JOSHUA TREE ANNIVERSARY SESSION / Brandon + Rachel
JOSHUA TREE TRIP
Throwback! We’re bringing it back to February 2019, when we traveled to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California (our favorite place to visit, like, forever and ever, and we usually do an annual Joshua Tree trip because we’re obsessed). These two buds posing it up in these photos are our friends Brandon and Rachel. We were in town attending a wedding, and that coincided with Brandon and Rachel’s anniversary portraits. Perfectenschlag.
First, let’s give ya a lil’ background. Brandon and Luke go way back to the college days. He and Luke were in the same graphic design program at The University of Akron’s Myers School of Art (as in, the pre-Mikayla AND pre-Rachel days).
We like to credit the entire existence of our relationship to Brandon. Had he not nudged Luke in the right direction (i.e., making him approach Mikayla and to stop being a scaredy cat), Luke never would’ve had the guts to make the first move (if you’re dying to know, in film photography class, Luke mustered up the courage to lean over Mikayla’s print being agitated in darkroom chemicals and chimed “that is one BEAUTIFUL man”, on portrait of a friend. And the rest is history).
Like us, Brandon discovered that while graphic design was fun, he had another passion as well; video. Brandon is a SUPER talented videographer/cinematographer (and artist in general, obviously). With that, we’d love to share some awesome news.
Brandon, cinematographer extraordinaire, has joined Agape! We soft-launched our videography services last year, where he joined us on a few shoots, and even shot a wedding with us. We’re SO stoked to collaborate with him and create alongside this incredible friend and artist. You can check out our services with Brandon here (LINK TO VIDEOGRAPHY PAGE), and check out more of his work here.
Our goal, alongside Brandon, is to create an untraditional, moving experience for our clients. While talking to Brandon last year, we really connected on a story-driven level, especially when talking about the goal of creating art for people like couples and individuals and families. One of Brandon’s favorite quotes (and now one of our faves) is, “Let the story move you—before you move the story.” (credit: Patrick Moreau of Muse Storytelling), and that’s just what we’ve been doing.
Those can’t-look-away, heart-strings pulling, silly, laughing, dancing, messy, raw and real love stories. That’s what we, alongside Brandon, are driven to capture, to deliver a viewing experience unlike any other for our clients and their loved ones. We are so stoked to share that with all of you.
Anyways, back to the depths of our Joshua Tree trip. We had a BLAST with these guys. We woke up before the sun and headed to the perfect vantage point in the park, huddled up in anticipation for the sun to peek about the desert rock (the desert in February is C H I L L Y), while the Seuss-esque fronds of the Joshua Trees were prickly silhouettes against the sky.
They cuddle and we photographed, as the sun popped up over the rocks and started to warm our chilly selves up, we climbed around on the boulders and found the light. We headed deeper into the park and pranced around in a field of Joshua Trees, found some well-hidden views, and pretty much determined that February Joshua Tree weather is the best weather.
2019 was the year of the super bloom in California, and it did NOT disappoint. Desert flowers are a sight to behold. The next few days were filled with tons of cactus, Joshua Trees, and rocks. We chilled at our Airbnbs, ate at Natural Sisters Cafe (a Joshua Tree trip STAPLE), gazed at the infinite stars, cooked together, and hiked one of our favorite hikes, Fortynine Palms Oasis Trail.
On the last day, we headed to Palm Springs where we enjoyed our very first DATE milkshake and burgers at Shields, which was to die for. We even hit up the infamous Moorten Botanical Gardens and meandered around the trails among the giant Saguaros for a bit.
This was one of our favorite Joshua Tree trips to date (if you know us, you probably know we have had our share of bad luck on trips hahahaha), and we were so thankful to spend it with Brandon and Rachel. Till next time, JTree. We luhhhhhh you.
Recently engaged and planning a wedding (maybe even in Joshua Tree)? Or just in need of some rad photographers to grab some slices with and hang? Shoot us a message and talk to our cats (aka the office administrators) for information!
