Couple at sunrise Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Wedding Anniversary Photos

In love at Grand Canyon

South Rim Pinyon Junipers on the canyon edge

Grandeur Point Grand Canyon

Sunrise kiss

sunrise in love at the South Rim

Wedding ring photo Grand Canyon

Cuddled in love at Grand Canyon

Couples Photography Arizona

Grand Canyon Wedding Ring

I often schedule my portrait sessions for sunset at Grand Canyon. Though sunrise is always an available time for a photo session, it seems less people are morning people and many more prefer a sunset shoot. Because its important to me to shoot with natural light, this meant asking the couple to arrive ten minutes before sunrise. Sunrise photo sessions work well only if the light is light and mellow. Once the sun breaks over the horizon line at Grand Canyon the light can be quite harsh rather quickly and in the high desert, there really isn’t anyway to diffuse the light with limited vegetation.

Because sunrise is earlier and earlier in the summer months, I decided to choose a location closer to the village area, where as I usually take my photos on the east side of the canyon for sunsets. I chose Yavapai Point in particular because its a prominent viewpoint on the South Rim that has many beautiful trees and also bare rock. Grandeur Point is just a short walk from the Geology Museum and is also a permitted spot for weddings at Grand Canyon. We walked around Yavapai Point for all of these early morning shots. We were very lucky as there were some clouds that softened the sun and created a pink glow. We even had some clouds after the sun popped over the rim that allowed us to shoot a bit longer in the nice diffused light that they created.

I usually need to think quick and be creative in working with natural light. I pick locations and viewpoints that stick further into the canyon so that I have more opportunities to work with the lighting that is available. Its really fun to have to be resourceful and creative in taking these natural light photo sessions. Everyday is different at the Grand Canyon and the canyon never looks the same twice.

family photo at Grand Canyon

children photographer Arizona

Arizona Family photographer

Flagstaff family photographer

Grand Canyon photo

Grand Canyon Family Photos – Local Family Goodbye South Rim

These guys have been with Grand Canyon a while and its hard to imagine them not here. Robyn and Mark met at Grand Canyon and little Marshall has only ever lived here. Many people come and go from the Grand Canyon community but we will surely miss these guys.

Grand Canyon family photography is dear to me and especially photographing the families that I know. When I worked in a studio, I worked in a vert kid-centric place and am super well trained in what kinds of things make kids of different ages react and smile. It’s not always easy but getting Marshall to smile has never been difficult. In fact, he’s an ear-to-ear smiler but on this particular night, the windy was gusty and incredibly strong. I think he was a little stunned by it but I’m still glad that we were able to get these photos out there off Desert View Drive.

We met at Lipan Point, a favorite of mine and we took photos along the rim, I had thought that maybe we could include more than one viewpoint but it was crazy in the wind and little Marshall was tired but I’m still really glad that we could get all of these amazing family photos at sunset at the South Rim,

Dogs are allowed everywhere, above the rim, and on leash at Grand Canyon National Park and it was nice that we were able to include their dog in the family photo. Knowing how my own would be, I couldn’t imagine it but theirs was rather easy going. It was nice to spend the sunset all together including the dog on one of the last days that this family would call Grand Canyon home and they will surely be missed from this place.

sunset Grand Canyon shot

Grand Canyon kiss photo

Engagement photo at Grand Canyon

South Rim Potrait

Grand Canyon East Rim

Desert View Drive Portrait

Engagement Ring Grand Canyon

Lipan Point Below the Rim Grand Canypn

Desert View Drive

Grand Canyon Kiss

In love at Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Engagement Proposal

Engagement Photos East Rim Grand Canyon National Park

It was so fun to meet an adventurous couple like Aundrea and Blake. Originally we even thought about trying to take some rock climbing photos but I decided that the variables were too great to risk the portrait session so we decided on Lipan Point on the east rim of the Grand Canyon for this engagement photo session.

Its getting harder and harder to get away from the crowds at Grand Canyon but we were able to get a few really amazing photos above and slightly below the rim. We worked with a bit harsher light and we were lucky to get a little bit of clouds. Clouds help improve the quality of light. Light at Grand Canyon can often be harsh if you cant diffuse it. I try to look to the natural landscape for what I need and also “seeing” the available light and shooting in the harshness that can exist here.

It was fun to look to the landscape for different posing ideas. Coming from a lot of studio experience, I am always looking to let poses become more genuine and natural, life like. I am always proud and happy to understand posing enough to move the pose in the light so that it works as well as it can in the available light field. I can’t imagine working without this well seasoned posing experience.

I do remember an amazing workshop that I took from Cliff Mautner, what feels like a million years ago. And I love knowing that I can “see” the light wherever I am. I love being freed from large cumbersome lighting equipment and showing what it really is like to be there, where I am, instead of creating an ideal lighting environment. I feel free to be creative and authentic in my approach.

