Engagement Sessions

Couples are fleeing the restrictive confines of a studio for their engagement session and opting to hire their wedding photographer to follow them around for a day of window shopping, trattissories and spontaneous activities, affording them a day of fun and the opportunity to get cozy in front of the camera before their big day.

Catherine Hall Studios

Catherine Hall is known for keeping couples “engaged with encouragement” and trying to keep things “fluid and fun.” One of the many ways she does it: “I will often direct, but won’t pose, in order to keep a lot of energy in my images.” Many times she will even share cocktails with a couple before the session giving them some time to “get to know each other in a relaxed, social environment.” She adds: “The more you know your clients, the better and more personal the images will be.”

A Dream Picture

Dina Konovalov tries to “become the couple’s friend with a camera, as opposed to an uptight photographer posing them in unnatural ways.” The key to a successful shoot, she feels, is the “interaction between the two people I’m shooting.” But she knows that “it’s not every day a couple is taken to a public place with paparazzi following them around and asking them to kiss here and there while people passing by stare,” so she often finds herself cracking jokes to help create a more relaxed feel.

Kelly Lorenz Photography

Kelly Lorenz encourages couples to “flirt with each other as they would if they were in their first few months of dating.” She feels that shooting a newly engaged couple is “such an honor because it is a time in their lives that they are filled with so many emotions.” Her main goal: “to capture that emotion during the shoot.” One of the many places that she enjoys shooting is outside—exploring the city, beach, park or wherever.

Kristin Spencer Photography

Kristin Spencer and her husband, Jared, find the engagement session is a chance to learn what to watch for—like blinking—then, “the day of their wedding we can pull from the knowledge we gained.” As much as “it is a business for us, we look at our clients as friends.” She continues, “It’s such a huge factor in being able to get beautiful and natural imagery.” And their secret to making a couple feel comfortable: sarcasm. “It keeps the style of our shooting more casual.”

Mathew J. Wagner Fine Photography

Matthew J. Wagner believes that really knowing his clients, “their likes and dislikes; knowing who they are when they are truly relaxed and themselves, helps me to recognize that inner person who is so in love with their soul mate.” He also believes that “people look their best when they are happy, relaxed and at ease.” To create this environment he may start “by following them around” and “sometimes run ahead.” Occasionally he will even “disappear.”

C.A. Smith Photography

Cyndi Smith and her husband, Chris, enjoy working as a team. “Typically, Chris will yield the camera and I talk to the couple and get them to loosen up.” They often “collaborate on ideas of where to photograph” and find that the more they praise the couple “the better the images get.” Since most of their weddings are destination driven, it can be difficult to do an engagement session, but for those that they can, shooting the wedding day is “much easier and more comfortable for all involved.”

Written by Jessica Latimer