I captured Kelly & Matthew’s live proposal a little while ago and got some great photos. For a live proposal I usually am hired for just one hour and have just enough time to set up for and cover the actual proposal event, and then create just a couple of basic ‘natural light’ portraits afterwards. Later, Kelly and Matthew decided to go back to the same location armed with a couple of different outfits for a proper engagement portrait session.
We met up at Stroud Preserve here in West Chester, one of my favorite nature parks in the area, and spent a few minutes talking about the plan for the photo session. We then spent about two and a half hours wondering around to some locations that Kelly had in mind for the photos. It was ideal weather, about 75 degrees and an absolute perfect day. Thankfully, we also chose to work during what photographer’s call ‘Golden Hour’ or the 2 hours or so before sunset. This allowed us to shoot a variety of sunny bright and airy images, then as the sun started to fall we were able to make some more moody images, and we even got to work through a time of day that I would call ‘Blue hour’ or the time after the sun has set and things start to look very moody and dark blue. This was an ideal situation for me as a photographer and I was able to bounce between creating some sets of photos with ‘natural light’ only, and also plenty of ‘lit portraits’ utilizing a small flash inside of a softbox for lighting.
They also brought multiple outfits, one casual outfit, one dressy date-style outfit, and one formal outfit. I really think that the multiple outfits was a great idea, and I will be suggesting that approach to future couple’s who want to get the very best engagement portraits. Special thanks to Matt for being a good sport and pulling the wagon with the outfits stacked on it, all around the park and up several hills, as we meandered from location to location. Check out my favorite images from the session below:
