Niftty Fifty / Return to the Water
I'm trying to pay a little more attention to this sort of thing - I did a quick tally last week and found that I was very close to doing my 50th photo shoot of the year. This is close to being on track with last year, maybe a little behind. September and October will actually make up a huge percentage of the shoots I do. Last year actually split up pretty nicely with 42 weddings and 45 "other" shoots - engagements, family sessions, head shots, real estate, and portraits. So this week I'm going to share photos from shoots 50 and 48. 50 because meaningless milestones are fun and 48 for a reason I'll reveal later.
Belanna+Willow are a great couple and it was fun shooting them! They picked out the same ring from the same store for each other without knowing it. Wild!
The only downer with this shoot is that it made me realize that the sun is setting much earlier. We planned for a golden house/sunset shoot but by the time we were getting started it was already VERY dark. After about 15 minutes it was getting hard to work with. I joked that the photos were going to start getting creepy and goth if we continued into the darkness and they said "Oh we don't mind getting creepy." This was exactly what I wanted to hear. I took out some lights and tried to get some more shots since the shoot would have been a little bit abbreviated otherwise. The results aren't exactly creepy, maybe moody is a better word.
Maybe the session as a whole isn't exactly cohesive but I still like all the pictures. I look forward to shooting their wedding this fall.
I was hired to shoot a proposal last week (shoot #48). I was tasked with choosing a location for them and I chose Broad Cove Preserve in Cumberland, Maine because I had heard good things about it and it seemed to fit the vibe that the proposer was looking for. I've said this many times before, but one of that challenging things about my job is having to work with people I don't know very well, or sometimes at all. I can never assume how adventurous or creative people are willing to be, and I have to ready people quickly, and more importantly give them room to show me who they are. So I went into this shoot unaware of who these people were. The proposal happened, she said yes, everyone is happy.
I got a quick read of them and decided that yeah, they seem cool, laid back, extremely in love, and I liked them. I got my usual shots and said "What else? Anything else you guys want to do?" and the proposee said "Oh yeah, actually we NEED to jump in the water. Is that okay?" Close followers to this newsletter will remember that I had very dramatic wedding this spring that involved a couple jumping into a river with almost disastrous results. When she mentioned jumping in the water I felt a sting of anxiety and thought "Oh god, not again." Then I reminded myself that this water is much calmer, neither of them are wearing a heavy wedding dress and that they would be fine. They sensed that I had a weird initial reaction so I told them the story of the almost-drowning bride and they laughed and said that they would be fine. It turns out that they are very outdoorsy and adventurous, the proposer, Hiroto, is an outdoor educator at Three River Parks in Minnesota. I told them to go ahead and jump in the water, I'd be happy to capture it. They gleefully jumped in - shoes, clothes, and everything. I'm pretty sure they set their cell phones down somewhere.
It's a joy shooting with fun and adventurous subjects.