Ohh winter engagement sessions, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1. I love Johnny & Jess. They are the sweetest, most down to earth couple, and I love that they are such good friends. Those smitten sideways looks they give each other also give me major heart eyes.
2. Maybe all engagement sessions should start with beers and chats? I love when we incorporate beer, or coffee, or food, or whatever you’re into, into engagement photos. One time it was shots of Jamieson at 9am. One time it was pancakes at a diner, one time it was forties under the most gorgeous weeping beech tree. YOU GUYS DO YOU! I am here for it!
3. I cannot get enough of this soft diffused winter light, bouncing off of all the snow and ice, creating ideal lighting conditions for those of us who spend so much of our lives calculating best light based on sunrise and sunset. Winter time? IT’S ALL GOLD.
4. The Ice. It’s beautiful! It’s cold. It’s SO slippery, and also incredibly entertaining. I almost ate it going down the trail to the falls, but after some very cartoon-like flailing, managed to catch myself. I swear, my camera is some sort of magical falling-deterrent, because I gain a ton of grace and dumb luck the moment that thing is in my hand. Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky. While we were tucked into an alcove on one of the trails, one hiker took a big spill and laid there laughing so hard for a full five minutes before she was able to claw her way over to a spot with a bit more traction. We did make sure she was ok and offered assistance before we all joined her laughter. That ice, it really brings people together!
5. Awosting Falls is gorgeous. It’s basically a photographer’s dream location, which makes run ins with industry friends (Hi, Alicia!) an added bonus.
6. Kateigh actually deserves like 5/6 of the numbers on this list. Not only is she my long time friend / other half, but she is crazy talented and we work so well together. Over the years, I’ve learned that having an associate photographer shoot a wedding under your name only works if you trust them 100% to capture a wedding the same way you would, and that’s not something I’m willing to compromise on. To expand on that, half of the photos in this post were taken by me and half were taken by Kateigh, with all post-production work done by me. Can you tell the difference?I’m so excited to have a handful of close colleagues who I’ve worked alongside over the past few years who can seamlessly fill my shoes on the wedding day when I can’t physically be there. The biggest bonus for me, though, is doing fun engagement sessions like this where we literally laugh the entire time and create pure magic together. Hashtag dream team.

The most difficult part of kicking off these blog posts again was deciding which of my ridiculously awesome shoots from the past year to start with. Do I go in chronological order? Reverse chronological order? Favorites? As I was browsing through, trying to nail down my approach, I got to Tiffany & Carlos’s Engagement Session at Highland Airs Alpaca Ranch and stopped. When faced with the quandary of where to begin the obvious answer is always, of course, alpacas.

When Tiffany and I started talking about their engagement session, she asked if it would be okay to do it at an alpaca ranch, and I had to try to play it cool about my excitement (real talk: I did not play it cool). For future reference, if anyone ever wants animals involved in any kind of session, my answer will always be an adamant yes. I AM DOWN.

Highland Airs is home to 26 alpacas and 1 llama. The owner, and his husky-wolf pup, graciously showed us around, introduced us to the alpacas and educated us about their personalities, hair, and shows (some of them are award winning!). It was incredible being in such close proximity to the animals, and it was awesome getting to know Tiffany and Carlos throughout. As I’m sure you can imagine, we laughed a LOT. My favorite part of the whole session, though, is that it really is such a classic and beautiful engagement shoot – the photos are sweet and romantic! They’re just enhanced with the photobombing alpacas. I can’t go though this gallery without chuckling (which I just did in a coffee shop by myself, ps, not weird at all).

I have spent a lot of time over the past twelve years waiting in public places for people I haven’t met in person yet. Not to say they’re strangers, because they’re anything but. Sara and I corresponded via email for weeks leading up to her and Michael’s engagement session. I watched as close to a hundred people – many couples included – entered the park before she and Michael arrived, but the second I saw them walking hand-in-hand down the street, I knew it was them. It was like they were old friends. Strolling through Central Park and the Upper East Side side with them, hearing their story – how they met, fell in love, got engaged, and all the plans they were making for the most beautiful wedding this fall. No words can tell you about Sara and Michael what these photos can. They are great friends, first and foremost. They have a rich history that’s woven through the streets we walked. And they are really, really good sports about cold weather. All in all, they are my kind of people and I am so glad we found each other.