It was early in the morning as I wound up hill after hill, the British woman inside my GPS was guiding my every turn.  The rolling hills were mostly green, but speckled about were hints of orange and red.  The air was calm and cool; life was peaceful.  All was still.  Everything in the world seemed to stop and I felt like the only person on the planet as I sipped my coffee and drove through some of California’s finest wine country.  The sun beams twinkled as they filtered through the trees.   It was one of the most beautiful sights ever.

I had just finished a long day of wedding shooting the day before, and had woke up extra early this day to meet Samantha and Joe in an unnamed vineyard in Saratoga, California for their engagement pictures.  They contacted me a couple of weeks ago regarding a possible shoot and it just so happened that I was scheduled to be in their area for a wedding.  It wasn’t until the night before their shoot that Samantha and I had the grand idea to shoot in a vineyard.  Unfortunately, all the vineyards in Saratoga had already closed up shop that evening and many weren’t reopening until noon the next day.  Our schedules were so tight that we were limited to shooting between 8 and 11 am… so on a whim, we met up at a vineyard in Saratoga, only to find its gates closed.  With a little luck, we were able to get a hold of the owner at another neighboring vineyard: Cooper Garrod.  Bill, one of the owners, was so kind to open his vineyard to us with the simple stipulation of “just make sure you close any gates behind you!”

The shoot was just fantastic.  Samantha and Joe are an absolutely adorable couple.  I couldn’t have been happier with our shoot… and I think if I had to do engagement portraits for myself, a vineyard would be a likely location. It was one of the most beautiful and unique locations I’ve seen.

I told you this was going to be good…

Samantha, you are so gorgeous…

Love the composition on this one.

Adorable!

Joe, you’re not too shabby yourself.

Not only was this vineyard a vineyard but it also housed horse stables and arenas where lessons are held.  I couldn’t resist snapping a shot of this cool old farm truck.

Part II is on deck!