It is not unusual to find me on a hike in north­ern Geor­gia or neigh­bor­ing states. Love the out­doors and all the friends it has opened up since becom­ing a part of one of the southeast’s largest and most active hik­ing groups, Geor­gia Adven­tur­ers Group. I also use my out­door time to find the photo oppor­tu­ni­ties which some­times comes as the ded­i­cated pho­tog­ra­pher for some group events.

About four months ago, I had planned to join my hik­ing friends for a long week­end in Dahlonega, Geor­gia at a hiker hos­tel. Hav­ing done this in the past, I knew it would likely be a good time with new and old friends. Lit­tle did I know 6 weeks later I would be con­tacted by one of the old friends and asked if I could do pho­tos of her wed­ding cer­e­mony on top of a nearby moun­tain that weekend.

So Sat­ur­day morn­ing, we awoke at the hos­tel, and nearly thirty of us had break­fast together. Soon after a week packed up our gear needed for the ascent up Blood Moun­tain and then all gath­ered for car pooling.

I stayed with the bride and groom most of the way up and would take some can­did shots when stopped for breaks or when I saw a nice moment from the front as the group climbed. We also stopped for a few posed shots near overlooks.

Nearly two and a half miles later, we reached the sum­mit where bride planned to have the cer­e­mony. After ask­ing some boy scouts and few other hik­ers to give us space, we all gath­ered around and I setup posi­tion for photos.

Was a tough sit­u­a­tion with mid-​day sun beat­ing down on us all. Beau­ti­ful day but harsh for pho­tog­ra­phy. Using some flash for fill, I tried to off­set the con­trast­ing dark shad­ows and do what I could.

Later we headed back down and took off to the hos­tel where we cel­e­brated with a recep­tion that had been set up by those choos­ing not to climb the moun­tain. Nice week­end and was happy I could pro­vide friends with some mem­o­rable moments that could be saved and cher­ished through­out their new life together.