Max, Kat, the El Nido sunset, jaw-dropping as always, and a healthy dose of Seattle weather. Which, in hindsight, worked to our advantage:
1. The cold blue atmospheric ambience juxtaposed well with Kat's warm yellow dress;
2. Gloomy weather scared half-hearted tourists away - perfect for shooting inside the Big Lagoon, which was surprisingly empty during midday primetime, and yes, minus the cacophony that's akin to something that also happens during midday primetime in the Philippines: noontime variety shows;
3. Seattle-like lighting and weather conditions that a couple from the Pacific Northwest would feel very much at home to; Max & Kat were as close and as cozy as possible.
4. Stormy weather sunsets are more interesting, don't you think? Just as long as the clouds don't cover the sun entirely. And the blue hour that comes after? Blue-aqua-orange-red-pink hour rather.
...and besides, my skin has already taken a severe beating from Siargao, Singapore (hot AF = hot as a furnace) and El Nido, for weeks on end, in this month alone. Mother of tan lines.
Oh, and yes, Skipper Charters. I gotta give it to these guys. I've done "quite a number" of shoots in El Nido (*faux cough sounds like *thirty* *forty* *) and surprisingly, I had two "oh good Lord, how great and marvelous are your woks" moments during this shoot alone: Skipper Charter's private beach with a jetty made of bamboo (so indigenously picturesque!), and a secret cove that's reminiscent of Danny Boyle's "The Beach". But I can't tell you where that one is. If I did, I would *ends abruptly*
El Nido engagement photos: Max & Kat's El Nido adventure engagement session, on an island hopping private tour (Tour A) with Skipper Charters. Photography x engagement photographer @redsheepphotocinema. Shot on location: Pinagbuyutan Island, Big Lagoon, Skipper Charters' private beach and Matinloc Island, Las Cabanas and Maremegmeg, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, Color remastered August 2021.