katey + jase // henry miller ruins portrait session

When Katey messaged me out of the blue a few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised! This beautiful young woman has known me since I was little. Her family always poured love out onto me and my brothers. I remember Katey being a kind, sensitive soul and she would often be seen volunteering in our kids ministries or somewhere at our church. And now she has her own family!

I actually feel a little old… 🙂

When I was preparing for this session, I was trying to find places that were different. Katey&Jase wanted something with redwoods. We all have grown up in this beautiful place we call Gilroy and we are just a handful of miles away from the redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Not too far from where we live is a locally famous county park: Mount Madonna County Park. And as I was researching places, another friend of mine told me about this place called the Henry Miller Ruins.

I went and checked it out and WOW is it cool. Completely hidden behind redwood trees is this relatively small chunk of land with piles of old stone buildings, tables and rooms. The perfect place for little kids to feel like explorers. Katey&Jase LOVED it and so did their son, Carter. Kennedy, their little daughter, probably wasn’t sure what to make of the whole situation.

It wasn’t until I was writing this post that I discovered the Henry Miller Ruins are believed to be haunted. Soooooo no thanks. Maybe there are some ghosts in some of their photos.

See for yourself! Check out some of my favorites below!

-Angela