Here’s a list of outdoor photo locations I’ve prepared for my clients to help decide where they’d like to have their family photos, maternity photos, 6 month or 12 month milestone photos.
Some of the locations near the end have an additional fee due to the distance and hike in/out time involved.
Looking for indoor photo inspiration? I have a post for that, too – click here.
Table of Contents
- Columbia County Outdoor Photo Locations
- West of Portland Outdoor Photo Locations
- Central Portland Outdoor Photo Locations
- East Portland Outdoor Photo Locations (additional fee)
- Tigard / Lake Oswego Outdoor Photo Locations
- Vancouver Outdoor Photo Locations
- Fall – Seasonal Outdoor Photo Locations
- Spring – Seasonal Outdoor Photo Locations
- Summer – Seasonal Outdoor Photo Locations
- Winter – Seasonal Outdoor Photo Locations
- Indoor photo inspiration
Columbia County Outdoor Photo Locations
Liberty Hill, St Helens OR
- Type: Tall grass, trees, glowy light (summer) or floral, purple camas blooms in spring (April)
- Ideal time of day: cloudy overcast day for spring purple camas flower blooms; sunset, golden hour for summer brown grass
- Ideal time of year: spring through summer – avoid rainy months or bring rain boots, gets really soggy with literal streams
- Additional info: technically private property but many people use the walking paths here so it feels pretty safe. Spring has purple camas flowers, summer has brown grass and trees.
Beaver Falls, Clatskanie OR
- Type: waterfall, green forest
- Ideal time of day: 9am-10am or 3pm-5pm
- Ideal time of year: spring, summer
- Additional info: This is a popular swimming hole in the summer. Prepare to get wet from the waterfall mist, take that into account if it’s cool outside.
Asburry Park, St Helens OR
- Type: Short green grass, some tree coverage. In fall there can be tall brown grass.
- Ideal time of day: sunset, golden hour
- Ideal time of year: fall preferred, but any time of year works here
- Additional info: This is a dog park so there are sometimes dog poop land mines.
Bernet Farms, Scappoose OR
- Type: Grass, trees, pumpkins in the fall
- Ideal time of day: sunset, golden hour
- Ideal time of year: any time of year
- Additional info: Private property but I can request permission from the owner
Pixie Park, St Helens OR
- Type: river beach, water
- Ideal time of day: sunrise or another time of day if it is cloudy/overcast
- Ideal time of year: summer is ideal. Wind tends to be too cold off the river for littles if it’s not warm enough outside.
- Additional info: The sun faces the wrong direction for sunset golden hour – need to go early morning or only go on an overcast cloudy day to avoid bright harsh lighting.
Trojan Park
- Type: water, geese, mountain view, trees, fall leaves in October
- Ideal time of day: sunset golden hour
- Ideal time of year: any time of year
Field in Clatskanie
- Type: brown grass
- Ideal time of day: sunset golden hour
- Ideal time of year: Summer months
- Additional info:
- Photo: coming soon
West of Portland Outdoor Photo Locations
Howell Territorial Park, Sauvie Island
- Type: Green grass, trees, glowy vibes
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: Any time of year works here! May: purple flowers. November: orange fall leaves.
- Additional info: There is a huge variety of photo backgrounds at this location, including a vintage house and porch we can use, lots of nature scapes, beautiful tall fir trees, large oak trees, grass, flowers, and wonderful glow.
- Sunset time: sun goes behind the mountains 40 minutes before Google’s quoted sunset time.
Jenkins Estate, Gardens, Beaverton OR
- Type: variety of plants in the garden
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: summer for blooms
- Additional info: There is a variety of photo backgrounds at this location, including garden paths, many different plants and flowers, a foresty area, and a small pond.
- Sunset time: best to end 1hr before sunset time
Willow Trees, Fano Creek Trail, Beaverton OR
- Type: willow trees, grass, bridge
- Ideal time of day: sunset or sunrise (these are at 7:30AM in September)
- Fanno Creek Trailhead @ SE Parkview Loop at SW Reid Ct (map)
- Ideal time of year: fall, spring, summer
- Additional info: this is a populated walking trail area
Summer U-Pick Berries at West Union Gardens, Hillsboro OR
- Type: activity lifestyle session, berry picking, zinnia and sunflower picking
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: July for berries
- Additional info: popular U-Pick spot, might have people in the background.
