Engagement
There are not words to express what it was like to do the wedding photos for this couple. Lexi is a dear friend, an amazing person, a super-mom, and I couldn't be happier to see her with Brett, who is an equally outstanding human! And the personality of Lexi's little girl... well, it doesn't get more adorable than her. I'll let the photos do the talking now:
This photo with the blue wall looked AMAZING printed on metal! I feel like they should be fashion models here... Adorable :)
City Creek was a really fun environment to shoot! There was a cute old security guard who insisted we needed to stick around an extra 15 minutes because there was going to be FIRE coming out of the fountain. (you can see in the photo above that it wasn't that exciting... but it made me smile!)
This photo above is one of my favorites because I feel like I caught Jordyn and Colton on a date, not just a photoshoot. Like they happened to be enjoying the atmosphere around City Creek, and they look like they were having fun. I like to tell my clients that engagement photos are just supervised flirting. Yes, I will give some direction, but mostly if you can just make each other laugh and enjoy the evening, everyone will be happier! I love seeing moments like these :)
I think this is the first engagement shoot I've ever done with a videographer there, but I've got to tell you - I would trust Chris McClain with my life. Or my camera. Or photos... Something like that! It was wonderful to work as a team, his energy was so encouraging and positive. Some photographers have horror stories about the video guy getting in the way, but in all the times I've worked with Chris, he's been amazing.
A walk around downtown Salt Lake City with Kiera and Brandon! I always recommend each couple brings a few outfits, and with each outfit change I got more and more impressed. I secretly wish that I could own wearing those pants! ...and the yellow skirt... and the purple shoes... But at least Kiera looked amazing in them!
I love how sweetly they were looking at each other here:
And it was a cold day! Seriously guys, I was wearing a pea coat. But these two just kept smiling, you can't even tell from the photos. I keep thinking I should set a soundtrack to each photoshoot I do. This one would definitely be "I've got my love to keep me warm" by Billie Holiday
I want to put this photo in a magazine somewhere. Or maybe on my wall. We could do that too!
Purple shoes... awesome, right???
I hope these two keep smiling like this for the rest of their lives! Oh, how I love working with happy people. And we'll be shooting the wedding in a couple weeks in Los Angeles! California, here we come.
I woke up exhausted this morning! For the last 3 days I've had unbelievable amounts of energy combined with insomnia, so I have been working out - push ups, planks, running, elliptical pull ups, dancing, stairs, and whatever else I can think of! Then today, my body finally slowed down and said "thanks for the workout". Tired, groggy, and very sore today, but then I had a photoshoot this evening that reminded me why I love my job. Even when I am tired and not sure if I want to leave the comfort of my office, working in front of my computer with a tv show going on the other screen, I go to a session and remember that it's all about the people. And I really do love it.
I get to work with amazing people like Mattie and Carston. These two are just adorable!
I know Mattie from when I was a teenager in Austin, she has a smile that is absolutely contagious. So positive, so loving, so happy! I love to be around people like her. She and her family moved every couple years, and after Austin they moved to France. She speaks the language quite well and actually taught an elementary school immersion program for a few years. Luckily, there was "A Bit of Paris" here in Utah also...
This shoot was so much fun because it felt like we were just hanging out. Laughing, talking, exploring - we hiked around and found some cool little places I had never been!
And Carston is a cop. Which means we got to play with the car!! I titled this next photo "What a woman will do to get out of a speeding ticket" which might be a controversial title, but I love the photo anyway.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF THEIR ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS.
Hi friends. Thanks for visiting my blog. It's quite apparent that I've struggled keeping up with writing posts and updating this site... but I've just made a resolution that I believe will change this. Yesterday, I had an amazing photoshoot, and then I met with some prospective clients that made me say "wow. I love my job. I get to work with some of the most amazing people." So, here's my lightbulb moment: The reason I love my job is because of the people, so I want to tell their stories here on my blog instead of just showing you the photos. I have a lot of catching up to do and a lot of people to tell you about, but I'm really excited to write these posts now!
Let me back up to 2012 and tell you about my little sister and her husband.
Angela is amazing. She is caring, beautiful, talented, and extremely dedicated. I am constantly impressed by her ability to work hard on school and work, even when it seems easier to give up... I took this photo just for fun back in 2010 when they were dating, before she traveled to New Zealand as a missionary for a year and a half.
Now, through the years I have learned that while my siblings are quite grateful to have a photographer as a sister, it's also kind of awkward for them. I remember putting a couple of these photos of Angela and Dallin on facebook and several people thought they were engaged - why else would you have professional photos as a couple? But then, two years later, I took some more photos which actually were engagement photos! What do you think? Do they look older to you?
