the hearnes adventure photography best of 2022 » adventure weddings + outdoor elopements

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Written By Abbi Hearne

Best of 2022 // Elopements + Adventure Sessions // Utah & Alaska Adventure Wedding Photographer

I’m going to start with saying I’m very proud of myself for getting this post out in January, considering 2021’s Round Up was finished in June 2022! I think having a fresh baby last December was a pretty good excuse for the delay though. And having a fresh one year old excuses me not finishing this by the new year ;) I always love this blog post so much, it feels like a great way to reflect on the past year, look forward to the next, and kick our feet up to really soak in all the work we’ve created lately. I’m particularly proud of this one, psyched to see it’s our best work yet, knowing how intimidating this year was to jump into. We didn’t really know what to expect taking on parenthood with a job like this, and while it was certainly incredibly challenging at times, I am so happy with how we handled it.

This year came with some of our highest highs; bringing our daughter to Alaska for the first time, buying a cabin in Alaska (!!!), photographing elopements in new places and familiar places, creating so many new memories as a family and with our amazing couples. It also brought some of our lowest lows; losing Abbi’s Dad after a four+ year battle with brain cancer (in the middle of our busy fall season), inconvenient and draining sicknesses, stressful travel logistics, many overwhelming moments. Overall, I’m really proud that we maintained our high standards for our work, showed up so well for each of our couples, did a dang good job at year one of parenthood, and loved our friends & families well through it all. We also went on some pretty amazing adventures!!

Looking through our work for this year was really fun to find consistent themes and see how our creativity has developed. I didn’t realize until creating this blog post is that one thing we experienced a lot of was “bad” weather! We had quite a few rainy, cloudy, windy, even snowy elopements and honestly this brought some of our favorite memories and photos! I hope that seeing the joy on our couples’ faces, and the beauty of saturated landscapes, removes any fears of a bad weather wedding day. We also really leaned into the adventures we’re passionate about in our work this year; flying in airplanes and helicopters, Jeeping remote dirt roads, pack rafting on glaciers in Alaska and on the river in Moab, and continually finding new ways to experience the places we love most. This year we mostly shot in Moab & Alaska, with a couple of road trips to Amangiri. We had a blast and feel so happy with the locations we’ve dug into. In 2023, we’re keeping it similar, focusing in on our favorites seasons in Moab (Spring & Fall), a full summer in Alaska with more availability than ever (thanks to the cabin!), a return to the Redwoods in Northern California, and more days soaking in the peaceful magic of Amangiri in Southern Utah.

We can’t wait to see what’s to come! ❤️

From Instagram :: September 8, 2022

I think one of my favorite things about the elopements we put together is that they’re so closely aligned with the adventures we plan for our own life. We don’t see places or adventures as “elopement ideas” as much as we see them as things we love doing, and then we naturally end up suggesting them to our couples when it seems like they’ll love it too.

This lake was a place I’d wanted to go for a while, and the first time we made it out here was a full-on type two “disaster mission” kind of adventure with good friends. It involved a shared boat taxi, packrafting through ocean surf, one flipped boat, way more hiking than we anticipated (packrafts in hand), navigating up a river and around steep embankments, all for about 30 minutes with the icebergs before we had to turn around and do it all again to catch our ride back. It was pretty gnarly but we were so stoked to have made it out there. I was also glad to have had that experience to know that taking a helicopter was definitely the beta for elopement days because we prefer to keep them more chill (and reduce likelihood of dumping the boats lol). We’ve since photographed a handful of elopements here, self-supported with our gear, our skill-set, and our experience playing a huge role in making it happen.

Being able to incorporate our life into our job like this has brought so much fulfillment and makes for really fun, special, personal experiences for each of our couples. It’s also freaking amazing having people trust us this much, and I can pretty confidently say they’re always glad when they do 😉🥰

From Instagram :: August 9, 2022

Why would someone want to elope in a place they’ve never been to before? We get this question a lot — it’s something that often surprises people: the fact that a lot of our couples are seeing the place for the first time when they come here for their elopement. It might sound strange, but if you think about it, it’s the perfect time to explore somewhere new.

Marriage is new. It’s a marking of a new turn, a new life, a new promise. Why not explore a new place while you do that? Often times, our couples decide to elope, or plan an intimate destination wedding, because the idea of a big wedding back home doesn’t feel right to them. So they choose to have an epic, exploratory, adventurous wedding day instead. They choose to go somewhere new together, experience the place for the first time on a day that they’ll never forget. The thing is, when they do this, they forever have a place that means everything to them. Callen and I were married in a typical venue in Texas. We’ve never gone back to it. It’s fun to pass the highway exit occasionally and remember our wedding was there, but the place itself doesn’t hold much meaning. For our couples, they get to forever hold a special place in their hearts, somewhere significant and beautiful like Alaska or Moab.

These two hiked out and said their vows on this little beach in Alaska last summer, and they’re coming back on a trip this summer because they loved it so much. Now, it’ll always be special to them…and I really love the idea of them coming back here in their 80’s, telling young hikers about when they got married here all those years ago!

From Instagram :: August 7, 2022

I remember when we were still photographing bigger weddings in Texas, we would always try to work 10 minutes of alone time for the couple into their schedule. It was a hard thing to do. When your timeline requires everything to run minute-by-minute, scheduling a few minutes alone is a tough thing to prioritize. Planners were often annoyed we wanted that in the timeline at all, because it would cut into the important things like cocktail hour or special dances or portraits. But our couples always appreciated it, they’d mention it was the only time they really got to talk or reflect on the day. We’ve all heard the classic trope that your wedding day just flies by and you barely remember anything.

