Austrian Alps

Couple Shoot

Experiences

What is an Adventure Session?

Proposals & Engagements

Surprise proposals are one of my favourite things to capture. Not only the moment itself, but also capturing some beautiful photos of you celebrating this exciting next step in your relationship.

Pre-Wedding & After-Wedding Shoots

This is your opportunity to capture breathtaking photos of you in the magical Austrian mountains, whether that’s as part of your pre-wedding preparations, or carving out some time just for you after the wedding day.

Anniversary Sessions

Whether you simply want to celebrate your anniversary with a photoshoot, or you want to renew your wedding vows, the Austrian Alps are the perfect place to do it.

I’m Cat, Your local photographer & Hiking Guide

Your experience matters

I created Wild Connections for couples like you, who value their time spent in the great outdoors. I want to capture your genuine, authentic joy and love, surrounded by the beauty of nature.

I moved to the Alps in 2011, I’ve been an elopement photographer since 2015, I’m a former ski & snowboard instructor, and I’m also a certified mountain hiking guide. I know the Tirol & the Dolomites like a local, and I want to help you create a truly unforgettable adventure here in the Alps.

My Story

Adventure Session Packages

I offer a number of different adventure session photoshoots for all different kinds of adventures.

€1500

2-Hour Adventure

Mini adventures are perfect for proposals or engagement shoots in the mountains in a single location.

  • High-resolution downloadable photo gallery
  • Location suggestions and planning support
  • Travel within a 1-hour radius of Innsbruck

* Price includes 20% Austrian VAT

Enquire Now
€2500

4-Hour Adventure

Half-day adventures give you more time, whether you want to visit a second location, do a short hike, or simply want more time to enjoy your adventure.

They are ideal for pre-wedding photoshoots, as well as shoots that combine a couple shoot with an activity such as skiing, hiking, or climbing.

  • High-resolution downloadable photo gallery
  • Location suggestions and planning support
  • Timeline design
  • Available within a 1.5-hour radius of Innsbruck

* Price includes 20% Austrian VAT

Book NOw
€5000

8-Hour Adventure

The best adventures are when time flies past without you even noticing.
If you don’t want to feel limited by time, then book my full-day adventure package and be free to enjoy the day and go with the flow, or visit multiple locations without stressing about going over your booked hours.

  • Up to 8 hours of photography & guiding
  • High-resolution downloadable photo gallery
  • Tour suggestions based on your ability & experience level
  • Location guidance and planning support
  • Timeline design
  • Accompanied by a certified local guide (me)

* Price includes 20% Austrian VAT

Enquire Today
€6500

Overnight mountain hut Tour

Spending the night high up in the mountains is an experience I believe everyone should have at least once. Not only that, you have the opportunity to do both a sunset and sunrise photoshoot, plus capturing all the adventure moments in between.

Check out these incredible mountain hut elopements on the blog

  • Photography coverage across 2 days
  • High-resolution downloadable photo gallery
  • Tour suggestions based on your ability & experience level
  • Location guidance and planning support
  • Timeline design
  • Accompanied by a certified local guide (me)

* Price excludes overnight hut costs.

Book A Consultation

All packages include

Photos

A curated gallery of high-resolution images, professionally edited in my signature style with unlimited downloads and sharing.

Custom itinerary

A customized timeline created together around the best light, locations, and activities to ensure your day is stress-free and fun.

guiding

As a local hiking guide, you get access to my knowledge & services. And because I only work locally, there are no additional travel fees to pay.

Location Guidance

I’ll help you choose the perfect locations, and advise on trail conditions, weather, and seasonal accessibility restrictions to make sure the day goes by without a hitch.

planning support

Planning guidance & resources including local, sustainable vendor recommendations and tailored packing lists to help you prepare.

Backup Plans

As a local, I’ll always have a backup plan ready to go if the mountain weather doesn’t want to work with us.

This could be you…

Planning an engagement from another country seemed overwhelming at first, but Cat made the entire process incredibly easy and smooth. She helped me find the perfect location, handled every detail we envisioned, and her experience and passion for what she does truly showed.

The photos are absolutely outstanding. Beyond the incredible mountain views, the quality and emotion she captured are what make them so special. I loved that she never made us pose or fake moments just for the camera; she simply let us be ourselves and captured the genuine emotions of the day.

If you are considering Cat, go for it! I highly recommend having her as both a photographer and hiking guide, especially for a proposal. She creates an unforgettable experience when she is around, not just beautiful photos.

Ian + Lauren

Innsbruck Surprise Proposal

We had a phenomenal experience with Cat for our pre-wedding photoshoot! Her knowledge of the area allowed us to efficiently shoot multiple stunning locations. The planning was incredible. She helped us with the route beforehand, timing for the best light, and sent so many helpful tips for a mountain photoshoot. She even reserved a backup day for us in case of bad weather, which was very thoughtful.

