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Engagement Photo Trends

Engagement photography finds new life

You’ve said yes. Now it’s time to start planning, right? Well, why not celebrate and have a little fun before the nitty-gritty preparation starts? For many couples, that means having engagement photos taken. But we’re not talking the one-size-fits-all approach when the couple sits in a studio posing and smiling. Instead, the new trend embraces the unusual and unique—whether booking a weekend trip with your photographer for “destination” engagement photography or creating photos that are meant to be works of art.

Capturing the couple on their own terms is key, and anything goes: It’s all about a couple expressing themselves in a less formal way than they will on their wedding day. And, the mood is often fun, artistic, playful, loving, quirky and no-holds-barred.

With this fresh attitude driving newly engaged couples, photographers are memorializing the bride- and groom-to-be in everything from funky T-shirts to opulent evening wear, at fantasy locations that range from a ballpark’s home plate to a desert at dusk.

Destination Photography

One of the greater trends in engagement photography is mini-trips that are booked just for a photography session. Couples booked Jared Bauman of Bauman Photographers several times in 2007 to shoot destination engagement photography sessions, with trips to locations such as San Francisco and Dallas—a trend he expects to grow, since he says that couples see it as an additional way to chronicle their life journey together in a setting as unique as they are.

Recent bride Hannah Yuen chose the destination photography route because a studio would have felt contrived and just “not us,” she says. “Engagements are so fun; we wanted our photos to reflect that.” Opting for a more adventuresome route, they spent a memorable day in San Francisco, a city they both love, with photographer John Mireles of Ventana Photography in tow. The group roamed the city from Chinatown to the Golden Gate Bridge to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, walking the city’s winding streets, taking a spur-of-the-moment trolley ride, hanging out at the Cliff House by the sea and visiting the landmark Palace of Fine Arts.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the city on the bay and its fascinating hidden spots, one of things Yuen loves about her engagement photos is the way Mireles was able to unobtrusively capture the couple completely relaxed, absorbed in each other and enjoying an incredibly spontaneous and whimsical day in their favorite city.

Another couple decided to hike through the desert surrounding Joshua Tree for their engagement photos. They scrambled over rocks and strode through the barren landscape in black suit and formal black dress, a juxtaposition that lent a high-fashion quality to their pictures. Mireles bound the photos together into a beautiful album that acts as a coffee-table book and says that the surreal quality and interactions exposed an adventuresome side to the couple.

Engagement Photography as Art

The edgy bent to these Joshua Tree photos demonstrates yet another trend in engagement photos—the personalization of a couple’s appreciation for the artistic. In Yuen’s case, her San Francisco trip also fed her need to have photos with that creative element. “We didn’t just want photos of the two of us ‘engaged,’ but photos that we would enjoy for their artistic value as well,” she says.

According to Bauman, an engagement photograph that works as a piece of art is one that pushes the boundaries, but still captures a couple’s personalities. “As long as the image carries emotion, true honest emotion from the couple, the image will work,” he explains.

Mireles did just that boundary-pushing with one couple—by jostling the conventions and having a sense of fun. “I did a picture inside the men’s bathroom at the W, where the bride and groom are both posed in front of the urinals, says Mireles. “He’s looking at her as if to say, ‘What are you doing here?’ It’s a really funny, absurd scene...and the couple loved it!”

Photographer Suzanne Hansen of Suzanne Hansen Photography also finds that breaking conventional barriers can create photos that are both meaningful and artistic. Recently, she worked with an engaged couple to document a storybook retelling of their lives together—with a twist. Hansen shot Rob Bonner and Eddie Valtierra, who are really just two big kids at heart, as they enthusiastically played cowboys and Indians in the woods, ate enormous ice cream cones and posed in the bathtub covered with bubbles, wearing identical smiles and playing with rubber duckies. After the shoot, Hansen compiled the pictures together into a kids-style storybook, ideal for hauling out and showing friends and relatives, which perfectly captures the sweet essence of the couple’s life together.

These growing trends of capturing the true spirit of the couple mean that such personal and unusual photos are more than remembrances of a time or place. Whether showing a couple’s adventurous side as they scramble over rocks in the desert or demonstrating a couple’s playful side as they reenact childhood, they have the unique power of being windows into the soul.

Engagement Photos:
The Gateway to Wedding Portraits You’ll Love

Besides getting beautiful photos to celebrate your impending nuptials, engagement photography has an added benefit: It’s a laid-back, pressure-free way to get comfortable with your photographer and the sometimes intimidating camera, says Terri Rippee of Terri Rippee Photography.

It’s a great icebreaker, adds photographer Suzanne Hansen, explaining that these early photo sessions help the couple warm up to and connect with their photographer. So, when the big day arrives, the couple is immediately at ease, natural and comfortable, rather than being shy and awkward with the camera—which only adds to wedding-day stress, says Hansen.

“We get used to the couple, and they get used to being photographed prior to the wedding,” agrees photographer Jennifer Dery. And, couples have the added benefit of seeing themselves from all angles—so that when the big day comes they already know what shots they like and don’t like. Most people have only seen themselves in group-photo snapshots from the neck up, Dery explains. This opportunity leads some couples to find that they prefer up-close, casual photos with everyone smiling at the camera, while others find they are attracted to a more high-fashion, full-length look with a sweeping background. More importantly, with such information your photographer can deliver photos exactly the way you want them.

Hansen also suggests that you interview your photographer prior to working with him or her, in order to get a photographer you “click” with. It’s the best way to find someone you can be vulnerable around—so that the photos will show who you really are, both as a couple and as individuals. “That’s what makes the best photography,” she says.

 

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