I know you remember Ceci & Joe. 
What a seriously fun day we had playing in the snow for the first part of their E-Session. We decided to follow that up with the complete opposite of that: sun, warmth and lots of green. We also did a darker more sultry set in the Strip and I’ll get to that next week.
For now, enjoy the love, giggles and sunshine.
Ohhhhh sweetness of love. John and I have never ever had the chance to witness a surprise engagement, let alone photograph one. So when Stephanie contacted us about proposing to her fiance Desiree we jumped in with both feet. We were thrilled!
Stephanie & Desiree live in Baltimore but they come up to the beautiful ‘Burgh every year to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (because we all know no city beats out the ‘Burgh with their partying ways on St. Paddy’s Day!) But little did Des know that Stephanie had a hidden agenda. Muhahahahaha!
So, we met Steph & Des at the Duquesne Incline (which is where they first fell in love) at sunrise on St. Patrick’s Day. And as you can see from the photos below Des was quite surprised and not a little delighted. Ahhhhh…..love. *shucks*
Desiree & Stephanie were so gaga for each other…it was so heartening to witness.
Best of luck with your upcoming wedding in NY Steph & Des!! CONGRATULATIONS and thanks for letting us be such a special part of your day. xoxo
Yep…a little more from Amanda & Mike’s E-Session. There is still so much to show you…
I had more fun than you can imagine on this shoot. Getting my couples to take a step outside of their comfort zone is always fun for me and Amanda & Mike did such a great job here. I’d say in about 99% of E-Sessions I want to see the real you…the real chemistry between my couples. I want them to let their guards down and invite us in for a peek into their vulnerable sides. But this shoot was the complete opposite. Amanda & Mike had to conjure a different character in each part of this shoot. It was fascinating and so incredibly fun to work thru this with them to get out of them what I needed.
Again, this was a “sort of” take on the Domestic Bliss shoot in W Magazine so I wanted to see the gritty side of a relationship…the side that rolls when the no one is looking. I wanted to see grit and fire, sex and romance and of course, power and submission. I wanted to see the contradiction of each of these things. I can only hope I pulled it off!
So I know you got to see Jasmine & Gabe in bed (hee hee…that was fun to say) but I realized I never posted a few other photos from their Engagement Session. Before I forced John to shlep that bed into a big field we had the fun of walking around the woods at Hartwood Acres and taking some romantic photography of Jasmine & Gabe (dontcha just love that quote above?? I heart Emily Bronte…)
Yes! Another one! Yeah…that’s right…I put TWO Engagement Sessions back to back on my blog. ‘Cuz that’s how I role.
Can’t help it…with the fall colors alive it’s kinda ‘Tis the Season, ya know? Heather & Jim wanted to try and capture that cool crisp in Autumn so we set out for a walk and some fun. Heather brought along that blanket and it was a really cute idea. We walked along the alleys, then over to the park and at just the right moment we were able to capture our gorgeous city at twilight. Just check out those colors!
Well it’s Friday. Friday means I am not going to put up a big post because on Fridays everyone takes off work, leaves early or is finishing up major projects before they head home for the weekend. And I am not going to put up allllll the photographs I would love to put up right now because this Engagement Session was so cute, so adorable, so fun, so sweet….it simply deserves all of your attention.
So all of you with “weekend!” on the brain, here is a little sneak peek that will hopefully bring you back for more next week.
So saaaaweeet!
Yep–look at all these photos (I couldn’t choose any less)….they are so romantic! So sweet! Jayann & Jim did such a great job of letting themselves be so close during their E-Session, and as you’ll see at the end of this post, playful as well.
Enjoy!
And here’s the part when Jayann & Jim decided they wanted to do a fun shot. Jim just outright and unexpectedly tackled Jayann out of the blue and I have no idea how I caught it but I did.
Yup. I said it. Love in a crackhouse. As you can see from the photo above there is a bit of explaining necessary. First off let me say this was one of the most interesting E-Sessions we’ve had in a long time. Tee hee! And lest you think I’m being insensitive for calling this house a crackhouse, rest assured…I am not making this statement for dramatics. It really was.
So yes, that is a crackhouse above. The house used to be in Jenn’s family. It belonged to her grandfather and after he passed away it was inherited by her uncle. At the time it was simply a home in a town where both Jenn & Chris grew up (though they never met till much later in life). Once the town’s nose dive turned into a suicidal plummet, Jenn’s uncle was forced to move out because the neighborhood crack addicts took over his home and turned it into a crackhouse. But Jenn was a part of that house for the first 16 years of her life and had fond memories of this home and as you can see from the photo above….Chris & Jenn aren’t exactly our everyday garden-variety couple. To say the least (which is exactly what made me fall in love with them instantly). So off we went (with a Police escort and all!)
As soon as John & I showed up at Jenn & Chris’ home I realized what a seriously fun shoot this was going to be. Not only was Jenn trying to ever-so-cautiously to tell us we’d “be safe” in this house (which in any other person would insight fear…but in me only inspired a sense of adventure) but as you can see she and Chris are a bit of a…how shall I say….paradox? Seriously….who can’t have fun with that??
As you can see from some of the photos this was a very colorful place. The graffiti alone was just fantastic. Jenn & Chris were particularly partial to the Toxic Girl, so we gave her some love.
I love how John got the “Time to Grow” in there. Awesome.
And we did have a few very sweet moments between Jenn & Chris. The sun really was just glowing last night and couldn’t pass up a few sweet shots.
But I must end with a photo of….no, not so much Jenn’s ring, but please take particular notice of her posh manicure. Did I mention that Jenn’s wedding gown is being made as we speak? Yup. In the lovely shade of black. Can’t wait for that wedding!!
Pittsburgh really is such a glorious place to photograph. You know the awesome thing about photographing in the ‘Burgh (other than the obvious lovely locations, history and culture)? You really have the opportunity to become good with your equipment and you learn how to shoot in any lighting situation, making sure to pull out the best with what you have to work with. This day was so humid and sticky, the skies were that dull gray and we couldn’t get any golden glow of the sun to save our lives but in the end, here we were…with Lissa & Joe having a blast.
Can’t wait till October when we rock that wedding Lissa & Joe!