Trent and Christy on a bench at Off the Beaten Path Wedding Venue

Wedding Photography – Arizona

Terri Attridge- Wedding Photography

Wedding Ring Photo- Arizona Photographer

Love photo- holding hands

Married at last – Arizona

The toast at this Arizona Wedding

Her “something blue and not new”

Christy after she put her wedding dress on

The groons dada putting the buttoner on the brides dad

Getting Married in Arizona

First Dance – AZ wedding

Baby at the wedding

Getting ready to be married in AX

Grandma and Grandson at Arizona Wedding

Bride and her father

Father of the Bride takes her down the aisle

Preacher smiling – wedding

young ring bearer

Brides Maids- Cottonwood AZ wedding

wedding guests

about to be mr. and mrs.

Bridesmaid in awe

Laughing it up at the alter – almost married

Mr. and Mrs. Finally married

married couple in love

signing the mariage cert

family pics

family wedding photos arizona

Arizona Wedding Photography – Cottonwood, Rimrock, Prescott

Living and working up at Grand Canyon, the weddings are considerably smaller and often less people than you could count on your hand. I was thrilled when Christy called me about this “small” wedding. It was fun to snap back into action in order to capture such a big event as a solo photographer. It was quite a long day for me but the families were so welcoming that I felt like, I too, was a part of this big day and wedding celebration.

I first met Christy’s sister right outside of Chocolate Blond Salon in super cute oldtown Cottonwood. I forgot how cool Arizona is and this wedding really reminded me. Chocolate Blond was amazing at getting the girls hair and makeup ready. Everyone was really nice and I hope to work with them on another Arizona Wedding in the future. After taking a few “getting ready photos” I moved on to the wedding location to find the groom and groomsmen.

Christy and Trent decided to get married in the most beautiful location, Off the Beaten Path in Rimrock Arizona. As I drove down the dirt road to this place I had never seen I was a little bit interested to see where I would end up. The lanscape that I was driving through was brown and dry but then I came upon this place.

Off the Beaten Path was like a little oasis in the desert, it was so green and full of large shady cottonwood trees and flowers of all kinds in full bloom. All around the property were neat little benches and rustic decorations. It was the perfect place for a natural light photographer like myself as there was plenty of interesting lighting options. As the sun went down over this Arizona Wedding the garden lit up with tons of little fairy light and it was a magical place to be.

red rock scenery in Page Arizona

Native American traditional dress Lake Powell Portrait

Lake Powell portrait

Lake Powell Arizona Photographer

Lake Powell Marina Photo

Red rock texture Northern Arizona Portrait

Native American Hopi Navajo Portrait Grand Canyon

Portraits at Lake Powell Page Arizona – Photography by Terri

It was so much fun to go to Lake Powell in Page Arizona in search of some red rock scenery for portfolio portrait photography.  Earlier that day,  I went out to Page with a friend from Flagstaff and we took photos along the way on highway 8, by the time we arrived in Page it was only just after 10am but very hot already. I would get sweaty just getting in an out of the car.

I wasn’t expecting such a drastic temperature increase this quickly and this early in Northern Arizona, but it felt like summer. Initially when I’d planned Kaylynn’s photoshoot, I thought it would be cooler and envisioned a few different locations. In the end I decided that the nature of these photos are even more centered on Kaylnn than the landscape. These images are meant to be used in a variation of ways. I think it was less important to show off specific features of the landscape then it was important to use the textures and colors in the landscape to draw the attention to Kaylnn.

The Lake Powell and Page region of Arizona is excellent for taking these kinds of portrait sessions. I don’t know this area as well as I know Grand Canyon but I am really interested in shooting more in this location. There are a lot of really amazing locations with different geological features. Some are nearby to the road and some that require a little walking. I would love to shoot at Lake Powell again as well as new locations like the toadstools, wahweap hoodos and some slot canyons like Antelope. Shooting portraits in the southwest has a lot to offer in terms of color and texture.

coupled embrace grand canyon background

couple at Desert View

Grand Canyon Watchtower

sunset at Grand Canyon

Birds and Sunset at the South Rim

on the Edge of Grand Canyon

Kiss in the white dress at the South Rim

wedding and engagement ring in the lichen at Grand Canyon

Sunset Engagement Photo at grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Engagement Photo

Grand Canyon Portrait

Sunset Engagement Photoshoot at Grand Canyon

I always have loved taking these engagement photos at Grand Canyon. Some couple come and stay for a while and some drive from Las Vegas for the evening which was what this couple did a few night ago. They drove all the way from Nevada just to take some special couples photos on the edge of Grand Canyon. They were truly in love and it was very easy to get lots of kissing photos.

