We loved adventuring around Canyonlands National Park with Shelby and Jeff for their engagement session!
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adventure sessions
Rachael and Brenden’s engagement session in Moab was absolutely beautiful with snow all over the desert!
A casual picnic engagement session in the desert high above Moab, Utah between Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park.
Arches National Park | Moab, Utah
the hearnes » adventure elopement photographers
Erin + Matt’s adventure wedding session in Arches National Park before their las vegas elopement
One of the first things I always ask couples after they inquire is "If your friends described you two as a couple, what would they say?". This helps me figure out who it is we're talking to. When Erin responded with "Quirky, silly, and easy going" it was true and gave me the perfect intro into getting to know them. Erin told me her and Matt met at a party and hit it off talking about their love of muppets. She came off as so down to earth, living in a city, wanting to explore, down to fly across the country. She found me from a She Explores podcast and reach out from there which I am SO GLAD they did out because they were so much fun!
Erin let us know of their plans to elope to Vegas and have their wedding officiated by Elvis (sidenote, but important, their dog's name is Presley). They talked with us about shooting at Red Rocks but then jumped at the opportunity to come up to Moab! That's just the type of couple they are. Down for anything, wanting to explore, goof around, and take not being serious very seriously.
We decided to meet up in town and chill in our camper as we talked about where exactly we'd go. I smiled when they walked up in their outfits (leather jackets, rad boots... she even had a crown) and knew we were in for a fun shoot. The weather was super chilly, but it meant we got to shoot in some snow! The whole thing was just so fun and relaxed. They were so happy to be there and explore. The vibe was more like shooting a little party for two than a session as we walked around some of my favorite arches in Arches National Park.
The day got better as it started to snow a little bit which I'm a big fan of (big snowflakes in the desert, yes please!!). They were super playful with each other and pretty much did their own thing with very little direction. Erin and Matt were so natural with each other. I got the feeling that they are the type of people who would act the exact same - dancing, playing, laughing - even if I weren't there taking pictures.
Like I said, we went to one of my favorite arches in the park (with over 2,000 to choose from, that's saying a lot). I loved how her crown looked with the arches. The day was pretty overcast, but the clouds were moving quickly, so light snuck through the arches here and there, and when it was covered up we got some rad shots that captured the vastness of arches.
Matt was so fun to watch as he followed Erin around, lifted her, gave her little kisses and spun around with her in his arms. You couldn't even tell it was cold out with how much they were running around (granted, they're from Philadelphia and used to cold temps)... but we did end up getting pretty chilly, so we decided to hike back to the camper and head to another spot for sunset.
On the hike back we saw our friend Travis who we'd spent Thanksgiving with and had stuck it out in Moab with us since then. One of our favorite parts about Moab is the community we have here, the constant coming and going of friends to explore, climb, eat, and hang with. A lot of our couples end up coming back to hang out. No matter if it's the heat of summer, a perfect fall day, or sub-freezing nights, we love how this desert brings people during all seasons and feels more like a neighborhood these days.
We ended the night shooting sunset at a lookout before driving back to town. Matt and Erin were so much fun to get to know. They were so authentic and true to themselves, just fun to be around. Erin talked about how she wouldn't mind running away in a van, and I could honestly see them loving it - but I could see them loving anything as long as they were with each other.
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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife wedding photography team with an emphasis on adventure. They live on the road as full-time nomads, allowing them to serve a large portion of the western US. You can typically find them in Moab, Utah or Yosemite National Park, California, with side-quests to Patagonia and Alaska. They believe love is the greatest adventure and strive to create photos that are epic, romantic, true, and timeless.
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Moab, Utah
the hearnes » adventure elopement photographers
adventure engagement session with devyn + adam | cross country skiing in the mountains near moab | adventure elopement photographer
The first time Callen and I ever came to Moab, it was not quite love at first sight. We made the mistake of coming in August at the height of tourist season and one of the hottest months of the year. It was 100 degrees when we went to bed at 11pm and 114 at the hottest time of the day. We were enchanted by the desert, but exhausted after a 30 mile backpacking trip earlier in the week and cursed the heat. Once we got home from that trip, we decided to give Moab another chance in the fall. This was possibly one of the most formative decisions we’ve made, as that return trip completely changed our views and made us fall head over heels in love with Moab, Utah. Not only were we able to explore so much more of the desert in the perfect October temps, but we also got a tip from a local to head into the mountains nearby for the fall colors. We, like many Moab newbies, didn’t think of it as a mountain town and were pretty surprised by the suggestion, but a ton of our favorite spots and hikes have been suggestions from locals, so we spent the day driving through the mountains with our jaws on the floor. The fall colors amazed us (we both grew up in Texas where fall is more of a fantasy used by stores to sell merchandise than an actual change in outside weather) and we were completely blown away to find beautiful mountains just outside of the desert we’d fallen so in love with. On that first trip, we wandered far and wide and found ourselves a dreamy little meadow with a perfect mountain on the horizon. We pulled out our still-new Pendleton Blanket (my favorite wedding present) and sat in the field taking it all in. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that day and tell my past self how much this place would change me, that I’d one day consider it home, and it would be the source of so many amazing adventures, life changing experiences, and deep friendships…which brings me to: Devyn and Adam!
