughing, messing around and those little in between moments that I always love photographing. Nothing needed to feel overly posed or serious.
It was just the two of them being themselves.
Lost Dutchman is such a beautiful place for that kind of session because you get the desert, saguaros and those huge mountain views without needing much else. We could walk around, take our time and let the landscape be part of the photos without making the entire session about posing in front of a pretty backdrop.
That’s always what I want from an engagement session. Yes, we’re going to make some beautiful photos, but it’s also a chance for us to hang out and for you to get comfortable having me around with a camera before your wedding day.
For me, this one just happened to come with an extra connection that made getting to know Sharon even more meaningful.
I’m really grateful our paths crossed, and I loved getting to photograph this season for Sharon and Jackson.
