Flippen and Lakeside
5:45 pmmeet on Versailles
7:39 pmsunset
7:45 pmdone
We meet at Flippen Park, 4421 N. Versailles Avenue, Highland Park, TX 75205.
- Park on Versailles itself. Read the curb; nothing is enforceable without a sign or a painted line.
- At half six we drive a mile south to Lakeside Park, 4601 Lakeside Drive, and park on the street there.
- This way round also keeps us off Lakeside Drive until after six, when the east side stops being signed no parking.
Two hours in Highland Park with the sun going down the whole time. We start at the gazebo while it is still up, move under the trees as it drops, and finish at the water with it low and behind you. That order is the whole plan.
The forecast, pulled today at one. The storms are this afternoon, before we meet, and the evening comes out clear.
- 5:0096 degrees, 41% humidity
- 6:0094 degrees, 44% humidity
- 7:0092 degrees, 47% humidity
- The storm risk peaks at two this afternoon and has fallen away before we meet. From five it sits flat at 17%, with thunder at 10%. If one does break we wait it out in the cars, then cut from the middle of the plan rather than off the end.
- Wind out of the south-southwest at 8 to 10, gusting 12. Enough to move a dress, and enough to break the reflection on the water.
- A quarter cloud through the evening, near none by eight. The low sun stays hard and undiffused, which is what this running order was built for.
- Dallas peaks at 97 at four, before we meet, and falls the whole time we shoot. The humidity is what the blotting papers are for.
- AccuWeather, Friday at one, and that is the last look.
What Highland Park asks. The Town's photography policy is short, and portraits are welcome. No permit or fee is mentioned.
- Come dressed. "Changing clothes in a vehicle or tent is not permitted," and no restroom is listed at either park.
- The Town's policy stops photography at 7:00 pm, and sunset is 7:39. The plan below runs to 7:45 to reach that light, so Cassie is asking whether the 7:00 line is firm. If it is, we lose the steps and the far bank, not the gazebo, and this page changes before the day.
- Nothing gets stood in, so we shoot the creek from the bank.
- Nothing gets sat on that isn't a seat. No railings, no fountain rim.
- No props, no blanket, no lights.
- No eating at Lakeside. Separate ordinance, so dinner is somewhere else in Dallas after we finish.
How the two hours go
- 5:45Meet on Versailles at Flippen Park. Sunscreen and bug spray go on here; there's standing water at both parks and the mosquitoes know it.
- 6:00The gazebo and the fountain. Smaller, tidier, more hedges. This is the Regency half of the day, and it goes first because it's the one part that wants the sun still up.
- 6:30Drive to Lakeside Park. It's a mile, about three minutes. Park on Lakeside Drive.
- 6:40The stone bridge. Deep shade under the trees, a cobbled brook running under the arch. The darkest and the quietest part of the evening.
- 7:00The steps down to the water. We stay on the stone; the creek stays where it is.
- 7:20The far bank, with the sun going down the water behind you. The willow and the big house are both on private ground, so we shoot them from this side, with you small in the frame. Sunset is 7:39 and we're standing right here for it.
- 7:45Done. Dinner in Dallas after, somewhere sat down.
Where we'll be
The bridges
- A. The stone arch. Yours. Low limestone, a black rail curved to follow it, over a cobbled brook. Nobody has ever written a name down for it: not on any map, not in the Town's renovation record. The shadiest spot in the park, and where we start.
- B. The dam bridge. Steel truss on an 1890s dam, wooden deck, cable railings from a 2017 rebuild, lily pads underneath. The one everybody photographs, so expect to share it.
- C. Beverly Drive. A 1911 concrete arch carrying the road across the north end, sixty feet of span. Probably the bridge behind you in your photo. We'll confirm that standing there.
- D. Armstrong Avenue. The road bridge below the dam, at the south end. A crossing, not a destination.
