I am a firm believer that your photos should be a collection of memories, not simply poses. Your engagement session is a way for you to capture who you two are in a fun and relaxed setting. My goal as a photographer is for you to be able to look back at your photos and think “that’s so us”. While I do have a few things up my sleeve to elicit some genuine expressions so that your most “you” shines through in your photos.
1. Funny Stories.
Come prepared with funny stories about yourself or your fiancé that you can easily recount. Remembering funny stories to tell while being photographed will help bring about some genuine laughter and smiles.
2. Be Ready to Play and Joke Around.
Whether you have games you want to bring to foster some authentic interaction or if you want to tickle each other until you’re blue in the face: the opportunities are endless! These help keep your photos from looking super stiff and stuffy.
3. Just Breathe and Think…
Close your eyes and think about how out of the billions of souls on this planet, you found and chose each other exclusively. How does that make you feel? Whatever you feel is what will show on your face during yo ur session. Now THAT is a genuine reaction that would be captured.
4. Pretend Like I’m Not There.
Sounds crazy, right? I mean it’ll probably be hard to pretend like I’m not there seeing as I will in fact be there with a camera around my neck, but just humor me a bit. When you pretend like no one is watching, you’ll act like no one’s watching. You’ll be the you who you are when it’s just the two of you. And that is what we want in order to have natural expressions in your photos.
I hope this has been helpful as you prepare for your session!