At many of my engagement sessions, I’m getting to know a new couple and exploring a new area. For Yvonne & Andrew’s San Jose engagement session, I got to explore my own neighborhood with a couple I’ve known for years.

Yvonne & I used to work together back when I was a newspaper photographer. I was thrilled when she and Andrew asked me to be their wedding photographer.

For their engagement session, we started at the Rose Garden, where I was able to make some pictures that looked like we had traveled to a redwood grove. From there, we visited the lush gardens of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Then we headed to some of the cool murals in San Jose’s Japantown and the vintage Hart’s department store advertisement painted on an old graffiti-covered brick building.

The South Bay is known for having excellent weather, but we were thrown a curveball when the clouds rolled in and made the evening chilly. The chill paid off when the sun peeked through a crack in the clouds and gave us a phenomenal sunset. We rushed to the top of a parking garage to get a clear view of it.

Check out my favorite images from our session in the gallery below.