post filed in:

SAP Couples

Amicalola Falls Maternity Session

MEET THE RAINEYS

Meet Josh & Rylie. You may recognize them from *many* sessions in the past. It all started with their engagement session, Rylie’s bridal shower, then their wedding, then again when they bought their first home. We do a new photoshoot about once a year. I actually have to give A LOT of credit to them for helping me start off this photography business and always sharing my work and talking me up! They are constantly growing in their lives and I love cheering them on. These two are dear friends of ours and I love when Rylie and I get together to collaborate on any new photoshoot we have for them. The most recent photoshoot was an Amicalola Falls maternity session!

I’m so excited that these two are expecting a baby girl in August! We can’t wait to be the fun aunt and uncle to sweet baby Raelyn! She’s already so loved and I know they are going to make THE BEST parents! Rylie is such an optimistic soul and always has the best advice. She’s one of the greatest friends I have. And, Josh has an entrepreneurial heart with an incredible work ethic. I think it’s safe to say Raelyn is going to be an incredible human and I can’t wait to meet her and watch her grow!

PLANNING THE AMICALOLA FALLS MATERNITY SESSION

When Rylie and I started talking about what she wanted for her maternity session, we discussed location, outfits, and timing. I normally suggest to take maternity photos around the 30 week mark, depending on how much they are showing by then. The reason for this is because once you start to get more pregnant and your belly starts to grow more, it’s possible to end up feeling very tired and uncomfortable in your body. Photoshoots can require a lot of movement and walking. You don’t want to feel miserable during your maternity sessions.

Rylie sent me photos of dress options and hat options for her session. She knew she wanted something flowly for the waterfall setting. She found a perfect boho style dress for the maternity session. Then, she found this amazing gold velvet dress to change into for the second half of the session. We decided between a few different dress options but we both agreed these would be perfect for her vision!

THEIR AMICALOLA FALLS MATERNITY SESSION

When it came to the location of the session, Rylie knew she wanted a waterfall. It was important to find a waterfall here in Georgia that we didn’t have to hike a few miles to get to and that would create beautiful images. We actually agreed to a session at Toccoa Falls. It’s a short hike to a beautiful and HUGE waterfall. Unfortunately, the only way to get to the waterfall is through the giftshop.. which closes at 4:00pm. This caused an issue for us because we needed to start the session at 6:00pm for the best lighting during the summer.

So, we shifted gears. We ended up having an Amicalola Falls maternity session instead of a Toccoa Falls maternity session. When we showed up, we were unpleasantly surprised that you can’t walk off the fenced in wooden path. This made it especially hard to take photos that would fit Rylie’s vision. I mean, we were expecting to get right up to the waterfall. Amicalola Falls is really popular and so it was a very crowded area. THIS is the benefit of hiring a professional photographer. We were able to minimally show the wooden railing and hide all the people. And STILL got the waterfall in the background.

After we went to the main waterfall area, we drove up to the top of the waterfall for a few more photos with the overlook behind the couple. While we were up there, we saw a little creek with a lot of rocks and so we were able to get some very nature-style shots with NO wooden railing. Shortly after we started taking those photos, it started to rain. We wrapped it up quickly and ran to the car before venturing off to our next location.

THE FINAL LOCATION

I’m going to be completely honest here, after leaving Amicalola Falls, we weren’t really sure where we were going to go. I knew that I wanted to showcase the mountains in the background. I also knew that in the North Georgia area had plenty of amazing spots to stop on the side of the road for a beautiful option. Thankfully, these two are the type of clients that are down for my crazy visions and ideas. They trust my photography eye and I’m thankful for that.

They changed outfits for this last location. This is where got to use the beautiful gold velvet dress. Which was perfect for all the earthy tones to go with this location. The rain stopped by the time we got to this location. We actually just passed it and I saw that it was a perfect, public, area and that had a place to pull-in and park. So naturally, we turned around. We parked and they changed in the car. Props to them. They got into this field of high grass with the most beautiful backdrop behind them and we spent the last 15 minutes of the session here.

I’m so excited to meet Baby Raelyn, and I can’t wait to watch these two grow into a family of three.