Driving into Devil’s Lake State Park was like stepping into another world.  Fall had been forming around us for weeks now and I thought I had seen ‘Peak’ color (or the lack of it) for the year.  For some reason, unknown to me, Devil’s Lake was experiencing Fall on roids.  There were literally trees bursting with color, in an almost atomic manner, that just wasn’t happening anywhere else I had seen in the area.  It was the sort of scenario you walk into and say ” gee, I’d really like to take a photo of this,” and lucky for me that’s just what I was there to do.  Chris and Nikki are getting married next summer and wanted to get a Fall session in for their engagement photos.  Not having been to Devil’s lake for like 6 years or so, it was nice to try to just take it all in.  We began by shooting in and around a pavilion and moved on to the lake, woods, and cliffs from there.  Chris and Nikki made my job a cinch by being easy going, adventurous, and helping scout locations.  They’re obviously a great pair, and as they walked hand and hand through the woods, slow danced on top of the rocks, and splashed around in the lake, it was easy to tell that they’re in love and very in tune with one another.  It was amazing to be on the rocks on the hill, over looking the lake, the sun adding a golden touch to the fore-mentioned fall foliage.  As we were up there train whistles blew as a freight liner moved through the park.  The temptation was heavy for me to call the hill side location done, and race down to the bottom  to try to catch some shots with the speeding train as a backdrop.  Luckily I was able to resist, as some of my favorite shots were created up and around there in the minutes that followed.  It’s always nice to get out and shoot in a unfamiliar location, uncovering new backdrops, and in this case really getting to experience ‘Peak’ Fall color for the year.  Thanks Chris and Nikki for the good excuse to take time to make the trip up and we’re excited to be shooting your wedding next year.  Here are some of our favorites from the session.  – Derrick