Adrian + Deanna: San Antonio Engagements
Posted on September 20, 2009
Roz and I spent three days in San Antonio last weekend, to shoot engagements for Adrian and Deanna. Even though their wedding isn’t until next April, they wanted to get the engagements done before the weather turned in San Antonio. Fair warning – we shot for 3 days, and came back with something like 400 frames. This is an epic blog post.
We met Deanna and Adrian at our hotel on Saturday. Roz got a great deal on the Omni on the Riverwalk, so we started shooting on the Riverwalk. There are a ton of awesome spots down there, and throughout downtown, although we had to readjust to shooting in lush vegetation instead of desert sun! If you haven’t seen the San Antonio Riverwalk, it’s an absolute must-do. This was my first trip there, and I was totally blown away. After walking around downtown, both on the Riverwalk and at street level, we headed over to the McNay, San Antonio’s art museum.
Roz and I spent some time while we were there talking about the difference between Mexican and Spanish architecture. The McNay is a great example of the latter, and it’s surrounded by green lawns and gardens.
Our final stop on Saturday afternoon was the Pearl Brewery. There’s an old locomotive parked outside the Pearl Stables, and the round stable building was a great backdrop. The Riverwalk extends past the Brewery, so we walked over there as well.
We made plans to meet up later that evening to do some night photography downtown, and then Roz took me on a driving tour of her old stomping grounds, in the Texas Hill Country just north of San Antonio. We headed back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and took a short nap. When we woke up, we found that the rain had followed us back into town. While rain was a welcome change for the drought-stricken city, it forced us to reschedule our night session.
On Sunday, Deanna and Adrian took us to St. Mary’s, their Alma Mater, for some portraits on campus. I was struck with deja vu when I saw the bell tower there – it looks quite a bit like the one on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. Then we headed to the sunken Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park, which Roz remembered as not-so-nice, but which the city has reclaimed and completely worked over since she lived in the area. The rock paths, wooden bridges, lush vegetation, and the waterfall combined to make this a must-do location for portraits! Then, we all rode the 1/3 scale train that loops through the park, which gave us a chance to rest our weary feet before we took off our shoes and went wading! One of the bridges in the park is a shallow ford, which we all walked across, stopping in the middle to take pictures of course!
On Monday, Roz and I headed to Fredricksburg, a very touristy German town, for the morning, and then drove up to visit our good friend and fellow photographer Laura in San Marcos. After dinner at La Fogata, back in San Antonio (their margaritas should be illegal, but then I’d be sad), we met Deanna and Adrian for photos after dark in Downtown and on the Riverwalk. We also captured some around the hotel before bidding them farewell for the evening.
Guys, we had a simply incredible time working with you both, and it’s always a treat to visit a new city (or to return to a previous home). We simply cannot wait for your wedding next April!
Jason
Fantastic