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 travel 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

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
• Google’s sunset time 6:50pm; Sun behind the big hill 1.5hrs before sunset at 5:20pm; can shoot in blue hour or can move further into the park to chase the sun. 4:45-5:45 session time or so is ideal. Could do 4:30 start, give folks 15 minutes to get dressed walk over etc. Using the far left side of the lake.

Field in Clatskanie

• Type: brown grass
• Ideal time of day: sunset golden hour
• Ideal time of year: Summer months (August)
• Google sunset time 8pm, session 7pm-8pm (come 10-15m early; sometimes Hwy 30 construction traffic)
• Additional info: see map

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
• Glowy light ends about 30 minutes before the google predicted sunset. Gives the ability to get the glowy light in the grass, and then the mountain/tree distance photo after sundown.
• Ideal time of year: summer on a clear day for glow, a cloudy day will be a cooler vibe
• 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.

Horning’s Hideout in North Plains

• Type: lake, trees
• Ideal time of day: 1.5hr before sunset
• Ideal time of year: any time, prefer a clear sunny day for the glowy vibes
• Additional info: there’s no cell phone service here. They have free range peacocks roaming all around!
• It’s down in a valley and the light is gone much earlier than you would expect, 1hr 30 minutes before predicted sunset. Ideal time to shoot with a 8:00pm sunset is 5:30-6:30pm.
• This is a popular wedding venue and disc golf course.

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 Marshall Park Playground, not the default GPS location

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.

Redwood Observation Deck at Washington Park, Portland OR

• Type: green trees
• On a clear, sunny day, you can get glowy vibes (3pm)
• On a cloudy, overcast day, you’ll have more moody northwest hoa hoa weather vibes (10 am – 3pm)
• Ideal time of year: any time
• Additional info: busy hiking area, expect to encounter others on the trails
• Plan to meet at the parking lot and hike in together.
• Parking: When you GPS to the Redwood Observation Deck, it will ask you to drive down a walking path (SW Bray Lane). Keep going down SW Fisher Lane to the first parking lot on the left and walk down the Redwood Trail to the Deck.
• View trail and parking map here. Yellow highlight: follow SW Fisher Ln to parking lot circled in Blue. Meet me here. Then we will follow the Redwood Trail (in Pink) to the Redwood Deck (circled in Red). If the Blue parking lot is full, proceed to the Green parking lot and meet me there instead. We can use Creek Trail to hop over to the Redwood Trail and hike to the Redwood Observation Deck together.

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 travel fee

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 $200 travel fee

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 $200 travel fee

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

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.