2015’s Best Images | S&P Favorites | Seattle Wedding Photographer

2015’s Best Images | Salt & Pine Favorites!

Continuing with this year’s Best Images posts, we’re reviewing some of our personal favorite images from the year. This year was amazing and challenging all at the same time. We photographed 39 weddings across 7 different states; Kansas, Missouri, Maine, Washington, Oregon, Arkansas and Georgia. As well as countless engagement and adventure sessions all across the PNW. Oh right, and we moved 1,800 miles across the US. There was that little detail too.

Last year we simply showed a number of our favorite images shot throughout the year. This year we decided to take one step further and tell you WHY these images are our favorites, too. Let us know what you think!

-Salt & Pine

Joe – Saying that Darryl Ann and I LOVE the snow would be a massive understatement. So, when snow was in the forecast for our very first wedding of 2015 we both couldn’t wait. Wait we did though, the snow didn’t come until the very end of the night, but it was perfect. We rushed for our gear and our couple, and this image was born, kicking off our year with a bang and easily making it’s way into my personal favorites list of 2015!

Darryl Ann – This image was shot on the last night of an adventure photography workshop I attended this summer. I LOVE the rocky monuments off the coast of the PNW, and when the sun dipped down just far enough to cast moody colors across the sky, I knew it was the perfect moment for a “little people, big sky” image. The subtle details like the way Brittni and Trent are looking at each other, and ever so gently holding hands, just tops this shot off for me.

Joe – TONES…. mmmm rich tones and colors, they sooth my photographer soul. Seriously though Lexi and Sean took us to the top of this amazing old logging road for this incredible view that they have shared with each other ever since their days as high school sweethearts.

Darryl Ann – Any couple who talks to us about our style hears about how I’m the one always stepping in front of Joe to get that up-close-and-personal romantic image. I will admit that is absolutely true, and I love capturing these moments. Especially when the couple can totally forget I’m all of three feet away from them while their having the most adorable almost kissing moments. Katie and Josh absolutely nailed it.

Joe – In all honesty this shot was Darryl Ann’s brain child, but I ended up running with it. Silhouettes are some of my favorite shots to take because they force you as a photographer to tell a story with shapes. This particular image takes that one step further and sort of tells the story of Salt and Pine and our brand, a couple in love on an adventure with their pup.

Darryl Ann – This is actually one of Joe’s images, and in my opinion one of the absolute best images to this date. A lot aligned for this photo to be as epic as it is – Sarah & Nathan having lanterns as wedding favors, their wedding planner making the send off happen, and mother nature chipping in with one of the best sunsets of the year. While Joe might see faults in this image (he insists he should have backed up further), all I see is his amazing ability to just know the best angle of a shot – especially when he had all of 30 seconds to make a decision about where to stand. I couldn’t imagine this shot being better and I am constantly amazed by his talent.

Joe – Any couple who has worked with us knows that we make them get their cardio in. I love running shots, and it usually takes quite a few tries and awkward trips to get one just right. Throw in an alpine meadow full of wild flowers and a backdrop filled with jagged peaks, and I am pretty sure you can see why this image made my list.

Darryl Ann – Sometimes, I get the thought of an image in my head, and I create a favorite photo theoretically before I ever get to shoot it. From the moment we decided on moving to Washington, I became obsessed with this gorgeous image of a bride and groom with just trees all around them. I never knew just our second wedding in Washington and I’d get the chance to create an image that had been bouncing around in my head for almost a year!

Joe – Spot the couple in this image? Some images are just awesome because of what it took to make them happen. This particular image required Darryl Ann, myself, and our awesome couple to hike up this gorgeous Oregon landmark and then for me to sprint to the bottom and setup shop for a 10 image vertical panorama capturing the entirety of Multnomah falls, with our couple in the middle of it all.

Darryl Ann – So, remember how I said I loved rock monuments? This is one of our favorite little-known beaches, and we happened to visit it for the second time during a very low tide, making it possible to walk all the way out to the huge rock monument just off shore. Joe is typically the flash master, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve of my own to create this image from Liz & Dylan’s adventure session.