We planned for two locations because they had formal and casual clothing. The only hard thing about taking portraits at Grand Canyon that require an outfit change, is where to do it. There are a lot of pit toilets and composting toilets around the South Rim of the National Park but improved restrooms with water can be harder to find at Grand Canyon. The one at the Desert View location is nearly a half a mile walk from the parking lot and poses some challenges in deciding to carry the previous outfits along or walk them back to the car. My clients decided to transport them with us.

We took some photos around the Desert View Watchtower and paused to take heels on and off. The ground at Grand Canyon Can be very uneven and although I do take lots of photos of women in wedding dresses or other gowns on the edge of the canyon, most of those were not achieved easily and most times we must carry and hide a pair of hiking boots as we move around the landscape. As much as I love taking photos in these gowns and dresses out in nature, it can be hard work and its often difficult to create many unique poses when one is unable to sit in a variation of poses as would be easier in pants or more casual clothing. Still, I’ll welcome any challenge in posing and photographing portraits at Grand Canyon.

Little Steston hands in pockets on the edge of Grand Canyon

The family looking off at the Grand Canyon Sunset

Sunset Family photos with a view of the Colorado River

Below Lipan Point – portraits at Grand Canyon

Stetsen strikes a pose at Grand Canyon

Mommy and me photo at the South Rim

sunsetting during this family portrait at Grand Canyon

Stetsen smiles and looks away at Lipan Point

East Rim of Grand Canyon – Family photo below the rim

Family Portrait at Grand Canyon National Park Lipan Point

I shot Candi and Brandon’s wedding at Lipan Point on September 1st of 2017. Candi reached out to me recently and we were all able to meet up again to take some Grand Canyon family photos. We went back to Lipan Point off of the 64 East and close to the Desert View Watchtower. It was really exciting to walk up to them, seeing how much Stetsen had grown.

Stetsen is not even a full year older, than when we took the wedding photos at this location at Grand Canyon but it was easy to see how much he had changed. He was certainly taller but also a lot more talkative and easy to talk to and work with. Out of the baby stage and not yet worried about “stranger danger” Stesten was such a fun interactive person in our portrait. I am so glad that I got to rendezvous with everyone again after the Lipan Point wedding.

The light was a little harsher than I would have preferred on this sunset but I was able to shoot into it even still, giving Grand Canyon a silhouetted look that show its expanse and many layers. Shooting portraits at the South Rim isn’t easy at all. There is almost no where to hide in the desert and almost no way to diffuse the light. People often look shaded and shadowed and with light through some of the trees, you’ll find many portraits of people at Grand Canyon with shapes of light across the face.

I’m so glad that these Grand Canyon family photos came out so well. I don’t often have repeat customers, like photographers based in towns, unlike the southwest destination where I usually take photos. I hope Candi, Brandon an Stetsen always find a reason to come back to the South Rim for a visit.

Down on one knee – Grand Canyon Proposal in Stormy Weather

Foot pop – engagement kiss

Proposal photography on the edge of Grand Canyon

Engagement Ring Shot with Colorado River in Background

Holding Hands at the South Rim

Diamond Engagement Ring and Hand Hold

Happy Newlywed Engaged Couple at Grand Canyon

Crying after the Grand Canyon Proposal

Proposal Photography at Grand Canyon National Park – We got so lucky with these engagement photos! It was due to rain or snow on this day and sometimes when it snows here, it can fog in the Grand Canyon for nearly the whole day. Instead we got amazing clouds and sun and it rained out in the distance illuminating the sky and turning it into a brilliant gold color. While taking these photos there were many times that we stopped just to look off into the distance and watch how dramatic the Grand Canyon view was.

Organizing this proposal was a labor of love. Although there are locations that I love shooting and viewpoints with dramatic vistas, I opted for a quieter location. I help plan the proposal as much as I photograph it and it is very important to me that my clients feel an intimate connection to Grand Canyon as much as each other. People don’t pick this epic landscape for a destination surprise proposal if they aren’t looking for it to be special. There are over 6 million visitors that come to Grand Canyon yearly an it’s getting increasingly difficult to get away from the crowds and have a moment to one’s self at the South Rim of the canyon.

Luckily, in choosing me they also chose a local Grand Canyon resident as their photographer. For myself, as much as my clients, I am constantly looking to find the most unique and special viewpoint for this experience. In order to find yourself alone at Grand Canyon, it takes a little work. I have worked really hard to create that experience for my guests and to play tour guide for this kind of photography and life moment experience. If you are planning a proposal and you are looking for a local Grand Canyon photographer, I think you’ll find it with www.photographybyterri.com.