During the shoot, she made us feel completely at ease. The session was fun and casual, and she has an amazing talent for capturing genuine, natural moments. The results are absolutely stunning with the most impressive mountain as our backdrop.

Katie + Brian

Seefeld Pre-Wedding Photos

Bride and groom sit on a picnic blanket in a meadow in the Italian Dolomite Mountains during their honeymoon

Cat was amazing!!!

We met with her via Zoom before our trip to chat with her about how we envisioned our day. From there, she sent us suggestions of places to shoot so we could choose what we wanted. After choosing a location, she helped us with a timeline so we could get the best pictures with the sun setting and put together a timeline for the day!

We stayed in contact as the day got closer as well, and Cat was very on top of things!! With the weather changing, we did have to go to plan B and shoot a day early, but with Cat telling us a few days in advance, we were able to make it work out and had the perfect shoot!

Don’t hesitate just book Cat now for your next shoot; you won’t regret it!!

Nikki + Dawd

Honeymoon Photoshoot

Are you a hell yes?

The process

01.

Say Hello!

Fill out my contact form, check my availability & tell me all about what kind of adventure you are planning.

02.

Save the date

Choose the date and get booked in.

To reserve your date, you’ll sign a contract and pay a retainer.

Then we can get to the good stuff…

03.

The Fun Begins

As soon as you’re officially booked in, we’ll start creating a plan for your adventure.

You’ll receive my location guide and together on a call we’ll talk through the best options for you.

04.

alpine start

Enjoy every moment of your day and re-live the memories with breathtaking photos that capture your incredible adventure.

Take the first step towards your Adventure

Contact me

If you’ve not heard back from me in 48 hours Monday – Thursday, don’t panic! I’m probably either up a mountain somewhere or technology has failed me.

If that’s the case, please drop me a message to cat@wildconnectionsphotography.com and say hi!

Emails sent between Friday and Sunday will be responded to on Mondays or Tuesdays.

The Benefits of working with a

local photographer
& certified guide

Choosing Tirol in the Austrian Alps as my home fills me with everlasting gratitude. My affection for this region runs deep. It’s why I became a local guide. I consider it a great honor to share this love with couples who decide to elope in this corner of the Alps. While Tirol still manages to fly relatively under the radar of many tourists outside of the ski season, the fame of the nearby Dolomites has skyrocketed due to social media. And this doesn’t come without consequences.

Because this area is so desirable, there are a lot of people who:

  • Advertise themselves as local photographers through deceptive web pages, despite not being genuinely connected to the region
  • Have never actually set foot in the area and rely solely on second-hand (often incorrect) information from the internet
  • May have visited the region a few times but are primarily motivated by receiving a “free holiday” or using your elopement to enhance their portfolios. Unfortunately, this approach is not only detrimental to your experience but it also exploits the region

Supporting local photographers, who live and breathe life in these mountains, is crucial. By doing so, you can help contribute to the well-being and preservation of the area and the local communities, rather than simply exploiting its beauty.

This is my biggest priority, always. I hate seeing other photographers put couples in potentially dangerous situations because it looks good on a photo, or because of their lack of education in safe travel in alpine environments.

Part of being a certified guide is doing a risk assessment for every elopement I do. I evaluate aspects such as the conditions of the trails, any potential hazards and the weather, to make the final decisions of whether the route is safe. Trail conditions can change a lot throughout the year, and some are simply not safe if the conditions aren’t right (such as if there’s been heavy rain or there is still snow on the trails).

Working with a local photographer is the most sustainable option for a number of reasons. Firstly, you’re not flying someone in, so the carbon footprint of your elopement is much smaller. Then there’s the fact that locals pay local taxes, and these contribute to really important things like road and trail maintenance.

Over-tourism is also becoming a huge problem, and to help reduce your impact (and make your day more enjoyable), I’ll help plan an itinerary and give you suggestions that help us minimize our impact.

Many photographers try to give the impression that they are local to get a free holiday by creating pages on their sites with guides to eloping in the Dolomites (thankfully Tirol is less well known). Much of this information comes from travel blogs and Google, or from a couple of short trips to the area, and it’s sadly often incorrect. The risks are that they may have visited in the off-season, or on a day when the weather wasn’t great and they just got lucky that it wasn’t busy.

I’ve seen a number of posts describing “secret locations” or “hidden gems” that were actually anything but! Locals will know which locations are busy, and will be able to give you realistic advice on what to expect if you want to go there, and plenty of other equally epic options, should you decide you’d rather visit somewhere more quiet to enjoy some peace and quiet.

Not all locations are accessible all year round. Many locations don’t become accessible in the summer until the snow has melted, and this can be different every year depending on how the winter was (some locations aren’t accessible into late June).

