engagement session details
why?
Why do an engagement session?
There are a few reasons why:
It’s good practice. You can get used to what it feels like to have a camera in front of you, and together we can figure out the kinds of suggestions and poses feel comfortable for you. Usually, when people do an engagement session with me before their wedding, they are much less nervous about having me and my camera around on the wedding day. And the wedding day portraits go very quickly!
It’s a good way for us to build a rapport and get to know each other better. This is also good for your wedding day — I can learn more about your story and create more authentic photos for your narrative.
You can do whatever you want with the photos! Use them for invitations, a website, social media, your empty walls, gifts for family members… or just lock them away in a drawer and never look at them again. Whatever you’d like! They’re your photos!
Once we’ve decided that we’ll do an engagement session, the next thing we should do is decide on a location for us.
Where do you live? What’s your vibe? Do you like nature or cities? Bookstores or bars? Fancy plated dinners or taco trucks? Splashing in the waves on a sandy beach, or climbing the rocks of the seaside cliff? Are you proud of your home or your garden, and want to remember the way you two filled your space with love? (Hint hint: those are some of my favorite kinds of engagement sessions, capturing people at home.)
You can check out these photos for some inspiration from other engagement sessions I’ve done.
where?
when?
That’s totally up to you. What season do you like the best? Are you more comfortable in hot or cold weather? Is there a time of month or day of the week that has the most amount of free time for you? Do you want your engagement session right away, or a little closer to your wedding day? Think it over!
Dates: When you have a general idea of the timeframe, let me know the days you’re thinking of and I’ll let you know my availability. I am lucky to be a fulltime freelance photographer, so I can be pretty flexible with scheduling.
Time of day: Generally speaking, I am a sucker for shooting during golden hour (approximately 6-7:30pm in the summer, 5-6pm in the winter), when the light gets soft, directional, and colorful. I also love early morning light (8-9am), but most clients pick golden hour. I wonder why 🤔 💭 …
how?
How does it work? Well, it’s easy! We just show up at the time and place. I’ll have my camera, you’ll be wearing nice clothes that you feel comfortable in, and we’ll just take a bunch of practice portraits for an hour or so. I take hundreds of photos and cull them down to 50-ish good usable photos for you.
rules of thumb:
Wear comfortable clothes that you feel good in! Do you feel the most like yourself in a tank top and jeans? Or a sequined dress? Do you like big geometric earrings? Or plastic watches with calculators built in? Go for it. Wear whatever “brings joy.”
While I’m OK with a mid-session outfit change, remember that one solid outfit is just fine. (I can help you pick an outfit if you’re feeling indecisive.)
Don’t bring lots of bags. We’re walking around, you’re getting your picture taken, and I’m the one holding all the stuff!
If you have an object that is special to you that you want to incorporate into the session, you can bring it along. But please make it a small object that is easy to carry (see: the above point) and nothing too fragile or priceless.
(Honestly, my preference is zero objects, zero bags!)
Communicate your ideas ahead of time.
Keep in mind that this is a couples portrait session for personal use. These photos are not intended to double as headshots, author’s photos, advertising, etc. If you do need something like that, please let me know ahead of time.
Remember that this is all just practice, and we can have fun with it! You don’t have to stand there and “say cheese.” Most of my engagement sessions are just like hanging out… in nice clothes… with my camera out :)