Windswept Prairie Engagement Session

A windswept prairie engagement session just outside Iowa City

This park is truly one of Iowa City’s best kept secrets, and a wonderful place for an engagement session in Iowa City. The Corridor area has tons of beautiful spots on the lake and trail systems but you don’t really hear about the trails in West Branch. Just past the Presidential Library and adjacent to President Herbert Hoover’s burial site is the gorgeous prairie and woodland area that the city maintains as a walking trail. You can just see the McDonalds’s arches over the prairie hill, which is kind of fun to see in the sea of grass. Interstate 80 can be heard roaring just out of sight. It feels distinctly like Kansas, but I’m not really sure why because I’ve never been to Kansas.

This session turned out just how I envisioned and I LOVE the 60s/70s vintage vibes. I’m reminded of Marlboro ads. A lot of the prairies around the area are super muddy right now, and I spent an enjoyable Sunday morning driving out to several of them before I remembered this area to the east. Of course, it was perfect! It is just elevated, sunny, and exposed to the wind enough that the mud was pretty much nonexistent. I loved this spot so much I decided to use it for my upcoming motherhood mini sessions, too. (Those are on April 24, 2022 and you can signup for a slot here on SignupGenius.com)

As the title suggests, it was pretty windy here but they both handled it beautifully. A bit of wind can really add to the emotion of the session, giving it a free-spirited feeling (which was accented so well with their outfits here). Movement really speaks to me in a photograph, so having the extra movement from the wind is always a benefit, in my artistic opinion. Also, I just think these two are so gorgeous together!