“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. “ ― Rumi
While Princess and AJ always wanted a beach location for their engagement shoot, it only took one image of Glamis Sand Dunes for Princess to have a change of heart. She quickly fell in love with the whole desert feel and immediately DM’d me. I for one, have been wanting to shoot there also. So it didn’t take alot for her to convince me. In fact, she could have just texted me with a random image of the Glamis Sand Dunes with no explanation and I would have replied with an excited: “See you guys there.” With three heart emojis even. And I think she made the right call. Glamis Sand Dunes is 40 miles of golden sand. Sand as far as the eye can see. It definitely gives you the feeling of being in a totally different place. It’s surreal almost. Because when you think of California your brain automatically thinks of beautiful beaches and 70 degree weather, right? But not here. Here is where all expectations are subverted. For one thing ,we underestimated how unwavering the desert heat was. We started the shoot at 4pm and not even 15 minutes in, we were already sweating profusely and felt like we were melting on the inside. So we retreated back into the cool, air conditioned car and decided to wait until sundown to get back into the shoot. But one thing is for sure, despite the unforgiving environment, this place is beautiful.
So after 6 months of cancelled weddings and not shooting one single thing, I am really happy how Princess and AJ’s images turned out. Although I was feeling nervous and felt rusty in the beginning, their constant positive attitude spoke volumes to me. For me to say that Princess and AJ are “nice people” would be an understatement. They are the epitome of the cool, down-to-earth couple that I love working with. Just a beautiful couple, inside and out. And I mean that in every sense of the word. They never let any of the challenges of shooting in the desert affect them. Well maybe drinking wine during the shoot helped a little. But most of the time, people would start showing their true colors when they are stressed or frustrated. But not them. They were all smiles and were still willing to do whatever it took to get the shots. Which showed. Enjoy the photos!
