Back story:
Oliver has been a family friend of mine since we were kids. His family used to run a legendary yoga retreat called Yoga Stock which went on for 37 consecutive years, some of those for which my mom prepared her wonderful plant-based food fare and I attended as a kid. Since that time, I've also grown to be great friends with his brother Josh. To make our world even smaller, I've been best friends with his cousin Kavan even before that.
The first time I met Kaley was a few years back when she was introduced as Oli's girlfriend. I knew it must be serious as that was the first girlfriend of his I had ever met. I loved her from the get go! Besides being a university hockey player and triathlete like me, she was really down to earth, sweet and a truly perfect match for Oli when it came to loving the outdoors as much or more than him.
When we talked about doing their fall engagement shoot in Killarney Provincial Park I knew the potential for a great adventure & images was huge. Previously I had hiked the 78km La Cloche Silhouette Trail in the park with my family over 5 days as we walked, ate, swam & survived in some of the most beautiful & scenic nature found in Ontario. I hadn't been there during the Fall, but my guess was that the contrast between the white quartz rock and colorful leaves was going to be ridiculous. That alone was enough to have me itching at the chance to shoot with such a beautiful couple, as crazy as me, willing to sleep there overnight in potentially sub-zero temperatures.
Besides being rock star physiotherapists in Barrie, these two are the definition of an adventurous couple undaunted by cold nights, snow, bugs or anything in between. When I suggested it would be most epic to shoot at sunrise so we could get the warm golden sun on their faces, there was ZERO hesitation on anyone's part.
Due to their prior work commitments we were only able to leave Barrie by 6PM on a Friday night, meaning we would be driving, hiking and setting up our tents in the dark. All the more fun!
Let the Adventure Begin...
All packed up we headed into the wilderness for a short 2km hike, before finding a grassy beach off the path to camp on. This was a good spot as it would only leave us with 2-3km the next morning to get to the Crack which overlooks crystal clear lakes and all the colourful forests.
Isn't it nice to see things that are made in Canada and not the other C word?!
Despite the millions of stars shining brightly, we used our headlamps and these old railroad lanterns for light as we set up camp and Lucy (their loving Springer Spaniel puppy) ran around energetically interested in everything that moved.
It was a cold night sleep in -4 degrees Celsius as I pushed my marmot Always Summer bag to it's maximum. Despite wearing 2 pairs of wool socks wrapped in a North Face fleece, wool long underwear, hiking pants, a very warm Patagonia down jacket, gloves & balaclava, I tossed and turned for the last few hours as my toes struggled to stay warm & get blood circulation. When the alarms went off at 6am, I woke up to frost on the inside of my tent, nothing was more appealing than staying in the bag for one more 10 minute snooze.
Before leaving the tent, I remembered to take my phone, camera batteries and contact lenses out of my sleeping bag which had been put there to ensure a good charge the next morning. Cold is the enemy of batteries.
Sunrise was at 730AM and we had 2km to hike to our destination so we didn't waste much time before getting back on the trail.
Despite some leaves having fallen, the trail was dark under the canopy of trees and we had to pay attention to the non-reflective trail markers, especially as it became more technical during our climb up the quartz mountains. At some point we made a wrong turn on the bare exposed white rock and despite retracing our footsteps multiple times to the last blazer we couldn't find our way for a good 15 minutes. We found our way when we went back even further to discover we'd gone off track by following a commonly walked path leading to a lookout versus the main trail which continued in the forest below.
Back on track (but behind schedule) we all knew we'd be hard pressed to make it all the way to the top of the crack but no one panicked, blamed each other or got remotely stressed by the situation. I reminded them, as much as myself, that whatever was happening was meant to be and that we'd get whatever wonderful pics we were meant to.
As we started the climb towards the Crack, above the dense treeline, the sun was close to rising so we made the executive decision to start shooting on this beautiful area about half way up towards the crack. It had all the colours, vantage & white rock I was looking for so we got to work!
Let's Do This:
Stripping off their many layers of stylish and functional adventure clothing, neither complained about being cold and they held each other as the radiant sun rose in the distance. Our view perfect.
Normally extremely interested in everything we're doing, Lucy did such a wonderful job of keeping herself busy with the exception of showing up for the odd perfect pic with her parents.
Lucy's perfect pose:
There were so many background and lighting options on the various levels of the mountain, so we played...
They jumped...
They savored...
They snuggled...
We explored...
Lucy made a few more appearances...
Kaley could only hold off so long & leg wrapping ensued...
It was cold, time to get closer...
By this point our hands were frozen (so cold that Kaley couldn't even take her ring off to let me take macro shots) so we took a break to change outfits and warm up a bit. This was a good opportunity to take some portraits of each.
The handsome Oliver...
Now the beautiful Kaley (hats off to her lugging a dress all the way up the mountain)...
In total, we shot for about 2 hours before heading back to camp to pack up. It was a short whirlwind of an adventure.
There's that trail marker we were looking for ;)
Closing Remarks:
The time spent with these two was not only a lot of fun but really eye opening to me. What I find most admirable & rare about them is the level of patience and kindness when they speak to each other even in potentially stressful situations when it's easy to get short with your partner. For me at least, it's somewhat easy to get animated and/or slightly intense with a partner when it's freezing cold or you're hungry (my fiancée can vouch for that), you're setting up camp in the dark or you're lost in the middle of nowhere trying to find your way before the sun rises; but, the way Oli and Kaley speak to each other all the time is so respectful, so patient and so kind. It's really a beautiful thing to be around and a sure sign that they're in it for the long haul. There's just so much wisdom, maturity and sweetness among these two!
I can't wait to shoot their wedding next summer which is just a few weeks after Jess & I's.
Much love and gratitude for the opportunity to combine a great adventure with my passion for making art of people's love stories,
J