🌈 "Engagement" Session a.k.a. Day In The Life Session At Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area | Sarah and Oliver Go For A Nature Hike
I’ve been wanting to share this story with you for ages!
I mean… like… years.
Why didn’t I blog it before?
I have no idea! Honestly, I thought I already had… but then when I was trying to show these photos as an example of what kinds of things you could do on your “engagement” session (otherwise known as a day in the life session around these parts), I couldn’t find it.
So anyway, Sarah and Oliver already got married, and we were there to celebrate with them, and we even blogged it (yay us!)
So this story takes us even farther back in time, to a very warm and mosquito-y day in June of 2019, just a few months before their wedding took place.
We’d chatted with the pair about what they’d like to do for their engagement session, and came up with a few ideas, but quickly narrowed it down to Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation area.
Here’s a tip that I told Sarah and Oliver when we were planning their engagement session location.
From my perspective, the more genuine your experience is, the better the photographs (and they will have so much more meaning for you!). So as long as it is something you enjoy doing, we can capture some wonderful photographs!
Since they’re both outdoorsy and love hiking and nature, it was a no-brainer to head up to the Conservation area for a quick stroll through the woods.
Capturing All The Love
Of course, my intention when photographing an engagement session is to capture the love between the folks in front of my lens.
And this was easy with Sarah and Oliver because they adore each other, and they’re super cute about showing it, too! Kissing, hugging, touching, little loving glances towards each other - it was actually quite easy for me to tell that story in photos!
The other thing that was quite obvious was just how much they both love nature.
They stopped to marvel at the butterflies and other winged creatures, spotted a few bird species, noticed all sorts of types of plants…
I tried to take photographs to showcase this love for nature, too, because it’s so central to who they are.
That’s always the most important thing to capture in photographs during an engagement session: the real personalities, and passions of each person.
As we traipsed through the woods, we got bitten by many mosquitoes, but this didn’t really temper our enjoyment of the evening at all. And you’d think by now I would know to bring bug spray, but alas… no such luck.
We had time at the end to sit down at the dock just as the sun was setting, and giving us beautiful light.
And, right before we said goodbye, I got a closeup photo of Sarah and Oliver kissing, with Sarah’s very colourfully painted nails in the shot. I love that image. It’s so sweet, and for me totally encapsulated what Sarah and Oliver are like together.
I wanted them both to feel comfortable with me, because I know how hard it can be to relax in front of someone, particularly when they have a camera in your face. We all find it weird to be photographed (well, most of us, anyway), and I’m really thankful to folks who do give me the opportunity to show them that I’m super easy going and that they can be 100% themselves with me.
The important thing to remember is that the photographs from your engagement session - or from your wedding - are for you. They’re not for me, the photographer, to show off on Instagram. They’re not to get likes on social media or make pretty Pinterest pages with.
I mean, you can do that if you choose to.
But really, the photographs are going to stand the test of time, because, for as long as you’re together, they’ll remind you of your life and love for each other. Even sixty five years later! (this was a reference to a recent 65th wedding anniversary I photographed, by the way).
I’m very thankful to Sarah and Oliver for allowing me to share their space, their love for each other, and their love for nature. Oh, and to take some beautiful photos of them. ❤️