I was driving through the Guatemalan countryside with my brother and we were catching up on all sorts. He was really excited cause one of his close friends from Uni, who I know really well had met a lovely lady called Sarah. Jonnie told me to keep it on the down low and just let things unravel (obviously I wasn’t going to shout it from the rooftops) but soon after it was official and public, I just had this feeling Sarah was going to stick around. Two years later their engaged and I’m shooting with the two of them!!! Dan is such a fun, cheeky, quirky and great guy and I always hoped he would meet his match.
After a few emails back and forth and some fashion advice (for Dan) and location scouting I found the perfect location for Dan and Sarah’s couples photoshoot. It had rained all week and I was praying golden hour would come through and just give us some beautiful light for a couple of hours - and the sun came through! Phewwww. I made my way over to Chesterton Windmill early to work out some angles for the shoot, but generally I just like to arrive before the couple do and be there ready to greet them with a smile.
Finally I got to meet Sarah (Dan your punching), she is awesome. I didn’t want to just dive straight into the shoot, especially as this was the first time meeting Sarah face to face so we all sat down on the grass and I asked the two of them how they met and their engagement story. It is so important to me to connect with the couple before the shoot, as pointing a camera in someones face for some can be quite daunting. I want my couples to feel at ease and enjoy every moment of the photoshoot and that starts with just hanging out.
The sun was just at the right height so we got up and made our way up the hill towards the windmill. Now my style is not, walk over there, stand and look good, it goes something more like this. Hold her, tickle him, say something cheeky or run away from him, rough up her hair, practice your first dance, walk drunk, grab his hair, have a chat, tease each other, race!!! Or just roll around on the ground. Basically move move move. I’m not into this stiff robotic photoshoot style, it doesn’t work for me and lets be honest its cringe, awkward, boring and pretty repetitive. So why not mix it up a little so that couples come away from their photoshoot having fun fun fun!!!!! Thats what I hear after my photoshoots, “I felt so relaxed” “I enjoyed that SO much more than I thought” “Can we do it again” “That was actually SO much fun!!!” winning!!!!! That is what I want, I want couples to feel good about themselves, feel like they’ve had a great big breathe of fresh air and take away some fun memories from their photoshoot. And you know the best thing is that you get a whole heap of awesome photos to help you recall and relive that day for years to come!!! WOOP WOOP!!!!
Thanks Becky! I had such a great time! Was so easy and so chilled! Had such fun! Becky, you were absolutely brilliant and such a lovely fun person! Can’t wait to see all the photos and looking forward to the wedding!!
Dan would admit that he isn’t the best dancer, but you know what, we put some tunes on, got him whirling Sarah around and actually Dan I will say you can move!!!! Me and Sarah had a few moments where we just let our hair down, danced hair brush in hand style and sang outloud! On lookers probably thought we were crazy, but we were having fun!!! Now I’m not saying we achieved the dirty dancing pose, Dan & Sarah are obviously saving that for me to catch during their bride and groom photoshoot in August haha, but I did manage to capture some great movement shots. Honestly I think Dan and Sarah at times forgot I was taking photos of them. They just got lost in the moment and were pretty cute together to.
All in all we had a great photoshoot, we finished it off with some champers and watched the last light disappear. Dan & Sarah a BIG thank-you for being awesome!!!!! You guys I had SO much fun on this photoshoot - can we do it all over again!! Well in two months we can, cause your getting hitched!!! Bring it on!!!
