Gone are the days of the Sears portrait studio engagement photos.
You know the ones. One person sitting stiffly in front of the other, a freshly ringed hand placed very carefully on someone’s lap, both people staring intensely into the camera with a strange little smile that says, “We are in love, but also deeply uncomfortable.”
Those were my engagement photos.
And I have made it my life’s work to never do that to anyone else.
For Alex and James, I wanted their session to feel like them. Relaxed, playful, a little flirty, and full of the kind of photos they would actually want in their house. Not the kind you find years later and immediately close the album out of self-preservation.
I had already photographed these two with their sweet little girls, but this time it was just them. No parenting, no wrangling, no snack negotiations. Just Alex and James together at Blacklake Golf Course in Nipomo, finally getting a quiet evening after several storms had James working many, many hours of overtime.
He showed up tired, but happy to be there. Or at least happy to be kissing on his girl, which worked out nicely because that was most of the assignment.
And honestly, these two made it easy. A little laughter, a little closeness, a little “what do we do now?” followed by realizing they did not have to do much at all.
Just be together.
That is always where the good stuff is.
