Miriam and Calvin overlapped at Stanford, but they didn’t meet until they worked together at Udacity. Miriam is an avid baker and I love following her on Instagram to see the amazing cakes and macarons and cookies she makes. Calvin is a videographer, so it was fun chatting about camera gear with him. I first met Miriam and Calvin right about when I started noticing Sam. I still remember Miriam inviting me to a party at their house and asking her if Sam would be there, haha! I don’t think we saw each other again in the past four years, but funnily enough, the same weekend we scheduled this session, we ended up doing an escape room together too! I had such an amazing time hanging out with them and catching up during their Woodside engagement session that we immediately made plans to have dinner together the next week. I’m not letting four years go by before I see these two again!

They totally killed it with their outfits! Calvin looked so handsome in his suit and Miriam’s flowing burgundy dress was perfect for the golden hillsides and the wind. Also, I am so obsessed with Miriam’s beautiful ring. I love how delicate it is. It reminded me of Melanie Casey’s beautiful jewelry.

I showed up at Russian Ridge 45 minutes early because I was nervous about the light. Although I’ve photographed at Russian Ridge several times before, the light changes every single time! There aren’t any trees to diffuse the light, so it tends to be super bright until right before sunset. I literally walked around for 45 minutes trying to find a tree that would diffuse the light, but the one tree I found was down a very muddy path and I aborted the plan when my sandals sank into the mud, haha. Luckily, there was a tree right by the edge of the road that worked perfectly for the first few photos and then we walked up the hill until the light softened a bit. The walk helped us warm up a bit too, because it was definitely chilly despite the bright sun!