“Don’t worry…” I reassured them at the beginning of their engagement session. “…the more awkward you feel, the better the photos will come out. Trust me!” It’s not the kind of assessment most folks would like to hear from their wedding photographer. But then again, this is coming from the most awkward guy in the universe…and he’s telling all kinds of offbeat jokes while (likely giggling to himself) behind a giant metal and glass contraption full of buttons and dials. And yes, I just referred to myself in the third person.
In the years I’ve been doing engagement sessions at the High Line and the Meatpacking District in general, I’ve never had so many outtakes that ended up making the final delivery…until now. These outtakes were just that (hilariously) awesome :). Many folks ask us how we get our subjects to smile and laugh so naturally in all our images. While I’d like to think it’s a combination of my awesome joke-telling skills and our subjects’ easy personalities, I personally believe it’s the relationship building we do with all of our clients BEFORE the session. Whether our subjects are romantic, quirky or spontaneous, we work hard to create an environment that’ll be most comfortable for them. But most importantly, we remind our subjects to simply be themselves. At some point, we tell them to put away the pinterest boards and to stop stressing themselves over the gazillion wedding blogs that are out there. Wedding and fashion trends will come and go, but we hope that our images will be an honest reflection of their youthful love for many years to come.
We generally begin our engagement sessions with a few simple poses.
I’ll usually tell my subjects to hang out somewhere, while I hide in some nearby shrubbery. So far, so good.
Then things got a little dicey when I came in for their close-up.
We’re only 5 minutes in, and they’re showing the tell-tale signs (of ensuing hilarity).
It was time to separate the two. Get it together, you two!
You’re “supposed” to be kissy-face, romantic and whatnot :).
I tried.
I really did :).
But I’ll take it :).
These two lovebirds had a serious case of the giggles for the next few hours.
We did manage to squeeze a few kissy-faces here and there.
“Hey, I can’t see your face. Can you turn your face around?”
Knowing my audience, I should’ve clarified.
Alyssa also works in medicine…and she brought a stethoscope along for the engagement session. BEST PROP EVER.
Actually…they brought all sorts of props :).
