Claudia Kelly Maternity
Maternity Photos - Mt. Lemmon
Despite living in Tucson for nearly a full decade, I didn’t fully appreciate Mt. Lemmon until this session. If you’re from Tucson, this likely makes me a heretic in your eyes. And to make this disclosure even more egregious, my wife and I had our first date just around the corner from this spot…and I still remained rather “eh” about Mt. Lemmon afterward. In my defense, the company was wonderful, but the date was at night and the majesty present in these images wasn’t on display for us. But I concede I wasn’t the refined, cultured man I pretend to be at present. Thankfully, I now see the light…literally.
Perhaps it was that Claudia’s session was at sunrise. I’ve only ever been at Windy Point around sunset. It can be a bit of a zoo at this time. Especially on Fridays & weekends (when most engagement sessions align with schedules). The drive up is also full of cars/motorcycles driving either too slow or too fast, so by the time you arrive you’ve either almost died or almost killed someone. Not a good prologue to becoming one with nature. Arriving early in the morning, bagels in hand and open roads leading the way, seems to have been the secret to seeing the mountain in this new light. And what a beautiful light it was.
Shooting at this time of day allowed me to get some soft blues in the Rincon mountains behind us while getting warmth on the foreground sandstone and quartzite. Us photographers love to backlight our subjects, so the time of day really dictates which direction we shoot. Capturing sunset at Windy Point is sort of the “thing” to do, so shooting west is what most do. However, for me I just never found the location very versatile at this time and always opted for other locations on the mountain with couples. But shooting the morning atmosphere and light towards the southeast breathed new life into the spot for me. Nooks and features that I’d ignore later in the day decided to catch my eye. Having a gorgeous couple (and handsome doggy) likely did put a hand on the scale, too, if I’m honest.
I shot most everything on Fujifilm Pro 400H with the Hasselblad H1 and a 100mm f/2.2. These are some of my favorite images I’ve ever taken.
