Carisil + Coulter

Styled Shoot- Elopement
July, 2019

Deep at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in the Native American reservation named Havasupai, Carisil and Coulter were dancing with the waterfalls. Before you gasp in awe- yes, the water is really that blue! It was truly an oasis paradise in the middle of the desert. Although I’ve always known that I had a love for travelling, this shoot opened my eyes to the fact that I have an even greater love for elopements!

This was a 4 day, 3 night long camping trip that started with a 12 mile hike down the Grand Canyon. (It actually started with an all day fight to get reservations in February, but that’s a different story!)

It was grueling to say the least, and I immediately passed out into a nap once we reached our campsite. While this was definitely a highlight, this was actually only one stop on a month long road trip AJ and I took around the country! I will say in all of our stops and all of our travels, I have never seen a place so beautiful.

Carisil and Coulter were so strong during the hike, and so sweet to each other! Carisil and I were definitely the slow ones of the group. By a lot. But we had our guys with us and they had no problem hiking at our pace and taking it slow! And when I say slow, I mean slow. On the way back out of the canyon we literally had to stop every three steps! On the bright side, we never felt rushed, and it really helped us enjoy the gorgeous canyon we were in!

You really get to know how strong your relationship when you have to hike over 30 miles in 4 days with no showers and battle raccoons for your food on a nightly basis! And I’m telling you, those raccoons have NO fear. They will just stare you down! Carisil and I even had to send our guys to go shoo away some really audacious raccoons while we watched terrified from our hammocks. Luckily, Coulter has experience killing raccoons with a SWORD before! (True story!) so he was not phased by merely shooing them away.

Carisil has been my best friend since high school. You’ll see her and Coulter featured a lot as my photography guinea pigs (like here, for their session in Texas)!

You guys, thank you so much for being willing to sacrifice everything to take this adventure of a lifetime with us. This was truly an unforgettable trip. I am constantly wishing I could relive it over again. Our adventures aren’t over, and I can’t wait to travel again with you guys!