Stephanie + Mike’s engagement photos

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I admit it–I was a little concerned about an engagement shoot in February. Stephanie and Mike are getting married in early April so there wasn’t time to wait for warm weather and green trees. The plan was to meet at the American Art Museum downtown and shoot inside. It turns out Mike had been thinking of a different museum but once I started to wander around the place, I saw lots of possibilities. I wasn’t sure exactly what would be allowed but it turned out to be a great place with lots of cool spaces and colorful exhibits and tile floors. I think my favorite shot is of them seen through the black sculpture with the orange background but I was happy to have so much variety in one location! I’m looking forward to their wedding at the Park Hyatt in April.

a couple of engagements

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Just a quick post with a couple of recent engagements shoots.

First I spent some time with Sean and Marina at the Capitol, wandering around the Hill and appropriately for two lawyers in love, at the Supreme Court. I love shooting portraits there. You get all of the white marble Washington is famous for without the crowds or the hassle. Once we got there Marina changed into her killer pink heels. Love those!

The following week I got to hang out with Matt and Liz and their adorable puppy Buckley. We wandered around Old Town looking for beautiful early fall late afternoon light and was happy to find some. I particularly love the shadows on the brick wall we found and the b&w walking photo was shot as the light was fading but I thought it just had a nice slightly arty feel to it. In our roaming we found several fabulous historic houses that Liz found suitable for her future home. I hope I’ll get an invite to the housewarming party!

I’m looking forward to Sean + Marina’s wedding in April and Matt + Liz’s in May.

a few engagements

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Just a random sampling of recent engagement shoots to start off the week! I was thrilled to finally photograph Ashley and Michael. We’ve tried to do this at least twice before and were plagued with lousy weather. It was worth waiting for! We wandered around the Mall and found some great locations and for at least part of the time had some fabulous light. I love the photos we got and can’t wait ’til their wedding in October in DC. I also had the pleasure of photographing Susie and Gabe in NYC in August in their upper West Side neighborhood and Central Park. I was ably assisted by my son Wyatt who proved to be a minor distraction and then ultimately no help at all once we made it to Bethesda Fountain and ran across some folks blowing gigantic bubbles. After that, he was done! I’ll have the pleasure of shooting Susie and Gabe’s wedding in Washington in December.  I recently got a chance to catch up with Uzma and Aman who’s wedding I shot last year. Rather than do an engagement shoot, we decided to do an after-the-wedding shoot in Reston several months after the big day. I’m happy to report they are doing well and are (obviously) very happy! 

Rebecca + Kevin engagement

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I’m going a little bit out of order here but will be posting Michelle + David’s 5-15 wedding tomorrow. Kevin and Rebecca and I had fun wandering around the Mall last Sunday (5-16) trying to capture the amazing late day light. We stopped at the World War I memorial, an old favorite of mine and then headed over to World War II. I’d never shot there before other than just wandering around with the family so it was a pleasant surprise to find the vantage point with the Lincoln Memorial. I remembered it from Bill O’Leary’s fabulous coverage of the opening of the memorial so I’ll give credit where it’s due. But it made a cool photo. This was my first time meeting Kevin and he’s kept me laughing. More importantly, he keeps Rebecca laughing and I know their September wedding at Oatlands is going to be a blast!

Erika + Christian engagement

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A warm and gorgeous Saturday in Old Town was the setting for Erika and Christian’s engagement shoot last week. So it was just a little bit crowded. Luckily we chose to mostly be off the beaten path and to soak up the charm of Alexandria’s side streets. The light was amazing but it was really windy. It didn’t affect us much (as long as Erika’s hair was blowing with the wind) but it showed up in some of the backlit photos where everything that flying around in the air is captured. Pollen, twigs, dust, you name it. We had fun with their puppy Hercules and taking the King St. trolley and just strolling along King St. looking for fun spots to shoot. They’re getting married on 10-10-10 so of course, I’m looking forward to their fall wedding!

