Brittany and Scott

People can meet and fall in love in the most unexpected places. When Brittany signed up for an art class at BYU, she probably wasn't expecting to meet the love of her life, and she certainly wouldn't have predicted the circumstances. I mean, when you picture meeting "the one" for the very first time, they would normally have their clothes on, right? :)
As it turns out, Brittany spent hours sketching her future husband with a roomful of people, all while he sported nothing but a blue speedo (no nude models due to the policies of the church-run campus). I guess it gives a new meaning to the phrase "Love at first sight."
Brittany and Scott were very fun to shoot, and were easy to work with. We got quite a bit of rain (not that you would necessarily notice in the photos), but they were gung ho about the whole process and happily tramped around anywhere I suggested.

To see more photos from Brittany and Scott's engagement photos, click here.

Shauna and Andrew

For Shauna and Andrew's engagement photos we decided to head on up to downtown Salt Lake City and focus on Memory Grove Park as well as a few locations around the U of U campus. Lots of nice sunlight that day, and we ended up with a lot of photos they were really happy with to show off how much they love each other.

Piggy back rides- equally cool when you're 5 and when you're engaged. ...Or really just any time. :D

I love it when a guy tries out the kissy-face.

Take a look at the full engagement gallery here.

Cute and casual

Here's just a few quick picks from a recent engagement shoot. Jamie and Peter are a fun, casual couple, and as it turns out Peter was actually my brother-in-law Mike's roommate a couple of years ago. Living in Utah can be such a small world, as everyone seems to know everyone else one way or another. It was kind of funny though- near the beginning of the shoot Peter says to me in a low voice "Wow, I almost didn't recognize Mike with that beard on." I look at him confused for a second, and then make the connection. I laughed and pointed out that it was his brother.

I love all the gold colors in this next one.

Swings and rings

If you've been following the blog long enough, you may remember the not-quite-engagement-shoot I did for Mike and Lindsey last year. Weeeell, as it turns out they went to their favorite park a while ago after a nice dinner, and while Lindsey was on the swing Mike got down on one knee and said "Well why don't we just get this ring on your finger and go home." Romantic, no?
They're getting married August 14th in Portland, Oregon. Watch for bridals, and later photos from the wedding.

You can't quite tell from the photos, but there was a crazy windstorm going on for the whole engagement shoot.

This captures my brother-in-law and his fiancee pretty accurately.

Here's a link to the full gallery.

Erin and Cole

Thomas and I went on a drive location scouting one day, hoping to find something really special. We decided to head on out to Saratoga Springs, and we found some really gorgeous rustic waterside nature spots. It was a few weeks before the weather cooperated and I found a couple that when scheduling engagements said they'd like to try it out. We ended up hitting a few other places we spotted on the way out there as well. We're spontaneous like that. Oh yeah.

I am a huge sucker for the huge reeds you get around water like this....

Happiness is smooches on the cheek, didn't you know?

So much light in this photo, both physical and emotional.


You should check out the rest of the photos here as they become available.

Janet and Adam

Things have been so busy! I've been averaging about 4 or 5 shoots a week, and finally got around to putting up some of these engagement photos up taken at Lehi Main St.

You can see more here.

Brooklyn and Kagan

The Harley Davidson store in Lindon is one of those locations that I always drove by and said to myself "Oooh I really should shoot there sometime." I even suggested it once or twice to a couple of different clients, but it never really seemed to pan out. So when we got a really beautiful clear day for Brooklyn and Kagan's engagement session I suggested we start there before we headed on over to the park we had planned to finish out at. I am so glad we did! Lots of really fun architecture to play around with, and some awesomely rich colors and textures for the background. We did get a couple of funny looks from the huge Harley guys as they walked in and out of the store, but we had a blast.
Kagan is a film student who works as a computer engineer/software guy, and he had a wonderfully dry sense of humor, so he kept us (and especially Brooklyn!) laughing most of the time. I like it when my clients make sure their smiles are genuine on their own- it makes for a lot more natural picture when you're laughing your head off.

These girders were so awesome to play with...

Looking back at these, I think maybe the only times Brooklyn wasn't laughing were when she was kissing Kagan. :)

Like I said, we had some fun with the girders....

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You know, I love color and I love light. Photos like this next one remind me why I love photography so much.

Click here for more photos of Brooklyn and Kagan.

Erin and Todd

Every once in a while I get a couple that no matter where we are and when we shoot it doesn't matter- I just get awesome photo after awesome photo. For this engagement session we had planned originally to start off at Wheeler Farm and then head on up to Saltair. Erin and Todd were just so natural in front of the camera, and we kept working so well together that time flew by and before we knew it we had spent much more time than expected at Wheeler Farm. Thus, we headed on up to Liberty Park to finish up the engagements.
I love their style, and both were just wonderful to deal with.  I've really gotten some fantastically easy-going clients recently.  :)

While at Liberty Park we had a visitor.  I've been shooting for a while, but I don't think I've ever been photobombed by a waterfowl before.

Some of the colors we were getting were almost like Fall.  It made for some really rich backgrounds...

Some tender moments at the most photographed truck in Utah.... :)

The blues in this next one just felt right...

While I put in more photos than normal, I really didn't scratch the surface of the awesomeness contained in their gallery.  Check out more of my favorites here.

Renae and Kenny- Fun in the Sun

It's funny...
When I first started out as a photographer, my ideal day to shoot was overcast weather, because I didn't have to worry about any harsh shadows or bad lighting- I could just shoot. Now I find myself grumbling when the sky is too cloudy and I have a shoot planned, because I can't get the yummy rim lighting or play with my reflectors the way I want to.
Renae and Kenny won a free engagement shoot by attending a recent bridal fair where I had a booth, and they were so easy to work with when we set up the session I ended up turning the shoot into a mini-workshop for my interns as we took the photos. For this shoot, we decided to go for some of the most difficult lighting situations we could find and started shooting at noon (LOTS of bright sunshine that day, and the corresponding risk of overly harsh shadows ). We played around with different bits of shade we could find, different types and kinds of reflectors, and a little bit of flash. Both Renae and Kenny were awesome to work with, and didn't miss a beat when focusing on each photographer- you would have thought they were seasoned models! :)
So both my interns, Justin and Valor, got a great rundown on shooting in midday sun, and our happy couple got some extra variety in the shots and subsequently some great pictures. It was a good day.

The orange on this building was awesome- very cool find in Provo.

So much texture in the corrugated steel. Love it!

Check out some more picks in the gallery here.