Are you visiting Anchorage in the near future? And would you love beautiful vacation photos while in Alaska!? That’s what happened with these lovely ladies, and how that ended up happening is a pretty cool story! This past February when I went to Vegas for WPPI (a HUGE annual photography convention), I sat next to Allison in one of the morning classes. It was bright and early after being in Vegas for a couple days, and as perky as ever, she immediately said hello and we started chatting! Allison is a wedding photographer in Dallas, and I was so excited to meet another Texan photographer. After the standard “networking” introduction, we got to talking, and quickly figured out that we had something (besides photography and being from Texas) in common… Anchorage, ALASKA. Every year, Allison and her mother go on a big vacation together. How random and fun is that!? But that’s not it… by the end of the week in Vegas, we also realized that Allison’s sister-in-law is actually one of my old girl friends from college! This is such a crazy, random, and small world that we live in! SO this summer she and her mom came to Anchorage for a few days before exploring more of Alaska by car, ATV, plane, train, boat, raft, kayak, AND cruise ship. THAT is an adventurous vacation!! As a photographer who often vacations, I absolutely understand the value of getting a really GOOD vacation photo. You could ask the random passing stranger, and hope they get you in focus and actually capture the scenery of whatever cool place your visiting. Or there is the infamous self timer photo, which may or may not be straight, composed well, or (again) in focus. And now there is even a “selfie pole” that you can use to TRY and capture everything! However possible, if you take enough, surely one of your vacation photos may come out great. But when you’re trying to enjoy a once in a lifetime vacation, do you really want to cross your fingers and HOPE for a few good photos?! If we get more than ONE really good “framer” while on vacation, I’d say that’s a success…lol. So you can imagine that I was BEYOND ecstatic when I realized that Allison was dead set on scheduling an actual photo session in Anchorage with Savvy Images as soon as she got to Alaska! We had a little lunch with a view, we took a long drive south, we explored several areas along my favorite Alaskan coastal drive (The Seward Highway), we had a little dinner, then finished up with a gorgeous portrait session at Beluga Point. Allison even got to put her toes in the ocean! It was one heck of a day to kick off their Alaskan Adventure. I’m SO glad that I had the opportunity to make sure they started their trip out with LOTS of great vacation photos! Taking photos for another photographer is pretty darn cool, because they understand all the fun things that need to be considered for a great photo session. Though the wind was a bit crazy (as it tends to be in Alaska), we captured some beautiful images of the two of them. I had to share a handful of them below. Seriously, it’s amazing to me that they get to make so many great memories together! What a duo… They’re fun, they’re gorgeous, and they were a blast to photograph. Even though they’d strongly disagree, they really do know how to work the wind AND the camera!