When Jenn of With This Ring contacted me about doing a bridal session and mentioned that she was open minded about where we could take them, I went a little crazy on her. I was throwing out suggestions for all of the places I dreamed of shooting in the Dallas area, crossing my fingers that she would be interested in making the long drive outside of Dallas to Sugar Ridge Road in Ennis. She was, and even suggested a second location in the area, Galaxy Drive-in Theatre.
Right before we turned onto Sugar Ridge we had to slow down on account of the cow hanging out in the middle of the road. I turned to Jenn and asked “Are you afraid of cows?” We attempted to chase him down and get him to pose with us, but he wasn’t feeling camera ready that day and scampered off before we could get close enough to do anything. Jenn turned back at me and smiled and, my camera went “click!” and this is what resulted. I love image that have a story behind them.
Sadly, most of the fields in the area have “No Trespassing” signs, but we stumbled on a few spots without them (or we didn’t look hard enough to find them.)
Jenn isn’t married yet, but this isn’t her real wedding dress (can you believe she bought it for $10 on Ebay?), so she was up for rolling around in the bluebonnets like I had hoped.
Look at those eyes!
I’m in love with huge old trees, and the combination of bride, bluebonnets, and tree still dead from winter (with a little bit of wind thrown in for good measure) had me swooning.
Jenn made this bouquet her self, the night before the shoot using grocery store flowers. Check out her tutorial on her blog for tips on how to make your own!
We were driving along Sugar Ridge Road when we spotted three beautiful horses next to a fence right by the road. Id didn’t know it at the time, but Jenn loves horses. In fact, her dream job would be to work with them!
Love love love this image. I think it’s the kind a little girl would get excited about. What little girl wouldn’t love to grow up and be a bride surrounded by her favorite animal?
A little self-portrait action?
There horses weren’t afraid to get up close and personal. We have one in back trying to push her off the fence, and another attempting to turn her dress into an early morning breakfast snack.
I love Jenn’s face upon realizing what the horse on the right was up to.
Attention hog (horse?)
We were headed over to the Galaxy Drive-in, thinking that we were done with the bluebonnet shots, when we spotted the most abundant field I have ever seen. Doesn’t it look like they go on forever?
As I was leaving the house that morning I grabbed an old book off the shelf just in case the opportunity to make this image in my minds eye come to life presented itself. If I were to hang it in a gallery I would title it “Floating in a Field of Bluebonnets”.
THAT SHOT!
Jenn is such a fantastic model. I love how relaxed her smile is.
One last unexpected stop before we made it to Galaxy, an old abandoned house on the side of the road. We saw sneakers, cigarettes, and a bible (random) on the property and became a little bit worried that some man was going to come lurching out of the shadows at us!
The Galaxy Theatre is a strange property filled with giant movie screens and amusement park odds and ends.
Swoon. I love this shot so much. A close second for THAT SHOT.
As we were strolling around the property the sun kept peeking out of the clouds (we hadn’t seen it all morning) and I would get overly excited and yell SUN! Except it would only show up for 2 seconds at a time, which meant that as soon as I got my camera ready, it was gone. Love this candid of Jenn checking the sky for the next break in the clouds.
See what the sun can do? So pretty!
This stand was the reason Jenn wanted to come to the Galaxy. I wasn’t really feeling the spot because of the amount of distracting elements around it, but when one of the workers started hanging around talking to us, and Jenn made a “This is kind of awkward” face, magic happened! The sun was shining down on her just right, and she really pops out of the photo.
We ended the session with a few quick ring shots (I had just received my macro lens attachment and I was really excited to test it out!). Isn’t her bling gorgeous?
Jenn, thanks for doing this marathon shoot with me. I don’t know about you, but I collapsed in bed as soon as I got home. You worked it like only a rockstar could, and I know I’ll be using these images all over the place for years to come because you (yes you!) make my work look A+++! I’m so excited to spend June 6th second shooting your wedding day, thanks for giving me the chance to spend some time with you beforehand. Only one more month to go!
Best,
Jenna
