I’ve been MIA from photography as last week I helped with the cross country and track camp at Houghton College. We had a great time but the days were non stop and included: getting up early (for me, I know- 6:30), morning runs, sessions, more workouts, stretching, meals, lots of games, and more. While following the regular schedule of camp I’m hoping to carry over some of the habits (keep up the morning runs?) and looking forward to getting back into a routine with work. Now that we are approximately 90% moved in to our new place my office is coming together and that will make things even easier. Doesn’t it seem hard to work when things are unsettled or out of place?

At the end of the week, which would only be yesterday, I met up with Alphonse and Samantha for their engagement session at Ontario Beach Park in Rochester, New York. It was fun to hang out and spend time with them and the image above is one that stood out as I browsed through their photos. It was just before sunset so the light was warm and soft and lovely! I’ll be back up in Rochester on Tuesday for several sessions and available for meetings – let me know if you want to get together and talk weddings!

There really wasn’t any other time to do the session. Living in the Chicago area meant that they wouldn’t have much time in Virginia before the wedding, so we decided to do the engagement session the day before. It also meant that I wasn’t able to meet with Tommy + Megan in person prior to the wedding, but I was able to get to know them through our emails and conversations. We settled on heading into colonial Williamsburg for the shoot which was right next to the site of their wedding the next day at the Williamsburg Inn.

I was looking forward to it, and while I had stopped at many historic sites on road trips as a child, I had never made it to Williamsburg. Tommy and Megan didn’t know what to expect, but arrived as any couple would the day before their wedding: completely in love. It had been an understandably busy few days for them so the engagement session gave them some time together and away from the planning, organizing, out of town guests, family, decisions, and everything else that happens the day before a wedding. Despite being self described as camera shy, they were one of the easiest couples to photograph. Most of the photos took place in gorgeous locations right off of the main street in colonial Williamsburg, but I couldn’t help but include pieces of the city like in the photo above!

After the session we walked over to a coffee shop to get some drinks to cool us down, and Tommy said something to the effect of “while that could have been one of the most awkward experiences in my life you made it fun.” Mission accomplished. If you thought their engagement session was great then you have to stay tuned for their wedding since it was even better!

I love that I get to share this with everyone. I’ve been wanting to incorporate film into a session and Mike and Nikki gave me the perfect opportunity when they brought along their twin lens reflex for their engagement shoot. You might not know this about me, but when I studied photography in college I only used film for my work (and I’ll admit digital was just really taking over the scene) so I was fairly resistant to switching over to digital. When I finally made the switch it was a slippery slope and of course with the ease of digital and the complexities of the darkroom I haven’t really gone back. Now I’m looking forward to finding ways to incorporate film back into some sessions, and this was a great place to start.

The tri-x 120 film that was used for these images was sent off to a lab, developed and printed as proofs. I love the different approach film photography brings; the fact that you don’t do any editing on your computer, that the anticipation builds as you wait for the film to return, and the slower pace to which you approach image making. This approach is different from the fast paced impulsive image making process that has become the trademark of digital photography, but I think there are things to learn from both mediums. Experience in both has only made me a better photographer.

Without further ado I invite you to look through a few of the images captured on film. We had one roll, which meant 10 square images and only a few to share with you… which is all part of the romance of film that is coming back and sweeping people off their feet.

It was gorgeous. There were wide stretches of land and open fields, mountains in the distance and grasses blowing in the wind. I know the country has grown on me, even though I grew up in a close to opposite location. My destination was Culpepper, Virginia and Nikki’s parent’s family farm. It was the location not only for their engagement session but for their October wedding. It was wonderful to get a feel for the area and meet up with Mike, Nikki, and her family and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to photographing their wedding. I think you’ll be excited to see it as well.

I’m sure the wedding is going to be amazing. The view you see above will be visible for the ceremony and the reception will take place in and around a barn on their property. I know they have work to do to get ready, but I think it’s going to be completely worth it in the end.

Don’t be fooled by the country setting. Mike and Nikki are New Yorkers now – even more so than I – and love living in the city. Not only that, but they’re pretty much what I would classify as world travelers. They like to take a three day weekend and hop on a plane to Amsterdam, Holland, Paris, you name it. This is the beginning of many more adventures for these two.

Mike and Nikki have a great twin lens reflex camera that they’ve used on some of their trips. Since there’s a darkroom in Nikki’s house she prints some of their images and enjoys photography… maybe we’ll see more from her some day. We loaded up some film in the camera for the esession and Mike and Nikki took some pictures of each other. I sent the film off to be developed and I bet it’s done but en route due to our change of address. I hope they turn out and if so I’ll have to do a second post of those.

Nikki you’re gorgeous! I can’t wait to photograph you on your wedding day

I asked them what the plan was for their honeymoon. They’re going big : Africa. Tanzania and Kenya to be exact.

We headed out into a field where some of the cows were grazing to get them in some of the shots. I learned that the cow they’ll be serving at the wedding is already picked out – I know that sounds weird but it doesn’t get more local than that.