- Contact the farm before photographing here
- Late June to mid July: blackberries, tayberries, raspberries, marionberries, and more – see their website
Forest Park, NW Portland OR
- Type: green trees
- Ideal time of day: 10 am to 3 pm due to dense tree coverage
- Ideal time of year: spring, summer, fall
- Additional info: common hiking area, likely to be populated
- Limited parking depending on the trailhead
- Wildwood trail off Newberry, wildwood trail marker 30 near Trailhead
Cooper Mountain Nature Park
- Type: grass, trees, epic Mountain View
- Ideal time of day: sunset, 30min before and 30 minute after sundown
- Ideal time of year: summer
- Additional info: The epic view of the mountains places the sunset in front of the subject. Need to stay 30 min after sundown to get the mountains behind the subject. For backlit glow, the subject background is grass and trees.
Central Portland Outdoor Photo Locations
Marshall Park
- Type: green forest, small stream, small waterfall if there has been rainfall (dry in summer)
- Ideal time of day: 10am – 3pm
- Ideal time of year: Spring, Fall for water in the stream – Summer is beautiful too but no water
- Additional info: To get the good light, don’t go at sunset. Better midday because of extreme tree coverage. Sunny day if you prefer glowy – won’t have that look on a cloudy day.
- Important: GPS to (specific name here), not the default GPS location – talk to Natalie about this
Peninsula Park Rose Garden
- Type: floral, grass, structural gazebo
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: June to September
- Additional info: public park, often have people exploring the gardens that you need to navigate around to avoid them in the background of your photos. Common location for professional headshots.
Washington Park / Redwood Observation Deck, Portland OR
- Type: green trees, pacific northwest vibes, hoa hoa weather in fall-winter
- Ideal time of day: 10am – 3pm
- Ideal time of year: any time
- Additional info: in fall and winter expect gray overcast hoa hoa vibes, extreme tree coverage. Go on a sunny summer day if you want that glowy look.
Pittock Mansion in Portland, OR
- Type: vintage mansion vibes with a beautiful garden and lush green outdoor area
- Ideal time of day: 1 hour before sunset, sun goes down earlier than google says
- Ideal time of year: any time
- Additional info: popular tourist attraction and photographer hotspot, have to navigate around having other people in your background
East Portland Outdoor Photo Locations
Mt Tabor Park, Portland OR
- Type: epic view, green forest vibes, glow, fall colors, cement steps
- Ideal time of day: an hour before sunset
- Ideal time of year: any time of year for the green look and epic view. In fall, the colors change in NOVEMBER? – check this
- Additional info: it’s a bit of a hike to get to the top for the epic view. Plan for a longer session with hike time.
- Additional $100 fee due to longer session length and East Side location
Powell Butte Nature Park
- Type: epic view, tall grass
- Ideal time of day: the epic view of Mt Hood is to the East, sun sets in the West. Need to be JUST after sundown to have subjects’ back to Mt Hood so they aren’t blinded by the sun. There’s also a glowy tall grass area for sunset, but doesn’t show Mt Hood on the horizon.
- Ideal time of year: any time of year
- Additional info: it’s a bit of a hike to get to the top for the epic view. Plan for a longer session with hike time. If you want Mt Hood in the distance don’t shoot with aperture wide open, dork.
- Additional $100 fee due to longer session length and East Side location
Elk Rock Park
- Type:
- Ideal time of day:
- Ideal time of year:
- Additional info:
- Photo:
Dodge Park, along the Sandy River
- Type: river, water, rocks, green trees, fall colors
- Ideal time of day: 1hr before sunset, tree coverage greatly reduces sun coverage
- Ideal time of year: any time, popular swimming location in summer, could be crowded. Fall has pretty colors.