We met these two almost a year ago. They live in their van too, and we had some mutual friends so Devyn slid into my instagram DM’s and basically told me we were going to be friends now :) She invited us to their van for a home cooked meal, which we pretty much never turn down, and the rest is history! Honestly though, we connected with these two right out of the gate, talking about everything from rock climbing to skiing to having real jobs on the road to more rock climbing. Devyn made us incredible quinoa bowls with so many delicious ingredients and my standard for van meals have skyrocketed since (seriously, this girl does things like marinading steak and has her own spice rack IN A VAN, unreal). We spent the next two weeks hanging out nearly every day whether it was parking next to each other at the best spot in Moab for work days or going climbing or car-hiking a new dirt road. Devyn’s encouragement got me stoked on climbing in a way I haven’t experienced before, which has become a common theme in our friendship (see: ski photos in this blog post!!). When the time came to say goodbye and head different directions from Moab, we promised to get back together later in the fall when the desert returned to reasonable temps. (Although, bonus, our paths crossed for a few days in Yosemite!!).
This fall in Moab was one of the best seasons of my life, so full of adventure and wonderful days off between really fun elopement + adventure session gigs. 2018 was a really good year of friendship for us, when our communities really began to grow out here on the road, and it felt like this fall was a beautiful culmination of that when a lot of our people found themselves in Moab. We had some great adventure days with Devyn and Adam and we got to introduce them to a lot of our friends that came through, as well as my family that came to town for Thanksgiving! As the season was coming to an end, we began thinking of a last adventure we’d do together before feeling Moab for the winter. I remembered these little huts in the mountains that you could ski out to and casually mentioned it to Devyn. She loved the idea, and before I knew it she was texting me price estimates and asking if we were in. Once I confirmed we could make it happen a few hours later, Devyn revealed she’d already booked it the day before — she knew we were going to do it! We originally chose the easy hut that was a shorter distance but some plans changed with the company and they moved us to the farther hut. I was a little worried considering I’d never XC skied in my life, but…the new hut happened to be just steps away from that meadow Callen and I found way back when we fell in love with Moab, and the idea of finding myself in that meadow covered in snow was enough to motivate me!
The adventure itself was such a blast - we recruited more friends and Callen and I managed to pick up some old skis at the used gear shop in town (Moab Gear Trader — highly reccomend!) the night before. We skied 4 miles out to the yurt, arrived before sunset, and Devyn made us some delicious stew while we snacked on charcuterie and champagne (remember what I said about Devyn’s food making skills!). We all crashed around 9pm, waking up every few hours to stoke the fire and keep our little yurt warm. The following morning, we woke up to over a foot of fresh snow!!! Which was absolutely beautiful, but it also meant our 4 miles back “down” was breaking trail the entire time, and ended up being even harder than going up! I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it there or back without Devyn’s constant encouragement (and her handing me energy gummies when she could tell my morale was depleting). I am so thankful for these friends, so incredibly thankful for this adventure, and so stoked for their wedding later this year!! We did a more “normal” engagement session with them in Moab that I’ll blog later, but it was super fun to take these photos of them in their element, wearing their brightly colored ski clothes, and cozied up in the yurt in their base layers. It was especially cool for me when we walked out to that same beloved meadow that Cal and I found so many years ago and watched the fiery sunset on the horizon as the storm blew in.
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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife wedding photography team with an emphasis on adventure. They live on the road as full-time nomads, allowing them to serve a large portion of the western US. You can typically find them in Moab, Utah or Yosemite National Park, California, with side-quests to Patagonia and Alaska. They believe love is the greatest adventure and strive to create photos that are epic, romantic, true, and timeless.
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