A Couple in Love – A Romantic Photoshoot in the Azores Islands
This is a story of an american girl who’s parents were Azorean.
The boy, had also someone in the family originally from San Miguel Island. I really cant recall who, but the point is, they chose this amazing place to capture photos of their engagement.
I guess, after they found a few photographers online, they choose me because of my portfolio, in photographing couples while on their vacations.
As you can imagine, the wWather is a big part of the deal when it comes to photograph in nature with nature light.
Generally, in the Azores islands, the weather prediction can be quite unpredictable to be honest, ahah. Specially at this time of the year, April.
As a friend of mine told me once: “is like guessing the weather in 9 tiny dots (9 islands) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, while having a Gulf stream warm water branch, with cold waters from the north, plus the Anticyclone of the Azores.” You just can’t tell.
So, as aphotographer, how do I manage this variabiity?
Well, in some cases, we need to anticipate or delay the day of the photoshoot. And this photo session was no exception.
Also, because I always provide private tours, we can change places very quickly depending on the weather, because if don’t know, in our islands, it can be raining in on spot, and 7 km away, it’s sunny.
That’s exactly how it hapened in this photo session.
Be spontaneous and let it be fun
The Azores islands are a group of 9. São (San) Miguel is the most developed one, but also with the biggest diversity of scenarios. I’m talking about several volcano lakes or lagoons, green vivid forests with moss which gives that fairy tail vibe. We have a lot of water falls because it rains pretty often. Also our coastline brings out the blues of the Ocean together with the Black of or sand beaches.
The background can be really diverse and beautiful, perfect for portrait photos, family photo sessions, proposals, singles travelers, you name it.
The experience is really unique and the colors palete you can’t find it on any other place on earth.
One of my favorite scenarios for a photoshoot - Azores Islands
Having said all that, Lauren and Spencer where such a fantastic couple and we had a blast taking photos in different places and also I explained the history of these islands, our culture, our nature.
We started in 7 Cidades Volcanic Complex, for it’s big diversity of volcanos lakes.
First stop, it’s was really windy so after some shots, we decided to moove to another closeby location inside the main volcano crater. And the background was incredible, with all the green trees comming out of the water.
Please, allow me to show you some examples of this engagement photoshoot:
I mean, personally I absolutely love this photos. And this couple is so beautiful. While editing I couldn’t hide my constant smile while feeling the hapiness of these 2 great people.
Their complicity was inspiring and I could see clearly how they connect and complete each other.
So, after a few nice pictures we decided to check the webcameras we have in our island because it started to rain. Ahahah. This is the Azores.
We mooved to south close to shore, in the Caloura harbour. It’s a very small fishing port in a very and cosy village in which in Summer is also a bathing area.
So clearly, the colors were different and this couple looked so cute in this photography session. Let me show you what I mean.:
A couple photography session by the Ocean in a Lighthouse (Azores- San Miguel island)
Known for its tranquily and also for it’s fresh fish restaurants, Caloura village provides a nice color palette where the black rock (Basalt) fuses with the blue of the Ocean with a sky with few coulds giving that nice texture.
So after we took some pictures here I poped the question, why we still have a nice sunset colors, do you want to go to a beach?
The aswer was easy, and we quickly ran into the car (The Bug - check article) to a beach 5 minutes away.
Once we reached there was almost noone. In fact that is one of the main objectives of this Photo Tour. Is to avoid massive crouds and give privacy and tranquility to my clients.
I helped them posing for the pictures but in a way they felt always confortable. It’s just some directions to get the best of people.
““A photograph is the pause button of life.” ”
So, if you're visiting the Azores and searching for a vacation photographer or planning a surprise proposal, I’d love to be part of your story
Feel free to check my available Programs I designed for you:
- Half Day Phototour;
- Full Day Phototour;
- Taylor Made Phototour.
Click on the text to go to the specific page and fill out the form, to request my services.
Thank for reading my article and have a wonderfull day :)
Kind regards,
Hugo Mendes - Photography in Azores (Instagram Account)
