Montana is full of beautifully hidden gems and secluded little oasis’. Sometimes I get the opportunity to be shown new places and a chance to discover it’s beauty all over again. Who knew this East Glacier engagement session was hiding such beauty?

Keri being a Montana Native has a plethora of these private little magical spots in mind as we worked together to plan out her and Andre’s engagement session. It was a nice change of pace to have clients with locations in mind, and even more so, locations I had never been to before.

Planning The Engagement Session

This session is a great example of what can happen when you and your photographer work hand in hand to build your engagement session.

Living close to Glacier National Park has given me so many amazing opportunities to photograph couples’, families, and even weddings within the mountains of Northwest Montana. Most of the time my work takes me to the Western side of the park, where tourism is bubbling, and the views expand as far as the eyes can see.

This time Keri had a handful of Eastern Glacier locations on her list and I was excited and eager to explore them. The vast differences between the Eastern and Western sides of the park is quite breath taking. The west is often greener and more lush, but the East offers vast hills and riverscapes with the mountains stretching across the scene.

Looking Glass

Looking Glass is a name I had heard lots of times before but had not yet been to. With Keri and Andre in the car ahead of me, we drove up and down dirt roads and eventually onto a beautiful piece of Native land that Keri and her family have access to.

The drive in opened up to a beautiful field to one side, and the view of the mountains to the other. It was stunning. A beautiful view looking right over into the East side of GNP.

The pond they had chosen for their first location was such a sweet oasis in the Montana summer sun. A cool place for animals to gather a drink, or cool off in the water. It was still and quiet.

Running Man Falls

Oh my, this location is one that I will be adding to all future location lists. Not only is it absolutely stunning, but it was also so accessible. There was short little walk to get to this stunning spot where the rocks open up and the water flows.

This spot seemed to have it all the lower river area where you could walk out or wade in the water. In warmer months of course. Haha. There was also a higher spot where you could get up on a rock and get really epic wide shots. All in all this little gem was great and I can’t wait to add it to next summers locations guide!

St. Mary Overlook

There is a spot on the way to St. Mary Lake from East Glacier that has this beautiful art installation of Iron Tipis by the artist Duane After Buffalo. You can learn more about this installation and other Native Art here.

We chose this as our final location and, my friends, it was perfect! Literally!

We arrived around the time was setting and we lost light quickly, but we were able to get some pretty cool sunset photos, and then the moon shots! I can not get over how fun this was, to capture the moon during this session was so fun and unique. Since Keri and Andre will be getting married during next years super moon it felt fitting to add it to their east glacier engagement session!

Thanks For Reading

You can find more posts like this at amberlykayphotography.com and more images and stories on pinterest and instagram.

For booking inquiries click here.