Joy & Brian Engagement

Wow, I don't think I could have asked for a more beautiful couple! Killer smiles and eyes :-)

I have to admit that this was the first engagement session where I didn't feel like I got to do enough of what I wanted! But ultimately, everything worked out great and it's really not about what I want, so I'm willing to concede when it will make a couple happy. My idea of an engagement session is all about taking time to have fun, getting to know the bride & groom, doing a few crazy things, and letting the creativity take over. However, Joy & Brian had a very specific agenda which was easy to accommodate. Instead of 50+ fun and creative shots, they were really only aiming for one. They just wanted one good shot to put on their save-the-date cards, and quick!

I was definitely a bit hesitant when Joy suggested winter pictures at Metro Beach. Huh?! Snow on a beach? But it came out of a creative idea she had about mentioning on her save-the-dates that she would see her guests when it warmed up! I think that's cute! So now I was faced with the idea of how to communicate "winter" while still trying to get some warm expressions. Luckily we ended up getting snow on the weekend of the shoot, but it was c-c-c-cold out!

Since Brian & Joy just wanted one black & white picture for their save-the-dates, I just took a few rolls of B&W (and color film, just in case they changed their mind!) It was funny when Brian said, "so, there's REAL film in there?" Yep, film is not dead. :-) Actually, one of the disadvantages of digital, where it still has not overcome traditional film, is that digital is not so good with "whites". Digital, if not done with the utmost care, can actually be blinded by strong white highlights and thus, erase a lot of detail in a wedding dress, or in this case... snow. ;-) Going into this shoot, I knew that film would be the only way to go.

Unfortunatley they were too cold to stay out in the snow longer than one roll of film, but we got some great shots and my butt enjoyed their car's heated leather seats on the way home! The happy ending is that Joy & Brian found not one, but two pictures for their save-the-dates cards and couldn't decide between them- so they just ordered two different sets of cards. One had his favorite picture which would be sent to his family and one had her favorite picture which would be sent to her family. Sounds fair to me and everyone ends up happy! Who knows, the cards may become collector's items when Joy finally goes public with her modeling career, which she doesn't know about yet. ;-)

Click on any image to view a few of my favorites in a slideshow...