sun flared bride and groom at houston engagement session
engagement photo by the lake, near houston, tx
a light moment during the engagement photo session
fine art engagement session moment
We just finished up a recent engagement photography session with Jessica and Antonio near Houston, TX. Yee ha y’all. I did resist the urge to put them in cowboy hats and boots. I did’nt think that it fit their style. I really like engagement sessions because they are lighthearted, fun, and there is not the pressures and schedules of the wedding day. It also gives us a chance to spend more time with our clients. One of the things that we valued highly at Red Photo is our demand that we spend adequate time with our clients during the wedding photography process. Most people are not used to having someone follow them around with a big camera system snapping off photographs repeatedly. The flash makes it very obvious. In the case of our customers, they have to contend with two photographers running around taking pictures all the time. The engagement session is usually our first photography opportunity with the bride and groom and it serves everyone well. For the couple they start to get used to having someone follow them around. Hopefully, after a short time, they get used to our being there and relax back into their normal selves. This is a principle of photojournalism, which is a large component of our style. You can read more about our fine art documentary wedding style in the posts ‘Becoming a Fine Art Photographer‘ and ‘Developing Your Photography Intuition.’ For the photographers it allows us to get to know our subjects’ likes and dislikes, styles, level of ease in front of the camera, and how best to instruct and interact with the couple.
We cover both posed and candid photography. Jim leans more towards the posed side and I lean more to the candid. I really enjoy that unposed documentary style and you have to get to point where you have built enough rapport with the subject that they go back to being natural and do not look posed or stiff. I will usually give my subjects some direction, like where to stand, how to interact with each other, but then I will just let them be. While this may not be pure, hands-off documentary work, it none the less is in that style. The other component, the fine art one, is evident. I trained as a fine art photographer and have had many exhibitions, so I like to infuse my work with that art gallery look. I like the fact that many of my images can be enlarged an placed on a wall as art. Hence the fine art wedding photography idea.
The more time that we spend getting to know our clients the easier it will be for them and the more true their images will be. The upside is that it is fun to meet people and hang out with them, especially when there is photography and possibly sushi involved.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
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[...] months now. You can see some of the photographs from their engagement session in my post ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Session.’ As I mentioned in that post we like to spend adequate time with our clients leading up to [...]
[...] The engagement photograph above is from a recent session with Jessica and Antonio and was taken in Sugar Land, TX, part of Houston. We decided on a more casual outdoor feel and ended up photographing in three distinct locations. You can see more images from this session in the post ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Photography Session.’ [...]
[...] wedding. We photographed their Civil Wedding ceremony dinner, their engagement session, ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Photography Session,’ a bridal portrait session, ‘Jessica’s Houston Bridal Portrait Session,’ [...]