I don’t normally do engagement or wedding photography, but when my friends Johnny and Sarah asked me if I’d make an exception for them, I happily said yes.
Normally engagement sessions are a way of a photographer and the couple getting to know each other, so that on the wedding day everyone is more comfortable and familiar with each other. Obviously, with friends, that wasn’t going to be an issue, but it was still useful for me to see how Johnny and Sarah were together, and so they could see how I worked and reassure them that amidst everything that goes on during a wedding day, at least they didn’t have to worry about the photographer.
We met in a park off Upper Canyon Road on a lovely Santa Fe summer evening. I worked in a similar way with them as I do with more traditional family sessions – even when I’m posing people and they’re looking straight at the camera, I’m trying to keep them relaxed and comfortable, so the photographs show them as themselves rather than stiff and uncomfortable. Which is much easier when you have an adorable assistant – Johnny’s son D, who loves Sarah at least as much as Johnny does.
As well as capturing Johnny and Sarah as a couple, photographing the inter-relationships between the grown-ups and young D was just as much of a highlight.
I really enjoyed the shoot, and was really happy with the way the images came out (and more importantly, so were Johnny and Sarah). So while I’ll always love photographing children, if another couple comes along that it seems right to photograph, I might make an exception for them, too.