They rode the bumper cars. The flying swings. Kissed on a Merry-Go-Round. Held hands on railroad tracks. Walked on the beach at sunset. Even got in a couple games of Skee-Ball.

Sounds like a great date. But it was Rosa & Adam’s engagement session at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk — the site of their actual first date.

When Adam told me that he and Rosa wanted their engagement session to be at the boardwalk, I got all sorts of excited. The lights, the colors, the rides — my mind was swimming with possibilities. Adam and I exchanged emails with ideas, talked about The Lost Boys, and also ended up canceling our scheduled session twice on account of not-so-great weather.

Which turned out to be great decisions, because on Monday it was sunny, clear and warm for our Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk engagement session. We had all sorts of fun shooting these pictures. And when the setting sun lit the rides from behind, turning the sky yellow and Rosa and Adam into silhouettes as I photographed them on the beach, I knew all my excitement and anticipation about their engagement session was worth it.