My longtime friend Keshia & I have known each other since I was 13. We met in middle school back in Calgary & no matter how long we go without seeing each other… when we reunite it’s exactly where we left off. We have the same sense of humour & every time we hangout I go home with a belly ache from all the laughter that ensues… I love her like family & value her friendship.

I’ve done many sessions for Keshia… with her daughter being my first newborn session 5 years ago! She’s been my biggest fan since day 1 & I can never put into words how grateful I am that she’s continued to let me photograph her & her beautiful family all these years.

I contacted Keshia a few months ago asking if she & her boyfriend would model for me this summer at Moraine Lake – my favourite place in the entire world! I’ll speak for Keshia when I say she was just as excited as I was & already the ideas were buzzing! My last Styled Session was a 5 month long process…. & not cheap! Although my original vision didn’t pan out due to a spontaneous purchase of my new lens (which I LOVE!) – this session was all that I hoped it would be considering the few last minute details. So to be honest, I had to come up with a really cheap way to story tell at Moraine Lake LOL I have the couple, but what else can I incorporate into this session to tell some sort of story? I then came up with the idea of a picnic on top of the mountain/rock pile. Eeep! Only I had 1 day to do all this! The night before I called up my Mum to see what she had at her house that I could use for the picnic… on her way over the next morning she picked up a basket & brought me two very fine champagne glasses. Best. Mum. Ever. I dug through my sisters house for some cheese & grapes & just my luck she had a bottle of wine! Everything was coming together so fast, I was just crossing my fingers we could make it happen.

I met Matt + Keshia in Banff at my Aunt’s house & we set out for the lake. If anyone has ever been to Moraine Lake…. you know how busy it is YEAR ROUND. Summer is the most beautiful time to go… but as you can imagine – it’s the busiest. They bring tourists in by the bus loads & to do a session here was really risky. I was preparing for a lot of cloning in photoshop to remove all the people from my frames haha! We actually arrived at Moraine Lake around 6pm where it was still quite busy.. but all I was after was the light. We had suitcases full of clothes & my gear, along with the basket full of our picnic supplies. We carried everything up the mountain & had people asking if we had reservations up top. Ha! We reached the top & I was dog out of breath, so I sat down & admired the view before we got started. Matt + Keshia had never been to Moraine Lake so they were taking in the views too, I was so stoked to be there with them!

Once I put everything together, I couldn’t believe how well everything fell into place. It was even better than what I had envisioned. The picnic basket with the cheese plate & wine was gorgeous at the top of Moraine Lake. I had so many tourists taking photo’s of the set up that I should have charged them! 😉

Not only was the location & setup perfect… but so is this couple.

I cannot thank these two enough for giving me the absolute privilege of photographing them at the most picturesque lake in Canada. You both took direction so well, not to mention you went into that freezing cold water for me!! GAH! Such rockstars. Thank you for giving me that day to treasure & these images to remember it by. I love you both! I’ll have your gallery to you in the coming weeks! x

& Here are some Behind The Scenes 🙂 We had fun! Haha!

Don’t let the above images fool you… there were people EVERYWHERE!

The sun lighting up the mountains at sunset was unreal! Eeeep!

Basket: Michaels

Wine:  Kim Crawford

Keshia’s Outfit: Garage, Forever 21

Headpiece: Claire’s

Matt’s outfit: The Gap

Quilt: Handmade