Jackie’s session crossed another item off the Professional Photographer’s Achievement List: photograph a session in the rain!
Austin seriously put a damper on photographers this autumn, pun completely and totally intended. Most of my senior session this year have been photographed on grey, wet days, so I wasn’t initially too concerned about Jackie’s session. One huge benefit of photographing downtown is plenty of covered areas in which to photograph should the occasional sprinkle arise. So far, so good.
But flooding is another matter entirely.
In the days leading up to Jackie’s session, I stalked LCRA on Twitter for news. We had planned to photograph at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge but I was concerned about how accessible the bridge would be with local flooding and the potential for additional floodgates to be opened.
Mercifully, on the day of the shoot, floodgates remained closed and it stopped raining as I drove down from north Austin. I nixed our back-up plan of photographing at The Long Center and we committed to the bridge. That ended up being a providential decision, since tents were set up at The Long Center and surrounding lawn, which wouldn’t have made for pretty photographs.
As Jackie and I walked across the bridge to begin our session…it started raining. Thankfully, the Pfluger Bridge has a beautiful covered walkway grown over with vines. We made use of our umbrella and I was very glad I’d packed a raincoat! After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped and we were able to photograph the rest of the session without combatting wet weather.
I’m not a wedding photographer, but in a sense, this session was like a wedding: the weather wasn’t ideal, but it was an event we couldn’t reschedule. Jackie’s availability was very limited so in keeping with her musical theatre background, the show had to go on. Jackie was flexible and relaxed, willing to experiment and work with what the weather offered.
Jackie, your session definitely wins Most Memorable Adventure in what has been a very adventurous autumn. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation and thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of celebrating this moment!
