Amateur Photography

My best and most beautiful friend, Lauren, is getting married. And I am stoked. You know me and my man are penny savers. Why would you expect anything different from my favorite female?!?

Let me tell you a bit about this couple. Most of their relationship has been long distance. Most recently, Lauren was in China. Most of their pictures together are on their phones. So, to help save them money and to help give them more pictures that are not on a cell phone, I offered to take photos of them together.

I am in no way dubbing myself even a novice photographer. I'm just a girl who loves my best friend and wanted to help her out. So, I read many tutorials on how to take photos of people. Because, people, lets not fool ourselves - taking pictures of people is a lot different than taking pictures of pretty trees and mountains and whatnot. Plus, I really was worried that I would take a ton of photos and Lauren and Ross (he is the lucky guy getting that pretty blonde in the pictures you see) hated. Or make them look ugly. Because they are not. Ugly, that is.

My goal as we spent just about an entire day traveling around to different places and snapping shots was to have photos that were true to who Lauren and Ross are. The Mister and I had all of our engagement pictures taken outdoors in nature or by old buildings and bridges. It would have been weird for us to be in formal wear and dancing in a ballroom or in cowboy boots on a tractor. In the same way, I wanted to be sure and stay true to my friends and who they are. This led us to a park, the lake, big trees, a yogurt shop, and some cool urban areas like a sort of train station.



I also wanted to be true to their personalities. This meant much hand holding, googly eyes (as Chris calls it...), and laughter. They also brought clothing that they liked themselves in - pieces that their friends and family would expect them to wear. I wanted to capture moments, not create them.

What was really funny about this day was that it was a blazing summer day all morning... then came huge wind, clouds, and rain. We wanted to retake a few lake shots so we went out when it seemed to clear up. Then it started to just spit some rain again. I got super creative and fashioned a trash bag I had in to what reminded me of those old timey black sheets that photographers would climb under. But my white plastic trash bag did its job - protected the camera so we could get a few more good shots in.

So, if you are getting pictures taken of yourself, remember to be yourself. And have fun. And if you are taking pictures, remember to encourage the people you are working with be themselves. And everyone relax. Aren't my wonderful friends precious? It was an honor to be trusted by them. I hope I did their sweet hearts justice!!