Confession of a wedding photographer: I’ve *always* wanted to take carnival engagement photos.  There’s something about the lights and the colors that always make for fun, candid photos!  I was chatting with Cayla at coffee a few weeks ago and she was trying to decide on an anniversary session for her and David.  That’s when I shared about wanting to shoot at the carnival.  Well, it turns out that Cayla and David spent one of their first summers together working at the carnival, so the idea really appealed to her, as well.  The exact carnival that they traveled with was in Round Rock last week, so we made magic happen!

Here’s where it gets crazy.  We timed this Carnival engagement session (ok, it was their anniversary) to happen just before sunset so we could capture the lights of the carnival.   However, the lights didn’t come on until ten minutes before sunset.  I was tempted to change locations because the lights weren’t on and it was crazy packed.  However, Dylan (yes, my husband went to a photo shoot with me for the first time in over two years) encouraged me to get what I could before moving in case the lines got too long.  So, we hopped on the carousel.

Carousel Photos

The thing I knew would happen, but I wasn’t prepared for the consequences: the horses move up and down and the ride spins in a circle.  This kids’ ride put me on the struggle bus! HAHA!  The light is changing the entire time. From side lit to beautiful light from the front to back lit because we’re moving in a complete 360.  Cayla is on the horse, so her relative height to David is changing constantly.  On top of that, the background is changing from the Ferris Wheel to the parking lot to people to the mirrored maze. And, I’m spinning backwards for the majority of the ride. All of this meant that I felt like I was spinning and was quite disoriented for the rest of the shoot.  HAHA!

But, these two are TROOPERS and we STILL made magic happen!!  We had exactly three minutes on the carousel and I’m so proud of these!

Carnival Engagement Photos

This is the part that makes my heart sing and has all my carnival engagement photos dreams coming true!  The lights finally came on and this was what we’d been hoping for!

Night Time Ferris Wheel Couple’s Photos

Cayla and David are the creatives behind Carhart Photography.  She takes the photos and he makes the videos.  They were 100% on board with just playing for our time on the Ferris Wheel!  So, you’ll see direct flash, bounced flash, and available light for these next few.

Cayla and David – thank you so much for meeting up with us last week to make my Carnival engagement photos dreams come true!  Thank you for braving the crowd and all the spinning – y’all are the real MVPs!

– Mylah Renae