Bordered by steep bluffs with rugged Coastal Cypress angled and bent by relentless wind, Land’s End in San Francisco is a prime example of how a microclimate can shape the environment. The bluffs fall a few hundred feet to give way to sandy beaches that are punctuated by dark, giant boulders and jagged rock outcroppings. It is the coldest part of San Francisco and even when the interior of the city warms up in the summertime, this little northwest corner rarely climbs above 70 degrees. But man, is it beautiful there!
So when Meredith and Cory decided to make an adventure of their engagement session and hike through the trails and along the bluffs at Land’s End, I was pretty excited! It’s pretty cool how everything worked out, because, as it so happens, they’re getting married at the top of Crystal Mountain here in WA! Having lived in the Bay Area (including SF) for many years, I found myself back in familiar territory for this adventure. Fog had rolled in, creating a wonderfully soft light to work with. I have to say, I love the dreamy sense of isolation that fog creates. Everything far enough away becomes a part of that soft, gray shroud, and is therefore, in that moment inconsequential or nonexistent. There are no faraway distractions, no noise, no clutter in the distance to distract from that which is most important… All that exists is this beautiful couple on their sliver of coastline and beyond that, an infinite expanse of gray.
These two looked incredible!!! I loved Meredith’s vintage-inspired blue floral print sundress! While it wasn’t exactly sunny where we were, her dress looked absolutely incredible with her lovely red hair. We backpacked along the trails at Land’s End and I learned that Cory works for a drone company, which is interesting because I’ve been thinking about incorporating some drone footage, especially now that they are getting so good at flying themselves. And Meredith works for Kraft/Heinz – you know, the blue box Mac and Cheese that many of us grew up with (I sure did!) and the ketchup that I know I’ve probably had thousands of times too! Cool, huh! They both really love the mountains here in the Pacific Northwest and Mount Rainier especially, so Crystal Mountain makes the ideal place. At 7000 feet, the top of Crystal Mountain has the best view of Mount Rainier available and with their wedding in early August, the wildflowers should be in peak bloom up there! Yep, pretty excited about this one!
Congratulations Meredith and Cory! I had such an amazing time with both of you! And I have to mention that I even saw my first ever “influencer” gathering! I didn’t even know that was a thing! Just when we thought we’d have the whole beach to ourselves (there were not many people out on a Monday), we were ambushed by a hoard (well, ok it was more like a steady stream or herd) of Instagram influencers for some sort of new beverage in a can. They were wandering all over the bluffs, taking photographs of their hands holding a can of beverage with the beach and ocean in the background, using their phones. If I had known what it was at the time, I would have snapped some images of this motley assembly, but I was totally focusing on Meredith and Cory and was hoping that the herd would move along to pastures elsewhere so that we could get our shots. And, to be fair, they weren’t all doing this simultaneously or even really near each other. Plus, at the time, I really had no idea what was going on until it was over and Cory told me what that strange gathering actually was. OK I digress, suffice to say, this was an awesome session! Meredith and Cory – you both seriously rock!!! Enjoy a sneak peek at a few of the highlights!
