Huntington Library Engagement Photo Guide

The Huntington covers 207 acres, 130 of them open to visitors, and they hold sixteen themed gardens: Japanese and Chinese gardens, three acres of roses, lily ponds, palms, a jungle beneath a high canopy, and one of the largest outdoor collections of cacti and succulents in the world. For an engagement session that range is the whole point, a new backdrop with every garden rather than one view from different angles. So much green, stone, and water stays quiet behind you, which lets a clear colour, the reds and yellows we love, stand out instantly.

The Huntington calls its historic Japanese Garden one of the most beloved and iconic landscapes on the grounds, and it holds a whole session of backdrops in one place: a distinctive moon bridge, a Japanese house, a Zen garden, a bonsai court, and a ceremonial teahouse and tea garden. We would frame the moon bridge wide, with the two of you small against it, then come in close for quieter portraits by the bonsai court. Koi swim in the stream, though the ponds themselves are not open to visitors. Come in January or February, and the camellias are at their peak.

A session runs up to three hours and can start as early as eight in the morning, two hours before The Huntington opens to the public, or as late as three and a half hours before sunset. An early start brings low morning sun before the day's visitors arrive. A late start reaches the last two hours before sunset, when the best light begins, but ends half an hour before the sun goes down, so there is no sunset, blue hour, or night portrait here. In winter, the last start falls in the early afternoon. At midday, the Jungle Garden's high canopy gives soft shade.

The Chinese Garden, Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, with its lake, graceful pavilions, stone bridges, and waterfalls, made for a slow walk hand in hand · The Rose Garden, three acres and more than twelve hundred varieties, in bloom from late March to beyond November · The Lily Ponds, five ponds across four acres, with water lilies, flowering lotus, and papyrus · The Jungle Garden, where climbing vines and leaves of giant proportions grow among orchids, gingers, ferns, and bamboos, for a portrait wrapped in green · The Desert Garden, one of the largest outdoor collections of cacti and succulents in the world, for a portrait unlike anything else on the grounds

The Huntington treats engagement photos as posed portrait photography, so whether a professional or a friend holds the camera, they must be booked ahead as a Portrait Photography Session, with a fee and a city permit, and no walk up requests are granted. Every session needs an appointment, a Huntington escort, and at least thirty days' notice. It covers the outdoor gardens open to the public, though no single garden can be reserved and interiors are not available, and the base session is for up to five people, counting the photographer. Lights, reflectors, props, and wardrobe changes are allowed only under contract, and drones and selfie sticks are not permitted.

The Huntington is open from ten to five every day except Tuesday, and it closes on a few holidays. Sessions can be reserved six to twelve months out, so we flag and arrange yours early. A spontaneous proposal between just the two of you is welcome, but one with photography, gathered friends, signs, props, or decorations is not. A golf cart with a Huntington driver is an extra, so we plan a route through two or three gardens rather than all sixteen. Picnics and outside alcohol are not allowed, and bags are checked as you enter, so leave yours in the car and wear shoes you can walk in.

Every photograph on this page is from Dillon and Jennifer's January engagement session in Beverly Hills, which lives in full in our journal, thirty one photographs from the palms to the magnolias.