The day started late as I gathered up my gear; charging batteries, making sure my cards were empty, deciding which lens’ I wanted to take. I stopped by Nelson’s to get an extra charger and was happy to find that they had a universal charger. This puppy can be used in your car, a standard outlet, and even a European outlet! Plus, it was only $26 which made it even better.

The day before I had contacted Allison and asked if she’d be interested in shooting. Thankfully she was because I had heard that Lake Elsinore was ablaze with poppies from the Super Bloom and I was desperate to go and see it for myself! We settled to meet up at 2:00pm at the poppy fields and shoot until sunset. What we didn’t know was that traffic was going to be our biggest hurdle of the day. So off I went, driving out of San Diego until I reached the 15N and continued on until I got about 5 miles from the Lake Street.

It was around that time that Allison had texted me, saying that they were experiencing traffic and sure enough I found myself stuck in traffic too. It took us two hours to go five miles and by some act of God Allison’s car had ended up right behind mine. To keep this story short, we sat in traffic for two hours and spent one hour literally ON THE OFF RAMP. Meaning, we didn’t move for a whole hour. At one point a cop had come and closed the exit…right behind Allison’s car!!! Did I just see a miracle take place? By the time we found a parking spot it was 5:00pm and dark clouds had filled the sky. I was seriously worried that I wouldn’t have any light left but we got ready and headed up to the hillside.

Just as I took the first few shots the clouds parted and the sun was showing off it’s golden glow. The hills all around us soaked up the sunshine and the poppies looked as though they were on fire. It was as if thousands of candles were lit at the same time as the hills glowed a bright orange. I knew that the Super Bloom was going to be beautiful but I was glad I could see it with my own eyes.

We spent the next two hours shooting until the last beams of light slowly dipped down behind the mountain. Allison was working her model magic and the outfits she pulled together were on point. It was a perfect shoot and I couldn’t have planned it better.