Three more arches sit outside the park, east of D and north of C. We won't be at any of them.
What we'll do at each spot
The photographs are from other couples and other places, so you can see what each one looks like. Neither is homework. If one feels dumb on the day, we skip it.
4
6:00 to 6:30
Flippen Park
Where we start, and a different key from the rest of it. White gazebo, a fountain with a reflecting pool, clipped hedges, houses all the way around. Small enough to walk in two minutes.
- The gazebo takes wedding bookings, thirty minutes at a time. If someone's in it, we start at the fountain and come back.
- Nobody sits on the fountain. Town rule, and also just sensible.
The gazebo, wide Both of you inside it, shot from out on the grass so the whole structure is in the picture.Wide first, again. A gazebo photographed close is just some columns; photographed whole it's the thing that makes this half of the day look like a different county.
Against a column Weight back on one foot, cross an ankle in front, one hand in a pocket. The other of you faces in, a hand on your arm. Straight face first, then smile.Angles instead of a hug, one of you posed and the other reaching in. It's magazine body language, which is why it reads as expensive.
Head in a lap, by the fountain One of you on the grass, fountain behind. The other lies back, head in their lap, looking up rather than at me.You asked for this one at the fountain. On the grass, not the rim: the rim is one of the things the Town asks you not to sit on.
A
6:40 to 7:00
The stone bridge
Heavy canopy over it. By the time we get here the sun is low enough that the trees take all of it, so this is the darkest and softest part of the evening.
- Standing on the bridge is fine.
- Sitting or climbing on the rail isn't, so we keep to the deck and the path.
From the brook You two up on the arch. I'll be down at the water shooting up through the branches.This is the frame you sent me twice: shot from across a gap, you small in it, the green doing the work. We start with it so everything after has something to be a close-up of.
Walking over Start at the far end and walk across toward me like you're late and it's the other one's fault. Keep talking the whole way.Nobody can pose a foot mid-stride. The arch gives you a rise and a fall to walk through, which does most of the work.
Her hands on his face Both hands, either side of his jaw. Straight face first, then whatever happens next.You called this one Ralph Lauren and you were right. It reads as nineties because she's the one doing something and he's the one it's being done to, which is the reverse of how these usually get shot.
2
7:00 to 7:20
The steps down to the water
Stone steps down the bank, a wall alongside. Sitting on steps is what steps are for, so this one's easy. The water isn't: no wading anywhere in this park, so we stay on the stone.
From the bottom One of you two steps above the other. I shoot up the flight so the stone leads to you.A staircase is a diagonal you don't have to invent. Standing you at different heights makes the two of you one shape instead of two.
Sit and lean Sit two steps up, hips touching. One of you leans until your head lands on the other's shoulder. Then stay put.Two heads at different heights make a diagonal, and a diagonal looks like ease. Level heads look like a passport photo.
The ring Her hand over his, ring toward me, the stone soft behind. Keep the hand loose. A stiff hand is the thing that makes these look like a catalogue.
3
7:20 to 7:45
Across the water
The willow and the big house are both on the far bank, and both are somebody's garden.
- We don't cross. Everything here is shot from this side with the water in between, which is the picture you wanted anyway.
- The Town is dredging the lake right now. If the north end still looks like a building site in September, we work the south end and say nothing more about it.
The willow, from here Stand at the edge on this side with the willow behind you across the water. You'll be small.You can't get under this one, so we stop pretending we can and shoot it as a backdrop instead. The reflection gives us the tree twice, which is more than standing under it would.
The house behind you Same bank, turned a few degrees, so the house sits over your shoulder across the water.This is the Regency one. The house does all the work and you two just have to stand in it, so it's the easiest frame of the day and usually one of the best.
The twirl One hand up, one of you spins the other out and back. Keep hold of the hand.Something has to move at this stop or it's three postcards in a row. A skirt mid-turn against still water is the whole reason to do it here rather than anywhere else.