When a client hires me to photograph their Engagement session, I normally stress the fact that it’s not the best plan to make their session be about a treasure hunt of locations that you just tick off a long list. We all have locations as a couple that have levels of meaning for us, which is normal and wonderful, right? But when it comes to your engagement session the main reason we do them is to see what your chemistry is like in front of my camera, and also with me! During our pre-booking meeting when we are both interviewing each other to see if we are a fit for the wedding- we normally get a long wonderfully and can envision ourselves chatting the night away, talking, laughing and sharing stories! This part never seems to be the issue. When I pick up my camera and point it at you, well this can be a game changer! The dynamics change, things shift and some times all of our insecurities come front and center! It’s a normal response, sadly, but one that reiterates the need for an engagement session with your photographer. During this session you can just either choose a location that is meaningful to you both- but only one- or I can choose one! During Annie and Chris’ engagement session in New Haven we chose a spot that many of us that have bopped around the streets of New Haven have seen on our daily travels, it’s a special little alley / courtyard area where the late afternoon light does some pretty magical things! Which brings me to some pretty important points: I don’t always ask my clients for photography locations because we all see very different things when we look through that ‘lens’. Maybe clients say parks for locations for sessions, which I sometimes struggle with finding intriguing spots for photos (with the exception of Harkness Park in Waterford CT and Elizabeth Park in Hartford CT- those two places I could photograph in all day every day without a second thought!) I see light and lines and color. Texture and leading lines. People looking without the filter of being a photographer see different things like bridges and gazebos and flowers. Not necessarily my go-to’s!
This leads me to the main reason you hire your photographer to being with: you trust their vision. You look at their work and are moved on an emotional level, but the emotion in the images they show, or the way they see and interpret light; how they fill the frame or use negative space. It is all related, and all important! So keep this in mind when looking through Annie and Chris’ images below, in a location that meant nothing to them! It’s not always about the location, but about the connection your couples share with one another, the level of comfort they feel with their photographer (in this case, me!) which also is super important because then this connection allows them to just be their true selves together and then I will catch that!
Keep this all in mind when hiring your photographer, and be aware that it is a process, together, based on mutual trust and respect! XOXO
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