Talk about a great overview of how diverse Austin can be!

I had heard about Jacob’s Well being such a great natural spot to venture towards- but like many great spots in and around Austin- I still hadn’t been.

That is the amazing and at times overwhelming thing about Austin. New things are popping up like crazy, I work weekends, and even when I do get out- it’s so nice to simply pop over to my familiar spots where the people know my name… or at least my drink order.

*(thanks, Cheers, for letting me know I’m not alone in that feeling.)

But the last time I tried to head to Jacob’s Well for an engagement session- it was CLOSED right when we were driving up! *(there were two conflicting times on the internet for similar spots, easy to get confused) Even then- we ended up at Wimberley Valley winery, so it was no real loss there.

When I mentioned the strict closing times to Mena & Steve- they said no problem! Steve is in law enforcement and was able to get us extra time that we needed to wrap up as the park closed.

YES, PLEASE.

This is exactly why I’m sure I should never be a person with power. The fact that someone else could keep a place open was so exciting- I just know if I were any type of famous person I would be using it constantly for ridiculous things. Like the ability to keep the kitchens at my favorite places open later just for me.

Really.

I dream big, people. I’d use power to eat food.

Back to reality, where The Driskill closes their kitchen at 10 pm, and I typically want to place an order around 10:05 while I’m editing.

But my dreams as a photographer come true in the form of couples like this- who don’t cancel when it’s supposed to be raining all day for their engagement session. I know it’s risky, but to me it’s always been worth it to keep your portrait session exactly when it’s meant to be.

*(This being said from someone who has actually shot a wedding during Hurricane Harvey, if you’d like to see it just click on over, I’ll wait).

Okay, so you see things can be great- regardless of weather, right?? 

Hiking the small trail down to Jacob’s Well made it onto my Instagram stories- because I actually got STUCK going down one of the routes to get to the well. Like, hips-wedged-thought-I-would-have-to-call-this-future-bride-and-groom-and-have-them-kick-me-to-the-bottom-of-the-trail type of stuck.

Let me just tell you- by the time we met up, we were the ONLY people there! How rare is that anywhere around here? Alone. Then I look out to the water, and there it is: fog. Beautiful fog just rolling over the top of the well, begging to be picked up with some great lighting.

I had brought all my Magnetmod gear down the trail and I’m so glad I did… Y’all probably know by now how much I appreciate lighter gear by now so I’m sure you’re not shocked.

Now- having two entire locations to be able to take engagement photos would probably take me days to really tell you about… and I think everyone should try it.

I’ll try to narrow it down for part two.

We met over at the 360 Bridge Overlook *(Pennybacker Bridge) and hiked up to views of the Colorado River in all it’s glory. We weren’t as lucky with the amount of people that were there, but we did have the groom-to-be’s brother in town who is basically a mountain goat.

You might think that’s not a compliment, but I don’t know what else can hop along the side of a mountain without falling. Except a goat wouldn’t also be holding my flashes and angling them for us wherever we needed, still managing not to fall.

Not only did we get to shift around as the sunset, they hung out with me while the city lights popped up through the dark across the water, and the car headlights created a little extra glow just for us.

At that point we were alone.

Hopefully you love all of these as much as I do- so leave a note right here on the blog and let them know what your favorite photo is!

Congrats to Mena & Steve! Can’t wait to shoot the big days of your wedding!

…and on to the 360 Overlook.