Salisbury Beach State Reservation Engagement Session

SALISBURY BEACH BOSTON ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHER

“If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” — Mark Twain.

My blog entries are starting to read more like Farmer’s Almanac, because I’m usually talking about some aspect of the weather as it relates to photography sessions. But when you’re living in the Northeast, scheduling and possibly rescheduling around Mother Nature’s fickleness is par the course. I always keep an eye on the weather in the days — and hours — leading up to a booking. Sunny is good. Overcast is great, too, with the cloudy soft light allowing you to shoot in any direction verses sunny days where you’ll want to shoot with the sun at a subject’s backside. High winds or extreme cold are valid reasons to postpone. And then there’s rain, which means cancelling for sure: wet equipment and wet clients, no good.

For this particular engagement session, the day had been warm & sunny with no showers predicted, until I was on the road to the session, and the thunderclouds pounded in with a downpour. I arrived at Salisbury Beach State Reservation to meet A & S, and with the rain still coming down but our mindset already primed to shoot that day, we decided to wait it out… and this is where you come to the question: when should a session be postponed due to weather? And the answer, at least here in New England, is see how long you can wait things out, because the weather changes so quickly. The forecast might say it’s going to rain the next day, but rather than rescheduling that night, wait until morning to see what the skies truly bring.

Mark Twain said wait a few minutes, but we gave it twenty. By then, the storm did pass, and boy, am I glad we waited. The rain completely cleared out the beach to our benefit with few in sight. The temperatures comfortably cooled. The post-storm light and clouds were dramatic and beautiful. And yes, there was a rainbow. And this couple deserved it.

A & S, thank you so much for inviting me to capture your engagement. I had an amazing time!