John and Emily planned a simple elopement near Mineral Bluff in the north Georgia mountains.

They wanted real photographs of them enjoying their wedding ceremony and the celebrations following. In addition, they requested one of those beautiful landscape photos where they would be small in the frame. (In the industry, those are known as “ant people” photos.)

I don’t take photographs like that very often, so I studied up on the way photographers who took those photos on a regular basis framed the images, and the way they posed the couples. When I arrived at the cabin, I realized that the best laid plans of mice and men often do not play out as planned. The cabin was perched on the side of the mountain and there was no way John and Emily could walk off into the distance and become tiny in the frame.

So, we had to settle for the silhouette above. The golden hour light on the mountains in the background made for a fine landscape backdrop for the image.