Megan + Matthew Sunrise Engagement Session in Shenandoah National Park

Sunrise sessions on Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway are one of my favorite things in the world. In case you don’t know, Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs north-south through Shenandoah National Park. The Blue Ridge Parkway picks up where Skyline Drive ends and links Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smokey Mountains National Parks, from Waynesboro, Virginia, to Cherokee, North Carolina. 

I grew up hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains — my grandmother lives between Luray and Culpeper, Virginia, and most summers were spent exploring Old Rag, White Oak Canyon or Mary’s Rock. Later, I moved to and worked in North Carolina, spending the bulk of my time around Asheville and Boone. During that time, I switched mostly over to rock climbing and road biking rather than hiking, but pretty much every chance I got, I was exploring the other end of the Blue Ridge Mountains and wheeling up and down the parkway. 

Now it is one of my greatest pleasures to share my favorite spots with clients like Megan and Matthew. 

Megan said she found me by “a lot of Googling” and I’m SO glad she did. Megan and Matthew live in Washington, DC, but really wanted their engagement session to be on Skyline Drive — a place they’ve spent a lot of time exploring together over the course of their relationship. 

We chose to meet at Stony Man — a short hike outside of Luray that boasts gorgeous views and a perfect line to the sunrise. The downside of sunrise sessions is getting up rooster early and hiking to the view in the dark, but the light, solitude and beauty make it so, so worth it. 

Matthew had a cold the morning of the shoot and both of them were pretty tired from long travels earlier that week, but they were troopers and such a sweet couple, it was a joy exploring the mountains with them and documenting their love.