Gemma & Charlie


Holy cow, it's been a while since I have seen Gemma and Charlie but boy am I happy to be saying I'm blogging about them again. Yeah, you read that right... again! I had the honor of capturing their bridals at Big Sur a while back and even blogged it when it happened ;) You can check that Big Sur Elopement here!


Gemma and Charlie live in the Bay Area in California, but both of their families live in Utah. Coincidentally while they were in Utah visiting family for the holidays, my hubby and I had just relocated to Utah - woohoo! I had ended up posting that I wanted to do some more sessions before the holidays and lo and behold, Gemma reached out. I was beyond excited since I hadn't seen Gemma and Charlie for two years, since their Big Sur Elopement portraits, so I was on board for anything and everything with them!


Typically before I meet with couples I will usually discuss what kind of vibes they are going for. Since Gemma and Charlie have shot with me in the past, however, we were basically on the same page. Candid, creative, and fun were the words that stood out and we were absolutely rollin' with it. For those of you who don't know, Gemma is also a photographer and it can be nerve-wracking sometimes to shoot other photographers. You can check out @fotogems here! Although I was nervous, I set my nerves aside because I knew we were just going to have such an amazing day.


sunrise couples session in salt lake city, utah


I brought along Joe, my hubby/second shooter/partner in crime for this shoot. It ended up almost being like a double date! It was sunrise when we started this session and anyone who has ever done a sunrise session knows that these mornings just hit differently. Despite being half-asleep on the drive into the city, we made it work because we knew that it was going to be absolutely epic and beautiful.


If you've been following my work for a while you would know I love rooftop garages. I don't know what it is, but something about them has me in a chokehold! So naturally, the first thing we had to do was head to a rooftop parking garage here in Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. We knew for this shoot that we wanted the gorgeous mountain views, but with city vibes so this was pretty much the best of both worlds. Since it was so early in the morning, the sun hadn't even risen yet. So think cold and dark lol. Don't worry though, we're used to improvising and were still able to keep ourselves warm and have fun as we awaited sunrise.


We really focused on keeping things light-hearted and fun and creative, so playing around with different lighting, movements, and poses really made it just that much more special. It could have been the pressure of taking photos of another photographer, or the early morning rush but either way I fell in love with these photos.


train rides around downtown salt lake city, utah


To finish off their session, we decided to hit the tracks... literally! In Salt Lake City, Utah you can take the train a certain amount of times/stops and it's free! So we headed to the train station to get a few more urban-type feel photos and rode a few blocks to explore downtown a bit more. It was a great way to create some diversity throughout their session, have fun and have a little bit of an adventure which I think is great to make your session more unique and personal to you.

If you loved reading this Salt Lake City Utah Couples Session, then you're going to love this blog!


Photos By Gayle does more than just take photos of people. Rather, it is capturing moments of LOVE and HAPPINESS. Singing to the skies, dancing in a field, smiles that hurt because they’re so big. There is nothing else I would rather be doing than photographing these unique details that make you and your significant other a couple. If these photos from Gemma & Charlie's session puts a spark in you, you know where to click <——— right there!