What. A. Session.
Sarah and I have worked together on several occasions because of a personal project of mine, so that, combined with the fact that we had communicated on several occasions about what she and Chris were hoping for, meant that I already knew that we had a good understanding of roughly what was going to happen (except that there would be no pointe shoes involved). In early January, the forces of nature came together to make it all work: we had mild weather, fresh snow, and bright (if not blue) skies, so away we went on what ended up being one of my favourite engagement sessions to date. Sarah’s friend Morgan decided to come along, which ended up being super helpful because she had a nice big puffy coat that served as a great reflection-blocker while we did some shots in a little café. :)
There are so many things that I love about this session – the natural chemistry between Chris and Sarah, the way Sarah’s eyes communicate so much to the camera, the thought they put into clothing, the way that ‘working’ with these two feels like anything but work, the café shots of them sharing a moment while I was outside and unable to speak to them directly…. Our outdoor portion of the session was based primarily on Chris’s family’s property, which is also something I love to be able to do when it works out. On-location work is great, but when the location has actual meaning or significance to my clients, it makes it that much nicer – even if the location choice isn’t obvious to anyone else.
One aspect of the shoot that I’d really been wanting to work on was figuring out how to combine Chris and Sarah’s individual passions for music and dance. Sarah has done ballet since she was a very little girl and Chris is a musician and playing guitar is just one of his talents; incorporating these details in some funky way was important to all three of us. It wasn’t until I registered for Mystic Seminars, though, that I found my inspiration – a silhouette image of a man, standing stock-still with an umbrella resting on the ground, while a woman (also carrying an umbrella) leapt across the frame. The weather meant that the silhouette aspect of the shot wasn’t feasible and the layer of ice lurking just beneath the fresh snow led me to think that leaping would probably mean the session would finish with a trip to the hospital, but I latched onto the stoic nature of the man and the juxtaposition created by movement or dance. To help add some light and style to the shot, I decided to incorporate fire (what’s more rock ‘n’ roll than fire?!), as well as Chris’s instrument of choice and Sarah’s dancing skills. Here’s the result:
We got to share a number of laughs as we worked, which helped keep everything light-hearted and fun – just the way an engagement shoot should be. It was so awesome to see Chris’s demeanor change as the session progressed and he got used to being in front of the camera – that is, after all, one of the main points of doing a session prior to your wedding day. These two are so nauseatingly cute together that it made my job pretty darn easy (and yet impossible at the same time). :) I absolutely cannot wait for their wedding day; it’s going to be an awesome one!
