Eric and Julie had gorgeous light for their sunset Pearson Arastradero Preserve engagement shoot in Palo Alto, a location they discovered on Instagram when they started researching locations with the dead grass look. Being that we shot in the summer, the openness of Pearson – Arastradero Preserve allowed for a seemingly endless supply of dead grass! It was so fun shooting here as it was the first time coming to this location for me, let alone shooting in it. At the same time, most people like the nature look and the appearance of life in the scene, so getting to shoot in a somewhat opposite setting was a nice change of pace for me.

With such an open space, I can imagine it normally being pretty hot in the summer, but fortunately it was a mild summer day in Palo Alto with a slight breeze. Pearson – Arastradero Preserve is pretty consistent in terms of view, so it was a fun challenge to shoot something different than what they anticipated in their research online. With gorgeous light throughout the shoot,  it was pretty hard not to take some awesome photos no matter what direction we turned! With the slight breeze, I noticed tall stalks of grass in the distance that reminded me of a corn field, which provided a unique view at this seemingly static location. The dead grass blowing in the wind also created some amazing reflections of the sunset light and I was immediately drawn to the golden light that reflected off of it. I feel we made some awesome silhouette photos with this scenery…I definitely got overly excited! I can see why they chose this dead grass look for their engagement session. The yellows and oranges of the dead grass with the gorgeous unfiltered sunset provided great photo opportunities during this Pearson Arastradero Preserve engagement . 

If Palo Alto isn’t your thing, check out these location ideas around San Francisco.