Growing up in northern Marin (Novato, for those curious) the thing I’ve learned about photographing in the Marin Headlands is that I’ll never know what to expect when I get there. Over the years, I’ve accumulated some knowledge on how to assess conditions and even if I’m right when I arrive, it may be a completely different story in 10 minutes.

This was sort of the case with Alan and Thu’s engagement session in the Marin Headlands. Upon arriving a bit before sunrise, it was a pretty densely overcast and foggy, especially up at the higher elevations of Hawk Hill. As we got started, the sky cleared up a bit but a dense bank of clouds lingered along the horizon blocked the rising sun. But then mother nature decided to hook us up with some incredible light through a stunning sunrise display. For the rest of the morning we intermittently swapped foggy overlooks with warm sunlit scenes and sunny skies with grey backdrops but that’s part of the charm of the San Francisco Bay and the coastal fog, is it not?

The San Francisco Botanical Garden and Sutro Baths. Two stunning locations for an engagement session in beautiful San Francisco. I always feel like the Botanical Garden is an underrated photo location. Of course, everybody knows about the Sutro Baths as an engagement session location, though thanks to the magic of photography (and patience), you would may not think that was the case.

Wonderful spaces, gorgeous light, and a spectacular couple result in some splendid photographs. Already looking forward to their wedding that’s just a couple of days away from this posting!

It’s been a bit between shooting/delivering this session and this blog post being put up. Time has really flown by, since Samantha and Richard’s wedding is just 3 weeks away! Speaking of things flying, it got a little blustery on this afternoon over at Lands End in San Francisco. What really blew me away was how great these two were to photograph. Don’t believe me? There’s more proof down below.