Spontaneous Engagement in Downtown Santa Ana, California | Stephanie + Justin

Jackie Batch Photography
Oct 30, 2018
2 min read

Updated: Feb 17, 2021

Downtown Santa Ana

Flexibility and spontaneous inspiration are incredibly valuable tools for any photographer to nurture, and the longer I shoot the more fun I have tapping into them.

Stephanie + Justin reached out to me extremely last minute, and we were able to throw together a perfectly planned session to take place the following day. Of course, regardless of plans...sometimes life happens - and boy did life happen.

There we were, thirty minutes out from our session start time...stuck two hours away from location...in a car with a dead battery. Most people may have called it quits, rescheduled or simply melted into a pile of stress - but the three of us quickly began typing away on our Iphones in search of a backup plan while sitting in the parking lot often referred to as "the 5" (hah!). In a matter of minutes a friend arrived to trade cars & our improvised destination was set. We rolled into Santa Ana not completely sure what we would find or where we would end up, but we went with it! Stephanie + Justin put complete trust in me, that despite all plans being scratched we would get them a session as beautiful & unique as they had dreamed...and we struck gold. Wandering through alleyways, finding our way into secluded artist's studio space, taking over the lobby of a bankruptcy court, popping bottles of champagne above the city and finally stumbling upon an adorable little bar where we ended the evening with a drink and generous amounts of laughter + conversation.

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In the end we had an unforgettable adventure exploring new areas & creating a session completely unique to the two of them. Here are a few highlights from our evening.

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