That’s why we love elopements. That’s why we have a minimum of 6 hours when people book with us. Because we want the whole day to be an amazing memory, not a blur. We want plenty of moments to let our couple walk ahead and spend time just the two of them in the incredible place they’ve chosen to elope. We want extra time for the picnic with family, or the last bits of sunset, or the quiet moments before their ceremony. We want them to be able to soak up every minute, and never feel rushed from one thing to the next. Our timelines are always full of flexible moments, in case the couple wants to stand under the arch a little longer, or walk through a few more canyons, or pause to have a meaningful conversation with their best friend. The thing about elopements is, when you remove all the extra expectations and features of a traditional wedding, you’re not left with less...you’re giving yourself more.

From Instagram :: August 2, 2022

One of the coolest things about eloping is that instead of spending your money on buying dinner and picking out fancy napkins and providing an open bar for a few hundred people, you can put it toward an experience that will go down as one of your favorite things you’ve ever done in your life.

Quite a few of our couples had been planning a bigger wedding but somewhere along the way it just didn’t feel right. They found themselves feeling more obligations than excitement, more like they needed to meet expectations than they were allowed to be creative. When couples find us in that process, it’s like a wave of relief…someone giving them permission to prioritize themselves and the things they love together over the expectations wrapped up in a wedding. Once they make that choice to elope, it can really put into perspective how far a dinner budget for 200 guests can get you in a helicopter…or how much fun you can have in a dream destination with the money that would’ve bought flowers you’d throw away the next day.

Because if there is ever a time to be selfish with your partner, wouldn’t it be the day you two commit your life together? This is a day you’ll look back on for decades. It’s worth thinking outside of the box and really making it the best day you never could have imagined ❤️

2023 GOALS:

Over the years, we’ve noticed our goals are always quite similar, with the same “blanket terms” and a few small adjustments. I love to look back over them at the end of each year and see how we did, as well as consider how we can improve and do even better in the new year. I love reading through these at the end of each year and reflecting on how we did with out goals, and dreaming of ways we can work toward them in the coming year.

Bookings » This is actually the first year since reaching the peak of our booking schedule (2017) that we are hoping to increase our bookings from the previous year, but only a little bit. In 2022, we intentionally booked significantly less than our normal capacity because we had no idea what it would be like to do this job as parents. We both work for this business, and both parent Hyder, so it was a lot of adjustment and learning-as-we-go for this year. I’m glad we booked the amount we did, especially with other life things that came up, but we’re feeling more dialed in and open to bringing it back up to our typical amount of bookings.

Play More » This is actually the secret sauce to the work we create. The reason we’re able to put together elopements we’ve never seen before doing them; like aviation weddings in Moab, kayaking with icebergs in Alaska, Jeeping new roads, hiking new trails, and so on, is because we do those things. We spend our time off living the adventures we create for our couples. Our ideas come from our own life, our own passions, and the reason we’re always bringing new ideas to the table is because we’re seeking them ourselves!

Have A Positive Impact » This looks a little different every single year. In 2023, we will continue working closely with our local Moab BLM office to improve their permitting and guidelines for wedding-specific events on BLM lands, as well as giving back a percentage of our earnings for them to protect the land and improve every visitor’s experience. It has been a grueling process at times, but I know we will have a positive long-term impact if we are patient and persistent. We also hope to donate more to organizations like Access Fund and Honnold Foundation, spend more time educating people about their impact on the lands, and be conscious of our own footprint as we travel, live, and recreate!

Be a Better Wife, Mom, Daughter, Friend, Human » This one should be obvious, but honestly I know I’m a really good photographer, businesswoman + entrepreneur, but I’ve spent the past few years growing and focusing myself on the other things that really deeply matter in my life. This year, I am hoping to dial in my routines and self-scheduling so that I am productive when it’s work time, and so I can give myself permission to truly “clock-out” when I’m not working. I absolutely believe I’ve improved greatly in this, but I still have plenty of improvements to make in balancing work with my personal life.

Keep Growing, Learning, and Improving » My hope is that every year, I look through these photos in this blog post and feel proud of our growth. That every year, I feel our couples are even more cared for, and feel even more value from their experience with us. We absolutely love this job and are so thankful (and amazed) by this past year. Next year we will aim to work smarter and make our clients even happier than ever. I never want to think I know it all and I'll never stop growing and improving. One of my favorite pieces of advice I received when I was a skydiver was to learn something new with every single jump. I believe in applying that to all that I do, so in 2023 I hope to continue learning something new with every adventure session and wedding!

Lead Our Industry In A Positive Direction » I’ve realized this year how big of an impact we have on the photography industry. In the past few years, we’ve poured a lot into the industry in the realm of sustainability, caring for the places we’re shooting in, and giving back to the communities where we work. This year, I hope to maintain that influence, and I’m dreaming of adding another detail that I’ve felt passionate about lately. I want to show photographers that our work is better when our life is better — that working all the time is not the goal. Hustle culture is so damaging, and while I know working hard and often comes with launching any business, it doesn’t have to remain that way once you reach a sustainable income and create consistent, effective systems for yourself. I want to inspire people to play, adventure, and get after the life they desire.

Maintain The Right Priorities » This one sums up most of what I’ve said above. I’m no longer worried about being the “best,” having the most followers, or seeming like we’re at the top of the industry. I’m interested in living a beautiful life, working with couples that I connect to as people, and creating work that I’m proud of.

If you made it to the bottom of this, you're an angel. Please comment on this post so I can thank you!! There is no way we could do what we're doing without the support of our online community. Every follow, comment, like, share, and late night spent browsing the website means the world to us — it literally gets us to where we are now (what a time to be alive!). We are so appreciative of you ❤️

Abbi Hearne http://www.thehearnes.com
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