This Russian Ridge couples session was actually (one of) my birthday present(s) from Sam. I realized the last time we took any photos together was way back in April in Korea, so I decided that had to change! I am so lucky that Sam is always up for taking photos with me. Seriously. Best boyfriend ever ;). He will drive us to wherever I want and will even let me pick out his clothes!

I bought this Eliza J blue and white maxi dress as my reward to myself for finishing the Composing Boldly with Light breakout back in May. I’ve been eyeing for years, waiting for it to go on sale, but it never has, haha! So I just splurged and treated myself 🙂 I also ended up bringing it to Paris, where it was perfect against all that gorgeous architecture. I’ll share those photos soon!

The original plan was to take photos up on Windy Hill. I’ve done some sessions down at the bottom entrance, but haven’t done any up at the top off Skyline. When we got up there though, I realized that the location was better for a sunrise shoot than a sunset one. We hopped back into the car and drove a couple minutes down the road to Russian Ridge. Once we got there, I could see we would be chasing the sun. So we booked it up the trail (me in my long fancy dress and heels, haha!) and reached a little clearing where we were getting the last bits of sun. I immediately set up my tripod to get a few, even though the path wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. The light was just too pretty to pass up! Then a few kids photobombed the shot, hehe.

We ended up losing the sun entirely, as you can see in the photo above, so we kept heading up the hills. The problem with Russian Ridge (and Windy Hill) at sunset, is that you’re on the wrong side of the hills! The sun is setting on the other side of the hill, so you’re constantly having to climb to get higher up. Eventually, we made it up to the top of the hill where we have our annual Valentine’s Day picnic. From here, there was the most incredible view of the fog banks rolling in. Unfortunately, for the first photos, my composition was off, haha. The perils of self portraiture ;). Still sharing them, because I still love them! The colors were absolutely incredible all around. Even after the sun had set, there were hints of color in the sky… at the very end, you could even see the lights starting to turn on in the houses below, which was pretty spectacular. It was incredibly windy up there, which I loved for the motion in my skirt, but was less ideal for my hair, haha. It’s tough with self portraiture, because I never know the exact time the camera will go off, so it’s harder to manage windblown hair! I can’t wait for a couple who will hike up here with me though, because that wind with clients… dream come true!

After the sun set, we hurried down the hill to the car (about a 20 minute walk) because the sky was rapidly darkening. By the time we made it to the car, there was pretty much no light in the sky anymore!

Contact me or email me at alice@aliceche.com now to book your Russian Ridge couples session now!

If you liked this session, you might also enjoy this blog post of our weekend at Point Montara or the stunning sunset at Lake Tahoe.

Alice Che is a San Francisco Wedding Photographer based in the Bay Area specializing in intimate, emotional wedding, engagement, couple and boudoir photography. Serving the South Bay, Peninsula, and East Bay: San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos, Burlingame, Los Altos, Milpitas, Union City, Fremont, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz and surrounding areas.