Hayley and Kenny:
Engagement Portrait in Bay St. Louis

The small but beloved and scenic town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi has quite a few great spots for engagement and bridal portrait sessions. Of course, if there’s one thing in life that’s certain, it’s change.

One of my previous favorite locations in the Bay St. Louis area was the remains of a bank near the beach, where all that was left standing at the site after Hurricane Katrina washed the building away was the old vault. Weathered, grungy walls like that make for a fantastic background for photographs. That spot no longer exists, as the bank has been rebuilt in a development revival of this beachfront area… good for the town, but unfortunate for me as a photographer!

However, the revitalized area near the newly constructed harbor still had some great spots to work with for this Mississippi couple, and also has a fabulous new wedding venue, 200 North Beach Restaurant and Bar, which opened a very nice looking event space in 2021.

After shooting along the beachfront area for a while, we then headed over to the area around the old train depot to continue the session. As soon as we arrived there, my eye immediately went to the decrepit and rusty remains of an old rail car sitting on the tracks. Fortunately, the groom had an old jacket in his car that he was willing to place down on the rusted steel for them to safely sit on, and we captured a beautiful series of shots. The stark visual contrast provided by this kind of juxtaposition of an attractive and well-dressed couple with a grungy old piece of machinery or building is always appealing to me.

We then ended the session back at the beach for a few final dusk shots.