Kobota Garden Engagement Session with Kelly and David

A couple of weeks ago on a late September Saturday I met with Kelly and David at the Kubota Garden in Seattle for their engagement photo session.  I love Kubota, and have been taking photos here for more than 30 years.  In that time the Garden has been expanded nicely by Seattle Parks, while the original parts of the Garden have been improved by some much-needed maintenance.  I was quite excited to be back at Kubota for this session, as I had not been there since the dredging of some of the ponds had been completed and I was looking forward to seeing the results of all the work.

The weather was kind of typical Seattle September when we met at the park entrance; overcast but a very pleasant temperature.  Another big plus was that it had been dry for the last few days, so there was very little mud.  Kelly and David had not had a chance to explore the park before, so this session gave them a nice chance to experience the park while having their engagement photos taken.

We started at the Moon Bridge, probably the best known feature of the Garden.  Not too long ago the pond and stream that the bridge spans were so full of mud that Seattle Parks had to bring in backhoes to dredge out the mud, a process that took over a year.  The results are wonderful!  The ponds and stream are now clear and deep and free of mud, like I remember them when I first took photos here years ago.  The clear water can create some beautiful reflections, and as I worked with David and Kelly we tried to find angles that would maximize their reflections in the water.

Next we moved to the biggest waterfall in the Garden, which had a nice amount of water flowing after the rainfall earlier in the week.  Kelly and David proved to be very sure-footed, and were happy to climb up close to the falls for a few shots.

We continued to make our way around the park, stopping whenever we spotted a location that looked good, which happened pretty often!  One of the larger ponds was full of Koi, many of which were well over a foot long.  these fish are obviously used to being fed by either park staff or visitors, and as Kelly and David got near the water the Koi would head their way, obviously hoping for some food.  Because it was a pretty nice Saturday there were quite a few other people in the park, but we were pretty successful in avoiding too many photo-bombers.

We finally made our way back to the entrance gate after a pretty complete circuit of the park.  Kelly and David proved to be excellent subjects, and I think we got a lot of good photos.  Here is a selection from the day, I hope you enjoy them!