Painted Hills Engagement, John Day National Park // Steph & Sean Connection Session

I’ve been to Painted Hills out in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument by Mitchell, Oregon a couple of times, but never for an engagement session. The Painted Hills are one of the three units that comprise the John Day Fossil Beds Monument and provides a gorgeous backgrounds of stripped hills of red, tan, orange and black. So when Steph & Sean suggested doing their engagement session at Painted Hills, I jumped on the opportunity. The kicker? Steph & Sean wanted to include their dog Lucy! As a pawrent myself, of course I said “yes!” Lucy almost stole the show if you asked me. 😏

We started just outside the official park boundaries of the Painted Hills as I saw a stunning backdrop that would provide a different perspective than the official Painted Hills Park would. These little stripped hills were easy to access and provided a nice area for Lucy to get her zoomies out. After running around for a few warm up poses (it was actually very easy to take Steph & Sean’s engagement photos if you couldn’t tell), we moved closer to the official Painted Hills area and continued the engagement session in some tall wheat grass. Steph brought out a beautiful white blanket to cuddle up with Sean in, and boy did they look cute! Finally, we moved onto the “official” Painted Hills park area and spent a good hour and a half marveling and wondering around, taking in the stunning views that the Painted Hills provides. In addition to being well-dressed, Steph & Sean’s choice of color palette was impeccable *chef kisses. Lastly as we headed out of Painted Hills Park, we ended the engagement session with some blue hour photos in front of their vehicle’s headlights.

Not only did their engagement session come out beautifully, but I got to get creative with my directing of poses and glad they were game. With each session I do, I attempted to do something a little different than the typical photo session. This keeps things interesting and “new” for me. The Painted Hills in Oregon definitely helped with being a fall back in the case I lacked in creativity. 😅

What do you think of this engagement session at the Painted Hills? Does this look like something you can see yourself in for your engagement photos inside of John Day Fossil Beds Monument? Click the button below and let’s start a conversation on how I can be your Painted Hills engagement photographer!