A local will know how the conditions were over the winter, and what times of year different locations become accessible, and will have a number of safe backup options in the bag in case you need to revert to plan B.

One of my biggest pet peeves with non-local photographers in the Dolomites is the illegal flying of drones in protected areas, climbing over fences to get better photos and general disregard for nature, private property and the local inhabitants. They see these places as just pretty backdrops to be used and abused.

Locals will never support this kind of behaviour, because the consequences hurt us, our home and potentially you too, as locations we love get closed off, bigger fences get put up and areas become irreparably damaged.

FAQS

Still have some questions? Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about my elopement services in the Dolomites and Tirol area:

Yes. I believe in transparency and hate hidden fees. Because I only work locally, I don’t need to charge travel fees. Even for multi-day elopements in a mountain hut, the rates advertised include my overnight costs.

I’m a certified hiking guide (Bergwanderführer). That means I can officially guide you in mountain hiking terrain that’s classified as “moderately difficult (red)” within Tirol and South Tirol (Dolomites). I can’t take you climbing or into technical terrain, such as on glaciers or scrambling.

If you want to explore more technical terrain or try your first via ferrata for your elopement, I recommend hiring a local IFMGA/UIAGM mountain guide. Just because I can’t guide you for these activities, it doesn’t mean I can’t still come along to photograph it!

I’ll always be prepared to shoot in any conditions, as long as it is safe to do so. I have professional-grade equipment that I’ve personally tested in some pretty harsh conditions. But if it’s just a bit of wind, rain, or fog, don’t let that put a downer on your day. Some of my shoots were bad weather ones, and most of the couples wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

If we need to create an alternative plan due to weather conditions, I’ll do this in the days leading up to your shoot, based on the actual trail conditions and satellite weather data. Usually, I have a selection of backup options, and you can choose which one you like the best.

Unlike many photographers, I don’t charge you a higher rate if you upgrade at a later date. The prices will always stay locked in at the rates when you book. So book in with the smallest package you want, and you can always upgrade later (subject to availability).

No. While I will give you a bit of guidance in terms of locations for your adventure session, they are not the same as an adventure elopement.

Elopements are meticulously planned, the route choice is usually different, and there are backup days reserved either side. For elopement pricing click here.

Ok, now stop putting yourselves down!

I’ve never worked with a couple who hasn’t said this to me before. It’s completely natural to be a little apprehensive about having someone with a camera hanging out with you all day, but honestly, after a while, you’ll forget the camera is there. Plus, my focus is always on making sure you’re just having a great time, and when you are, the photos are always banging!

This is also why I make sure to speak to you over a video call right from the first enquiry, and have regular check-ins. By the time your elopement comes around, you’ll feel like I’m an old friend, which means you’ll feel so much more relaxed. While most of the pictures I take are unposed, I’ll still be there to guide you and bring the cringy jokes so that you don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable.

Enter some confusing & pretentious photographer jargon…

Essentially, I try to shoot everything as true to life as possible and create a gallery that is a true representation of your day. If it’s bright and sunny on your wedding day, your pictures will be brighter than if it was dark and cloudy.

I work primarily in a documentary style, which means I try to capture things honestly and let as much unfold in front of me as possible. In other words, I’m there to capture your day as it happens. I’ll only give you some direction if it means placing you in better light or if something doesn’t quite work for the camera.

My priority is always to give you space to have the experience and the adventure that you want to have, without feeling like you’re on a photoshoot.

Great question! And the answer is: it depends. The number of images in your final gallery depends a lot on the timings of your day as well as the amount of time we spend hiking vs taking photos. I don’t have a minimum number of images I deliver. You can expect around 50+ images for a 2-hour shoot.

You’ll get a small preview of your pictures no later than 1 week after your wedding day and the full edited gallery delivered to your inbox within 60 days from your wedding date.

All photos that are selected for the final gallery will be post-processed to show them in their best form. This includes color correction, and optimizing brightness and contrast in line with the style of images you see in my portfolio. I do not use Photoshop to alter images. I believe that there is nothing more beautiful than two people in love. I am there to capture your day as it happens, in an honest and real way. Of course, if you woke up with a red spot on your chin, I will take that out for you.

I don’t give out unedited images. I have a legal obligation to deliver a final gallery that is representative of the work you see on my website (and unedited images look rubbish!). So much of the magic that makes up an image happens in post-processing and it’s also how I will create images that match my signature style.

As weddings & elopements take priority, adventure sessions can only be booked a maximum of 2 months in advance.

The booking process starts as soon as you fill out my contact form. When you are ready to book your date, I’ll send you a contract to sign as well as an invoice for a retainer. Once both of these are completed, your date is reserved and we’ll start the planning process.

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