No matter where a session takes place, locations are always chosen based on what they have to provide. Garden of the Gods in southern Illinois provides some pretty breathtaking scenic backdrops for pictures. I’ve been to southern Illinois plenty and every time I’m down that way, it continues to blow my mind that scenery such as this is available in Illinois. Being located in central Illinois, things are pretty flat and it just doesn’t seem possible that something like Garden of the Gods can exist in Illinois. Tia and Jed reached out wanting to do something a little scenic with their engagement pictures and also incorporate their horses too. The day of the session was an interesting one. On my way down, I had storms on both sides of the interstate, it was pretty wild because it was a sunny drive for me, but I could see dark clouds all around me. Fortunately, those rain clouds stayed away from Garden of the Gods at least for most of the session. As we wrapped up the session with their horses, this is where things got pretty cool. A large storm cell was forming close by and the clouds were so high that the sun was reflecting off of the cloud and on to Tia and Jed. The reflection of light was so bright I actually turned around at one time thinking maybe a truck and trailer had pulled up causing this reflection because it was bright. You’ll notice how Tia and Jed almost appear to be glowing, this is why. It made for some pretty magical pictures and it made for a pretty unique situation because you can’t plan on something like that to happen. As Bob Ross would say, it was a happy little accident that turned into a work of art. 😉