I love those b+w’s and you know you can’t wait for their wedding. I certainly can’t.

Sean and Jess were reintroduced to each other through their very good friend, Becca Fuller. A missions trip to the Dominican Republic that Sean was leading was what initially gave them the opportunity to connect, and I have no doubt that these too will do great things together to serve and help others.

thank you, Mill Race Design for having a gorgeous wood door and colorful exterior!

I love motion in pictures, and especially in this one. They’re off on an adventure and I can’t wait until it really starts when they’re married in August!

Welcome to the second part of Margaret + Luke’s Rochester engagement session, the night portion. I had been wanting to do this for a while, but it involved a lot of set up and was harder to pull off, which is why you haven’t seen it earlier. On that note, if I have any couples who want to do something similar – I would love to! We’ll just have to figure out the logistics.

For this night engagement session, we kept our picnic set up and strung up some lights for something more romantic. Long exposures and light writing completed the set of photos, and let me tell you it took multiple tries for Margaret to write love backwards for the camera – but it was worth it! I love this romantic set and we created a fun save the date for M+L where they wrote out the numbers for their date.

take 2 of the heart shot… two of many :) Save the date for 10.2.10 and can’t wait to see you then!

This engagement session takes place in Rochester NY in an unlikely farm in the middle of the city. I had been excited for this session since I started talking with Margaret + Luke about some of their ideas for the shoot, and we decided to break up and do both a country picnic and a night session that you’ll see later on. Unlike most guys who are more tentative about having their picture taken, Luke was all about it which made it even better. We were even joined by a special guest, an alpaca, who wandered in and out of the frames to our delight.

Now that their engagement session is done, I’m looking forward even more to their wedding, which is going to be a gorgeous outdoor affair at a park/amphitheater in North Carolina. Margaret is doing a lot of planning for the big day and incorporating a lot of handcrafted details, so I can’t wait to see what she has in store. She is also a talented letterpress artist and is printing my business cards and a few other materials for me! You will be seeing some of those soon if you haven’t already.

Isn’t Margaret beautiful? Can’t wait to see her as a bride. You’ll notice in the pictures the flowers Sassafras did for the shoot. Gorgeous! I love that succulent bouquet soo much.

Not only are they in love, but they balance each other out. Luke is more practical, Margaret is more of a dreamer. Ah, love is amazing.

I love these last two! Margaret + Luke you guys are wonderful and I can’t wait for your wedding this fall! Hope you enjoyed the pictures and stay tuned for round two tomorrow morning!

It’s always exciting to photograph something new. Sometimes it’s the people that inspire you, the props, the location, but hopefully it’s all of the above. It’s not always easy to have those three elements come together as it takes more planning and collaborating, but as you can see it’s totally worth it. I’ve been planning on doing a unique session like this for a while, and wanted to use it as a starting point for other sessions… so this is just the beginning. I hope to collaborate like this with other couples and come up with totally unique and creative images so let me know if you want to be involved.  This photo makes it look effortless, but if you saw the car full of props we brought with us and the hiking we did out to our locations you would be impressed. Margaret and Luke were the perfect couple to try anything and incorporated their own style and personality into the shoot, which made it even more successful. I’ll write more on planning a session like this and show you the rest of the images soon!

This love story started on the basketball court. Christy and Phil met on a church league and while that is where their story began, the first chapter wasn’t written until Christy’s trip to Zambia. Working for World Hope, she was presented with the opportunity to work in the field. She spread the news about her trip and asked family and friends to help support her, and one of those friends was Phil. They met over coffee to talk and their friendship soon developed into something more. Who would have known that a support letter would have lead to an engagement… that’s taking a support letter to a whole new level.

look at those moves! Matt and I met up with Phil and Christy in DC and spent part of our time in the district and most of it in Georgetown area, which is beautiful.

Christy left for her trip not too long after their coffee shop date which meant that they spent the first part of their relationship miles apart.

Gorgeous, right? Are you as excited for their wedding as I am?

they love each other. There’s so much more of their story to be written and I’m so excited to be a part of documenting it. Phil + Christy see you in October and good luck with the wedding planning!

On Sunday Matt and I (that’s right, Matt came along to help with his first shoot) drove over to DC for Christy and Phil’s engagement session. I had been trying to get Matt to come with me for a while, since I needed the free labor knew how helpful he would be.  I didn’t make it easy on him. By the time we rolled in to DC, amidst signs for major road closures due to the nuclear energy summit, we were hungry and fearing multiple hours in traffic on the way home. It turns out the traffic was not a problem – we were in and out at the perfect times – but we did have to wait a little while for food. I took him out to Ray’s Hell Burger afterwards to make up for it, and I think it worked.

It was great to have him along, help out with equipment and do random tasks like throw a basketball and pick a bouquet of dandelions, so thanks Matt! Here’s just a few from the session for now, and look for the rest of Christy + Phil’s engagement photos soon!