These were taken at our family reunion in upstate New York the DAY they got engaged. How's that for pressure? The boyfriend comes to the family reunion to ask permission for the daughter's hand and to propose to her there. Wow. But Dallin is so mature and respectful, he handled the pressure quite well. It was so fun for me to do photos of them - to watch them let go of inhibitions a little bit and actually kiss in front of me!! Of course I have to tease my sister a little bit about it... isn't that what siblings are for? But I couldn't help smiling and actually got a bit emotional just to see how happy he made her. In fact, if I can make myself vulnerable enough to admit it, I actually get tears in my eyes looking through the photos now. I am so grateful she found someone like him who will treat her well and make her happy!
OK Whitney... enough of that sentimental emotional stuff for now. Time to see more of their photos!
Choosing which photos to put on a blog has always been difficult for me. I know which photos look the most professional, I know which photos they put on their wall, which photos their friends comment on... but instead of the most professional photos, I want to show you the little bits of uniqueness, the reason why I love my job. Every couple brings such a different emotion to it, a different personality and looking through photos like these - the laughing, the romance, the funny faces - it makes me smile. Besides, Angela has a pretty amazing monkey face in this next photo :)
Ok, now this was just adorable. I've done the "first look" a few times to capture the moment when the groom first sees the bride in her dress. I have never seen a couple this cute, though. Angela couldn't stop laughing and Dallin kept telling her how beautiful she was. And it was true. She looks amazing! These are some of the photos from the formals at Bountiful temple.
I feel pretty lucky to have the opportunity to capture such special moments as these. It's really amazing that all I have to do is click a button and then that moment is recorded for the rest of our lives. It wasn't hard to find moments with Angela and Dallin, though, they were so in their own world that sometimes I wasn't even sure if they knew I was there! The day for this formals shoot was FREEZING too. I am so impressed with how "cheerfully cooperative" they were. (That's the phrase from my wedding contract that most people laugh at, but I think it's the perfect phrase. I love to work with cheerfully cooperative people!
I'll often do photos at a few locations for a shoot like this, but Ang and Dallin said they'd rather have more photos with the temple. Not only does it make a beautiful backdrop for an evening shoot, but it gives more meaning to the photos as the location also represents the commitment they are making to each other. I think this photo sums it up - the temple, the romance of the sunset, two happy and beautiful people. I'm so proud of them!
I was so excited to hear Katie was engaged - she sings with Noteworthy, and I've been following them as time goes on. These girls are all amazing! Incredible voices, and really fun people. And it looks like Katie's found herself a pretty amazing guy too. She and Tom were soo cute! They smiled so naturally and laughed the whole time. It was just fun!
We shot outside Fashion Place Mall in the evening and I played with a rented Nikon D3. THAT was fun too.
I can't help but smile looking through these. Katie and Tom are just happy people, and I love that!
I never really liked the movie "Little Mermaid," but I LOVED one song from it - "Under the Sea." Bear with me for a moment, and this statement will soon be relevant.
I love the mountains and the snow for photos, but when winter comes around in Utah, all I want to do is go somewhere warm and spend time at the beach (hence the cruise). So when Nicole emailed me and said she's getting married in Miami etc... all I could think about was gorgeous beach engagements and just how picturesque that would be. But it turns out she wanted to come up to Utah for engagements! In the snow. And dead trees. Because, as she said "it's a background I can't get in Miami!" I had to change my perspective a little bit and recognize just how beautiful my state gets. I've always loved Fall and Summer, but sometimes I get grumpy during winter and forget to look around. I appreciated the reminder.
We had the beautiful location of the Park City Historic Barn, snow on the fields. It was very picturesque. They were a pretty good-lookin' couple too!
Nicole had one picture she wanted and showed up with these cute scrabble tiles to say "forever and always." Such a cute idea, we had fun playing with it!
And isn't her ring incredible???
Nicole and Blake drove down from Rexburg, ID where they both attend BYU for our engagement photo session. We managed to get a beautiful and sunny day- even if it was a little windy and only about 20 degrees outside. :D These two were awesome to work with!
Weren't Nicole's shoes cute?
I love shooting the historic old white barn in Park City. It's such a landmark, and has some fantastic advantages if you are looking for different "nature" shots. There's a great field, stream, some nice fence lines and this awesome historic farmhouse all in the same location.
Check out their full gallery here! There are a lot more awesome photos of these two....