When my little sister told me she wanted to do her engagement photos at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville Florida, I got excited. Too often photo sessions associated with museums are dark and horribly lit. I knew the history museum had some gorgeous spots outside, so we planned on doing the butterfly exhibit and then taking portraits outdoors. I was determined that this museum engagement session would match my style and be what Colleen and Evan wanted.

Then it stormed. The forecast was clear up until the day of the session, and we couldn’t reschedule. So we decided to do it in the rain. Except they closed the butterfly exhibit due to lightning. Even as the rain subsided with plenty of time left to do the portraits, the butterfly exhibit wasn’t going to reopen. So we decided to go ahead and try and make it work.

We considered another location, but the natural history museum was Evan and Colleen’s first date, so they really wanted their engagement photos there. So I told them we would walk around and get what we could, and maybe go to the botanical gardens later to try and replicate the butterfly exhibit. Turns out, we didn’t need to! We got some amazing shots right there outside the museum. We walked around a bit and found some beautiful backdrops that still included the museum.

I’m so happy with how these photos turned out. Even though it was overcast and it wasn’t the original location plan, Evan and Colleen were troopers and we got even more portraits at the museum than originally intended.

You can view the full gallery at: https://clients.jessicathomasphoto.com/gallery/evan-colleen/