Photographing the Ones Who Taught Me Everything | Red Lodge Anniversary Session

There are sessions that are meaningful, and then there are sessions that quietly bring everything full circle.

This anniversary session in Red Lodge, Montana, was the latter for me.

The couple in front of my lens this morning weren’t just celebrating another year of marriage—they were the very people who first put a camera in my hands, who taught me how to see light, how to slow down, and how to fall in love with storytelling through photography. Long before I ever called myself a Montana wedding photographer, they were the ones who lit the spark that would eventually become my career.

We met before sunrise, willingly setting alarms for 5:00 a.m. and driving the quiet stretch of Hellroaring Road, just as the sky began to soften. There is something sacred about the Red Lodge mountains at that hour—before the wind picks up, before the world wakes, when the landscape feels untouched and deeply still. The mountains glowed as the sun slowly rose behind them, wrapping everything in that soft, golden light Montana is so famous for.

As a photographer based in Montana, I’m constantly inspired by the landscapes here—but this session reminded me that it’s the people within the landscape that matter most.

Watching them move together so effortlessly, laugh quietly, and settle into the comfort that only years of shared life can create was incredibly grounding. No posing felt forced. No moment needed to be manufactured. It was honest, intimate, and deeply reflective of the kind of love that only grows richer with time.

These are the sessions that shape how I photograph weddings and anniversaries across Montana—from Red Lodge to Bozeman, Billings, and beyond. This is why I love sunrise sessions, why I encourage my couples to embrace the early mornings and quiet moments. Because the beauty isn’t just in the mountains—it’s in the connection, the history, and the stories that unfold naturally when space is given for them to breathe.

Photographing this anniversary session in the Red Lodge mountains felt like a thank-you I didn’t know how to put into words until now. A thank-you for the passion they passed on to me. A thank-you for trusting me with their memories. And a reminder of why I do what I do as a Montana wedding and couples photographer—to preserve love stories in the places that feel like home.

Getting up at 5 a.m. was more than worth it.