It's that time of year when everyone gets together for picnics, barbecues, and reunions. On Thursday, I photographed a family get-together in Sevierville. The family members traveled from all over the country (California, Florida, Virginia) and had rented a large cabin overlooking Wears Valley. We did some photos there as well as some just inside the Smoky Mountains National Park at the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area.

On Monday I photographed Emily & Clay at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Copperhill, Tennessee. I had never been there before, but it's really a neat place to visit. A thunderstorm threatened to rain us out, but luckily we were able to get in some photos first. They even brought out their little dog Chester for a few family photos.

I'm looking forward to their October 13th wedding in Cleveland.

Yesterday, I spent some time with an adorable little boy and his family. Jake was very charming. He even smiled a few times for the camera and took a short nap so that I could get some really sweet photos.
 

After the grungy session in downtown Detroit, we all went to eat at a local Italian restaurant. The workshop was over, and some of the photographers left. The rest of us drove out to Belle Isle on the Detroit River and shot some more photos around the Scott Memorial Fountain. In the end, Jessica was even convinced to get in the fountain.











 

The workshop was fun, and I learned a few things as well. It is always educational to watch other photographers work and to just talk business with them. From the models, I learned a bit about posing and how to get the most from my subjects. Additionally, I had the opportunity to see work done with a video light and a reflector, two tools that I've been wanting to use more, and I decided not to dread afternoon sun quite so much. Although I would still much rather work in the evening, it is possible to take good photos in the afternoon.

I also saw examples from two types of Fashion Photography. David Beckstead's fashion work is more editorial in nature. The models/brides aren't always the center of attention. Rather, they are only a part of the overall story, and he often utilizes movement, flare, or unique angles to add context to the photos. Kevin's work is more commercial. He likes to use very shallow depth of field so that the bride is the focal point, and the background is often thrown out of focus to make a pretty backdrop for the subject. I think that both styles have their advantages and hope to include a bit of both in my work.

A main requirement for this type of photography is time. I amassed a lot of photographs from the workshop, but I have separated them based on the different locations. Of course everything goes much faster when there's only one photographer shooting so each location is roughly equivalent to the time you would get from one of my normal bridal/couple sessions. I hope that these posts have inspired some of you to consider a bridal/couple session separate from your wedding day photography. It really is the best way to get amazing photos of you together and individually, and it can be as creative and fun as you want it to be.

On my last day in Michigan, we all met in Detroit for an urban session with one of Kevin's recent brides, Jessica. The first couple of days, we had been working with models. Models can make a photographers job easier because they have their own ideas for poses and know how to move gracefully, but you definitely don't have to be a model to have gorgeous photos. Jessica did a great job in front of the camera (or 18 cameras in this case).

The location was honestly pretty scary. Many brides want really pretty, natural backdrops for their bridals, and this was about as far away from that as you can get. We had to leave someone on guard because there were a couple of guys casing our vehicles before we were even around the block. The first alley that we went into had dead sheep piled up and smelled really bad. Later, we made our way into a partially demolished building. It had some cool possibilities, but there is no way I would have ever gone into it without a large group. The interior rooms were huge (the actual floor separating upstairs/downstairs had been removed in some areas) and pitch black.





The following photo shows the same "window" as the photos above. In those, Jessica was in a dark room with only a video light for illumination. In the photo below, we had switched places with her so that I was in the dark room. Again, the video light was used for a spotlight effect.