Anna + Tim engagement photos

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Driving to the National Cathedral on May 2 I kept a close eye on the skies. The further I got down Mass. Ave. the brighter the skies but it still looked pretty overcast. And I really like to shoot my engagement shots on bright sunny days! Luckily, the clouds broke just in time for my shoot with Anna and Tim. Anna looked gorgeous in her wedding makeup (not too much and she looks great without it too!) and she and Tim had a spring-y theme going on that worked well in the flower gardens next to the Cathedral. It’s one of my favorite places for engagements shoots–every time I’m there I discover a new little spot around the grounds that makes for a nice photo. The challenge with Anna and Tim is their height difference…she’s about 5’3″ and he’s got to be at last 6’7″. I particularly liked the shots of Tim by the little bitty stone archway on the side of the Cathedral ground. He couldn’t even stand upright. But we had fun shooting and getting to know each other a bit. Tim is very funny and I just love the way he looks at his soon-to-be bride. I’m definitely looking forward to shooting their wedding on September 5.

Lesley + Chris engagement

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Lesley and Chris win the award for closest engagement to the actual wedding. These photos were shot last Thursday and the wedding was on Saturday. Just got them done in the nick of time! They live in Denver and each time they came to town for wedding planning the weather was snowing or rainy and cold. Lucky for all of us, Thursday was gorgeous. And I had fun hanging out with them and meeting Chris for the first time so we were all pretty comfortable with each other by wedding day. I can report that despite a bit of rain, their wedding was beautiful and touching and I really love the photos. I’m editing them now and hope to be blogging them in the very near future.

Janine + Ajit engagement

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Let’s start with full disclosure. I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. But sometimes, just sometimes, I have to get up early. And I appreciate it that Janine and Ajit made it fun for me. And some cupcakes definitely helped! We started out bright and early in Georgetown along the canal and Cady’s Alley and then strolled down M St. to the Old Stone House. A couple bright sides to getting up early…no problem parking in Gtown, no traffic and my shooting day is done by 10:30! Conveniently I’d parked my car near Georgetown Cupcake which I’d just discovered (very belatedly, I know) a few weeks earlier at Pam + Josh’s engagement shoot and I thought it would be fun to incorporate cupcakes into one of our shots. It turns out that Janine + Ajit were huge cupcake fans and we’re all for it. So we waiting in line for a few minutes before they opened at 10 and then had the bright idea to ask if we could scoot in early to do some shooting. And it only costs them a dozen red velvet cupcakes! A bargain!! I really had a great time shooting and talking and sharing various obsessions (The Wire for example) and I’m hoping Janine + Ajit like the photos as much as I do. I’m really looking forward to their bicultural wedding in July.

Michelle + David engagement

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I have a lovely shoot a couple weeks ago (a little posting lag time–spring break got in the way!) at Glen Echo Park with Michelle and David. I have many fond memories of Glen Echo since I grew up right down the road. My friends and I used to bike down there and ride the merry go round. For some reason the merry go round police (is there such a thing?) didn’t like it much when my friends and I would spend out time jumping from one animal to another! I’ve always loved the Art Deco feel of the place and when my kids were younger I used to take them there to play and see wonderful puppet shows. There’s so many great backgrounds there and Michelle and David made it easy–they acted like I wasn’t there!  And Michelle was a real trooper when I suggested she hike down to the creek in her not-made-for-hiking shoes. I hope the pictures made it worth the trip!

I’m looking forward to their wedding at the Hotel Monaco in May.

Pam + Josh engagement 3-27-10

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We finally had a sunny day last Saturday. Too bad it was about 35 degrees! But Pam and Josh weathered the cold in great style and we took advantage of the full sunshine and uncrowded streets of Georgetown to take some lovely engagement photos. They looked terrific–loved her red coat! We ended having to work around a high school crew regatta on the Potomac River and lots of construction around the waterfront fountain–but it could have been worse. At least there were no major protests, no massive cherry blossom seeking tourists or a marathon to contend with. I’m looking forward to their wedding in June–my destination wedding for this spring on Fripp Island in Georgia.