What Is an Adventure Session?
What is an adventure session? Here it is, plain and simple: it's a photo session that's focused more on the experience than the photos. It's the hike, the sunrise, the drive up to the overlook — an actual adventure, with a camera along for it. The photos are the souvenir you get to take home.
Most sessions ask you to show up somewhere and perform being a family, or a couple, for an hour. An adventure session flips that. We pick something you'd genuinely want to do — a hike to a lake, a scramble up to a ridge, a sunrise before the trail gets crowded — and I document it as it happens. Documentary style, with a few gently guided shots seamlessly worked in. I'm behind you on the trail, watching for the moment one of you laughs at something the other one said, or the light hits right as you crest the hill.
It's Not Just for Couples
Most photographers only talk about adventure sessions as an engagement thing, and I get why — a sunrise hike and a proposal go together naturally. But I've built these around maternity sessions too — the last weeks before everything changes, moving through a place that matters to you instead of standing still in front of a backdrop.
Where I really want to lean in more, though, is family adventures. Think about the kids who groan the second you mention a photoshoot — the ones who won't sit still, won't smile on command, would rather be anywhere else. Put those same kids on a trail with something to climb or explore, and suddenly they're just being themselves: the sweet, funny, unscripted version you actually want photos of. It works differently for teenagers, too — the ones who've hit that eye-rolling, too-cool-for-this stage. Give them something to actually do instead of a camera pointed at them for an hour, and the awkwardness burns off fast, until you're just catching them being them. It can absolutely work for younger kids as well — it just depends on what your family's up for and how far little legs can go.
What It Actually Looks Like
These run longer than a standard session — plan on 2 to 8 hours depending on scope, not the usual 45 minutes. We'll talk beforehand about where you actually want to go, not just where's photogenic: a favorite trail, somewhere you got engaged, somewhere that means something. I'll help with logistics — timing for light, a backup plan if weather turns, what to expect if the trailhead requires a permit or fills up early (I keep a running list of exactly this for both Boulder and Breck). Then we go, and I stay close enough to catch it, out of the way enough that you forget I'm there.
Is It Right for You
If the idea of standing in a field being told to "look natural" makes you want to crawl out of your skin, this is probably it. If you'd rather spend a few hours doing something real with the people you love and end up with photos that actually look like that day — also this.
Ready to plan your own adventure session? Check available dates.
