On Sunday, I joined members of the Cisco Digital Photography List for an engagement workshop in North Beach with couple Deven and Krystal.  This shoot was inspired by the  Meetup Group engagement shoot at Lake Chabot, the results of which I shared with the List.  It was a chance to both learn and use some amazing backgrounds like this graffiti covered wall in San Francisco that is constantly being redefined by street artists.

The workshop was run by Jigar Champaneria who had all attendees choose in advance what they wanted to work on and email him, then he helped us try to attain those goals during the workshop. I wanted to work on taking more powerful images that focussed on part of the couple rather than full body compositions. We began with a tour of the neighborhood to find some interesting backgrounds.

Jigar encouraged us to have photos with us on our phones in order to review and show the couple. I wanted a shot somewhat similar to the feel of this one of candid one Aki and Rachel kissing that I took at their mutual birthday party. When I saw this musical background, I knew that is where I wanted to try to set it up the shot, and as Deven was formerly a DJ, it was even more appropriate of a background then I had even expected.

Though I did take some shots of this background with them smiling, I thought a look with toughness and attitude went best with the gate.

When I’ve photographed engagement sessions in the past in general I’ve looked for clean and subtle backgrounds. Here in North Beach we found a Field of Dreams like baseball wall and a wall with red and green that really pops out color wise in photos.

We also found some amazing textures to use to really bring the couple out. Even though we’d been walking and taking photos for a long time, they were still smiling at the end. It was a great opportunity to work with other photographers and I really had fun in addition to learning.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! A special congratulations to anyone who may have just become engaged today, one of the most popular days to be presented with a diamond ring and asked the question.

To a photographer like myself, an engagement session is usually one in which a couple is already engaged (though I have photographed a surprise proposal and would love to photograph more), a chance for them to work with me one on one and be photographed in a lot of great moments as a couple. For some its even their first chance to have professional photos of just the two of them.

Yesterday, I photographed the engagement session of Carolynn and Chris at Lake Chabot Regional Park. Unlike most of my typical engagement shots, there were other people along.

While the photographers in the above shot were all put into place by myself as a tongue in cheek group portrait, all of them really were in the same shoot as myself, along with yet another photographer who arrived a bit later and shot 4×5 film photos. I’d instructed them to all shoot our subjects, I like how some image viewing/chimping is going on as well in the action. We were all part of a special Meetup group, and though I’ve never taken an engagement photo workshop before, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to see just how we would all go about getting our shots.

Chris admitted with a laugh that he hadn’t finished the book he is using as a prop here, Jane Eyre. I admitted it took me quite a long time to finish it, also, though I did like the film adaption I had seen of it many years prior to reading the book. Even with so many cameras pointed a them, there were so many laughing and smiling shots of them throughout the day.

Just having one photographer making adjustments and suggestions for a while can be a little stressful for some couples, yet Carolynn and Chris took it in stride. After the book shots, I suggested we move to the picnic table area which had better backgrounds and beautiful difussed sunlight, and they readily agreed.

After some beautiful shots of them tuning into each other, and tuning out completely the entire world, they were asked if they would pose on the picnic tables, and danced for us, an activity they enjoy doing on a regular basis at clubs like The Saddle Rack in Fremont.

We then took a quick group poll and everyone was ready for a change in scenery and for our couple to make a wardrobe change. Their second outfits were really stunning and really brought out their personalities visually.

Those latter two photos were taken while they, the photographers, and some people who happened to be out fishing were all on a dock that rolled quite a bit during the process. Jokes were made about needing image stablization just to counteract the dock motion. When I asked Chris if he could pick Carolynn up for a few shots safely, I was a tiny bit worried the swaying dock would make it impossible. However, they held this pose for quite a few photos.

We then moved down to some other areas around the lake. Another dock we wanted to use was gated in, so we did what any adventurous group of photographers would do and went around to a side of the dock that was not gated in.

We then used the stairway we had come down to reach the forbidden dock as its own setting.

For our last shots, we sat the couple on a cement stump resembling object. We had been shooting them for about three hours, and they still were all smiles and looking happy and in love even with the last clicks of the shutter. I had a wonderful time on this shoot, and though I would never attempt a wedding with this many official photographers (even as an experiment), it worked out great. Thank you, Carolynn and Chris, for being such great models and good sports with so many lenses pointed at you.

Meet Amanda and Sercan. When they arrived for their session I really liked the unique outfits they chose. I even told Amanda she looked like an international spy, which inspired in part the turning of several of their final images into black and white.

Prior to their session Amanda and I had many discussions about the look of their session. She wanted them to be unique and capture them having fun. Additionally she wanted them in non-typical locations for an engagement session. Outside of the HP Pavilion we found a cute wooded area, these two are part of my favorite series from there.

Soon everyone was ready to go to our main location, the train station in San Jose. In a moment that turned out to be serendipitous, at first we couldn’t get parking anywhere near the station, so we found street parking quite a hike away. On our way to the train station I found an area I couldn’t resist having them incorporate into their session.

I really like how not only is there a Rail Road crossing sign, there is even a sign which at that moment instructs people to look both ways, one of which is the direction where our happy couple is enjoying the moment. At first after a few photos, Amanda wanted Sercan to take his sunglasses off, instead I encouraged Amanda to put hers on to match him, and I really liked the result.

I really didn’t know how much time I’d be able to spend photographing in the train station. I had thought maybe I’d be asked to stop, yet even after firing off a few frames, an adding a flash, no one seemed to care that I was using the station as a backdrop. Amanda thought it would be cute to steal her fiance’s hat, though he saw the humor, he really wanted to keep it on for the photos. I love how Amanda and Sercan are having so much fun with this, especially as at first they’d been nervous it would be hard to relax in front of the camera.

After having some fun inside, it was time to shoot outside. Though we’d planned to visit the train station, we hadn’t made a thorough study of the arrival and departure times of the trains. We were happy to see a train outside and used it to take many shots, then caught some great moments as it was departing. I really like the emotions in this shot as the train goes by, especially in classic black and white.

We all noticed a train coming in the general direction of the station at the same time. Had it gone down one side of tracks we would have taken a different series of photos then we did. Just when we thought it would go away from us, the tracks switched and it came in our direction. This is another of my favorites of the day. Sercan had the last word on the session, remaking that having the two trains in the photos added a little extra coolness to them, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Especially in California, people seem to take their dogs everywhere they go. What if you want to incorporate your four legged family member(s) into your engagement and wedding photos? Here are some suggestions for you.

What should we consider before having our dog in our engagement or wedding photos?

Your dog should only be included if your wedding photography locations specifically allow dogs. Additionally, consider their temperament; it is best if they are generally calm around many people. Jackson, above, who is actually a trained clothing model, demonstrates a very calm dog who would work well in posed photos.

If including them in the wedding, you may want to note this in the invitation and on your wedding website, as some people may be afraid of, or allergic to them.

What roles can our dog play during our engagement session or wedding day?

With any session, specifically your engagement session, you may want to walk and run with them, hold them in your arms, and just have fun playing with them. For your wedding day, small dogs can be pulled by a child in a wagon, and dogs of any size can walk someone down the aisle.

What other details should we remember when including our dog on our wedding day?

Your pet must rely on you to provide food and water, so make sure to have them and dishes available. You should also have someone in charge of walking and cleaning up after them. Even if dogs are welcome at your reception site, they may not be comfortable with all the noise and activity, so you probably would want to arrange for someone to take the dog to your home or another agreed upon location beforehand. If bringing them to the reception, have your designated dog handler be ready to take the dog(s) home early if the excitement gets to be too much for them.