By Monique

When I was not able to photograph Jen and Taylor’s wedding last December, I really wanted to do a special Trash the Dress session for her, and I knew she would be the perfect bride for my “Lady in the Lake” inspired session that I had been wanting to do for a while. Jen is one of my first friend’s that I met when I moved to Reno. We met at a yoga studio over 10 years ago, and, in fact, that yoga studio was the place I met all of my closest friends here. Jen even helped me complete my yoga teacher 200 hour RYT program about 7 years ago. I am very grateful for our friendship, and we often refer to each other as fairy sisters …. after all, deep down I have a hippy spirit from growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and our free spirited energy has kept us connected all these years.

We set out for Lake Tahoe on a Sunday evening in late June and stopped for a few images at Zephyr Cove. I love the color of Jen’s wedding dress, and it matched the aqua blue of the lake perfectly. I had her scrambling from rock to rock, and I asked her if she would be up for a few wedding dress yoga poses. ( I wish all of my brides could get in to a yoga pose in their dress for me!)

Then it was off to a place near south Lake Tahoe for the Lady in the Lake images. Scott and I had been scouting several locations a few weeks before, trying to find the perfect place … I needed to have lily pads, and a lot of them. Several spots we found had some boggy grassy reeds, until we finally took the drive up to Lily Lake. Of course, Lily Lake would have a ton of beautiful lily pads with their yellow flowers blooming by the dozens! By the time Jen and I got to Lily Lake, it was around 7:30 p.m. or so. I had warned Jen about the super squishy, sinkable muck that she would have to walk in to get in position among the lily pads, but I had not thought about the mosquitos! (Scott and I had visited the lake mid day and were not bothered by them at all) Jen and I were both getting eaten alive, and after about 30 minutes of shooting, we each had dozens of bites. She had a particularly large whopper of a bite right in the middle of her forehead … I photoshopped that one out! Despite the mosquitos, we had a great time, and thanks to Jen’s willingness to sink into the mucky earth and deal with the bugs, I got some amazing Lady in the Lake images! Thanks Jen, XOXO!

I gave Jen a long stick to help her balance to get in and out of position. There were a few moments when her feet sunk down so deep in to the soft mud that she had to wiggle back up to the surface.