Joe – This image just screams movie poster to me, and the fact that it was 100% unstaged and 100% of Ross’s doing makes this image awesome. Moments like this one make me enjoy my job so much.

Darryl Ann – I will always be forever thankful to our couples who throw caution to the wind and traipse around in the rain and snow with us – every day, but especially in wedding attire. Also Denise does a killer twirl.

Joe – Confession time…. this is not my image, it is in fact Darryl Ann’s. Darryl Ann had the privealge of attending an adventure photography workshop this summer, and brought home this incredible image for me to turn green with envy over. I mentiioned how much I love making couples run during sessions always hoping for that one perfect shot. Well here it is guys, that one perfect running photo, and I didn’t even get to capture it.

Darryl Ann – Genuine moments. That’s what we’re out to capture every day. We’ve gone to great heights to make each and every couple feel as natural as possible in front of our cameras so we can create images like this of real moments, of real couples, in love. I have no idea what was said or done to get this reaction out of Blake and Brad, but it instantly became one of my favorites early in the year. Not to mention, their sweater game is on point.

Joe – Most photographers and brides hear rainy wedding day and cringe a bit. Not us, or Sierra and Daniel for that matter. These two got married in what I will always remember as the day that mother nature welcomed us to the PNW, the winds were crazy, the forecast called for 100% chance of rain all day, and at no point did the sky not scream doom. Somehow though mother nature gave us a break, and the rain never came until the very end of the day, and by the time it did we were chomping at the bit to make this image happen.

Darryl Ann – I will not apologize for including a photo from every one of this year’s snowy engagement sessions in this post. I love the snow. It’s the Mainer in me. I love this photo for two reasons. The first is the movement of Kate and Vic walking through the frame. The second is the incredible view of the snow falling on the mountainside behind them.

Joe – I am personally giving Mikel the groom of the year award for this shot. Most guys meerly tolerate engagement photos, but Mikel took off his boots, picked up his fiance, and braved the cold cascade water and rocky bottom of this pool to make this epic waterfall photo happen. How many guys out their are willing to do this for their photos?

Darryl Ann – Light. Light is the biggest factor in photography, and the way you see and photograph it can make or break an image. Because I entered photography from a sports perspective first, I’ve always lagged behind Joe’s incredible light-seeing abilities he developed from being a landscape photographer. Which brings me to why this image is so special to me – this is one of the first moments I intentionally saw light, and dragged our couple back out to the perfect spot to capture them in it. What would Joe say again? “Oh, the tones!”

Joe – Mmmm here is that rich amazing light again. Truly epic photos follow one simple recipe, add one cup amazing light to one cup epic sunset, then mix with a gorgeous couple, and finally toss the veil for good measure while assuming an adoreable pose. Pretty sure this image is going to rank pretty high in my book for a long time to come.

Darryl Ann – It’s always a treat when a couple wants to include one of their favorite activities in their engagement session. I love shooting lifestyle type photos, and Jessica and Alex’s engagement photos were super fun because they brought along all their fly fishing gear (and also their adorable pup, Arrow). These two make waders look good.

Joe – We love pushing the boundries and trying new techniques so sparkler images are a must at about half of our weddings, and it is always a good time. However, it doesn’t always (ever) come out quite this perfect, but when it does wow!

Darryl Ann – To round out my trifecta of wintery engagement photos, I give you Marisa and Mike. It was snowing huge gorgeous flakes during their session, and I can’t resist a good close and cuddly shot. Although to be honest, this is Joe’s image. How he managed to get around me for this shot, I’ll never know.

Joe – Speaking of new fun techniques, some of our couples have been told this year “just stand perfectly still for like 30 seconds” and I can only imagine what they must have thought as I snapped images seemingly randomly all around them. We have been playing with an idea called the Brenizer method, which allows us to create an extremely unique look by stiching multiple images together to form one. It has been a year of trying a lot of new things, and in what will likely be our last Brenizer of the year, I am proud to say that I think I finally nailed it.

Darryl Ann – I love this image because it breaks the rules. To fit Brittany and Seth into this image without blocking our view of the Olympics, I placed their silhouette against the ocean.

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