Summertime, and the photography’s easy…or at least easier…or at least there’s more light to work with. So I met Bri and Travis for their engagement session on a Wednesday evening after work. Little did we know the adventure that lay in store for us!

Since Bri and Travis live near one of my favorite settings for location portraits, I suggested we meet there. Normally this location is perfect because it is open to the public, and features many acres of waterfront, lush green forests, and a lovely garden surrounding an abandoned old mansion that’s straight out of “Clue”! After wandering around a few of my favorite spots, we ended up on the porch of the mansion. Out of curiosity, we peeked in the windows, and someone tried one of the doors. To our surprise, it opened.

What followed was probably the most daring engagement session that I have ever been a part of, as Bri and Travis sacrificed the cleanliness of their clothes to the decades of dirt in the mansion. As we explored every room, we took full advantage of the unique character of the location, from the old marble batthtub in an upstairs bathroom, to the dried up old flowers still in vases on the kitchen counter.