Being a wedding and event photographer I get to meet a lot of different people. And when I met Jeremy and Gisenyi, I knew right away that I was going to love working with this couple. Before each engagement session, I like to sit down, relax and chat for a while before we all head out to take pictures. If we haven't already decided on a location to shoot, we discuss a few places that might be interesting and fun before heading out the door. From previous conversations with these two, I knew that they were both certified SCUBA divers and that Jeremy was also a dive instructor. So being the dive nut I am, I already had plenty in common with this couple. After chatting a bit we all agreed to start off in Balboa Park and then let fate decide where we would go from there. Right from the get go, both Jeremy and Gisenyi were a lot of fun to work with. At one point they both were doing cartwheels on the grass which paved the way for lightening the mood as well as a good laugh for everyone. I like to make my engagement sessions a time where everyone can relax and have fun, this way the photos are less posed and more about capturing the moment with natural happy smiling faces. These sessions also give the couple some alone time with me to see how I work behind the camera, before I show up on their wedding day.
During the engagement session, my interest in graffiti & mural art came up in conversation and I told them I enjoyed using urban backgrounds for some of the portraits I create when I'm not doing wedding photography. They were intrigued with this and thought that even though the murals weren't wedding related, they thought it still would be fun to create a few portraits with the art in the background. And since the Centro Cultural de la Raza building was near where we were in Balboa Park, we all decided to head over there and give it a shot. I'm glad we did, because we ended up creating all sorts of unique and interesting shots like the one I've posted here. 
While we were walking through the park, I saw some sword ferns that looked interesting and I jokingly said, "why don't you jump into the ferns and give me a look like you're lurking there and I'll take your picture?" Before I knew it, these two were in the ferns (of course not stepping on any of them) laughing and joking around while acting like they were eating them as food. I was laughing too, but making sure I was shooting at the same time. 
I really liked how this couple acted together during the shoot. They were so relaxed and playful in front of the camera... and as a result, it made the shoot fun as well as making it easier for me to get natural happy looking photos like this shot of Jeremy eskimo kissing Gisenyi's cheek. 
During engagement sessions I sometimes see single portrait opportunities and in this instance Gisenyi was humoring me with a glamour model pose. I was pleased because I think her pose, smile and the light couldn't have been better. 
While we were having fun creating the mural portraits, I was trying to think a way to link what was painted on the wall to what it means to be a married couple. I knew that pyramids symbolized hope and they were also built to get closer to the heavens, so what if Gisenyi got on Jeremy's shoulders? I also thought that all married couples need to help each other up from time-to-time... so without thinking twice about it, Jeremy was helping Gisenyi onto his shoulders to create this photo. 
During the session I'm always looking for classic portraits, like the one above, that the couple can enlarge, matte and showcase on their wedding day. I try and give every couple I photograph a large variety of these kinds of shots to choose from. All my engagement sessions come with a private online web gallery, where couples can review images from the shoot and select the photo they wish to have enlarged. 
We were having so much fun together in the park and it was such a nice day, we all decided to go to Coronado beach to watch the sunset. While we were walking down the beach I asked them if they would mind getting their feet wet and walking through the water for a few shots. As you can see here they made the best of it, which made for some really exciting shots like this black and white photo of Gisenyi chasing Jeremy in the surf. 
After seeing the sunset over the ocean, we were all hungry, so we decided to get some Mexican food for dinner. We ate and laughed about how much fun we all had during the shoot. Thanks again you two for making this such a great day and I can't wait to be the photographer at your wedding this coming weekend in Julian, California.
Related Posts