- Additional info: talk to Natalie about specific parking location information before going
- Additional $100 fee due to longer session length and East Side location
Tigard / Lake Oswego Outdoor Photo Locations
George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego
- Type: green trees, water
- Ideal time of day: 10 am – 3pm for trees; sunset for grass or water, see below
- Ideal time of year: any time of year
- Additional info: green trees block a lot of light, go well before sunset if you want good glowy light. If you’re not walking the trails, there is an open grassy area and a lake that will be better at golden hour.
Vancouver Outdoor Photo Locations
Moulton Falls, Battle Ground WA
- Type: turquoise water, green tree coverage
- Ideal time of day: 10 am – 3pm due to tree coverage
- Ideal time of year: any time, popular swimming location in summer, could be crowded.
Seasonal Outdoor Photo Locations in the Portland Area
Fall
Plumper Pumpkin Patch
- Type: pumpkins, floral, porch
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: Fall but avoid weekends, lots of people visit
- Additional info: need to call first for permission?
- Entry fee – see Plumper website
Hazlenut Grove, Banks Road Farms, Banks OR
- Type: green orchard, fall activity
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: hazlenuts the last week of September into early October
- Additional info: GPS tells you that you have arrived where you can just see a grove of trees. Turn left immediately after the grove of trees.
- This farm also has a Lavender field in July
- Bring a cute basket to collect your hazlenuts!
Spring
Camas Flower Meadow, Liberty Hill, St Helens OR
- Type: floral, green grass, trees
- Ideal time of day: overcast and cloudy daytime, or sunset for glowy
- Ideal time of year: Spring for the purple camas flowers to be in bloom
- Additional info: it can be really soggy and wet, people should wear rain boots not sandals
- Additional info: technically private property but many people use the walking paths here so it feels pretty safe. Spring has purple camas flowers, summer has brown grass and trees.
Pink Blossoms, Scappoose OR
- Type: floral
- Ideal time of day: 10 am – sunset. The blossoms create a nice diffused light even when the sun is high.
- Ideal time of year: April. The bloom is short, one week in April, changes weeks every year
- Additional info: need to get permission from the owner
Summer
Sunflower field, West Union Gardens, Hillsboro OR
- Type: floral
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: summer, two weeks in August
- Additional info: popular photographer location but they have carved out a lot of trails so folks can spread out pretty well. There is an additional fee to use.
- They rotate which field blooms each year. One field is to the right of the parking lot; to photograph here, we have to walk to the far side of the field so the sun is to the subject’s back. One field is to the left of the parking lot; we don’t have to walk at all since the sun is immediately to the subject’s back.
- Can be dirty and dusty
Lavender Field, Banks Road Farms, Banks OR
- Type: floral
- Ideal time of day: sunset
- Ideal time of year: summer, two weeks in July for Lavender (7/4-7/21 preferred)
- Additional info: GPS tells you that you have arrived where you can just see a grove of trees. Turn left immediately after the grove of trees.
- Bring a cute basket to collect your lavender!
- This farm also has u-pick hazlenuts in Sept-Oct
- There are bees when the lavender is in bloom, avoid if allergic
Winter
Christmas Tree Farm
- Type: green forest
- Ideal time of day: 10 am to sunset
- Ideal time of year: November, December – opening weekend for U-Cut Christmas trees is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
- The trees here are beautiful for winter and don’t necessarily have to scream Christmas. Note the outfit color choices if you want more of a fall organic vibe (use of rust orange, olive green) or more of a Christmas vibe (use of red).
- Think about including pops of red clothing if you’re going for a Christmas vibe.
- I can bring Christmas ornaments if you are going for Christmas!
- Once, we had snow during a session in December.
- Clothing: WINTER IS COLD. When planning outfits, plan for attractive outerwear. Think kids in cute scarves, mittens, ear muffs, and coats. Bringing hand warmers and hot chocolate is also a good idea. Cold kids don’t photograph well so let’s make it the best we can.
- Parking: Park in the designated area near the tent and tree cutting supplies
Looking for indoor photo inspiration? I have a post for that, too – click here.
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