A Chance Encounter

I was at a bridal show (convention? what do you call those things?) and was approached by someone who said that my old-school, loose editorial style would really gel with her friend who was looking for a photographer. Cool, I said, and handed her my card as we spoke for a little while longer. We both went about our business and I let the friend slip from my mind. But about half an hour later, the woman was back and with her friend!

Damn! She'd already booked a photographer! Oh, well, nice to meet you and all that. Here's my card and think of me next time...why, yes, I also make wedding movies! Sure I can be your cinematographer!

That's more or less how Sarah and I met a few months back. It also happened, in a strange twist of fate, that she won my giveaway in the raffle: a one hour engagement photo session. We exchanged information and scheduled a time to speak with all three parties, Matt the fiance, present.

I soon discovered that Sarah and Matt were really into the vintage and retro aesthetic. Their cinematography was decided to include early 00's digicam footage and they wanted me to shoot 35mm film photographs as well. These were my kinds of people!

The initial idea for the engagement shoot was to head to Las Vegas and do some retro Vegas wedding chapel style photos, dripping in neon. I quickly pointed out how much I loved the idea, but the cost involved in doing such a shoot. However, I presented an alternative: date night in Wynwood.

They loved the idea and gave me complete creative control of the shoot. What started out as a raffle giveaway turned into one of my favorite shoots I've ever done.

A couple in wedding attire run playfully through an urban street with a tall building in the background.

Improvisational Narration

I had planned and mapped everything out. This was to be a date night the likes we all wish we could have on a weekly basis. The plan was to hit a couple of Wynwood staples and have a fantastic time. My goal was to make the photos seem effortless, like the good vibes were genuine, while also striking poses and providing direct flash in a retro-60's-editorial style. What I had failed to do was actually ask Sarah and Matt what they'd be wearing. Ultimately, I thought, it didn't matter as it should be uniquely "them."

I was immediately excited when I say them in vintage inspired wedding garb. How had I not thought to tell them this?! We had discussed the Vegas wedding chapel vibe! So the narrative I had written in my head changed ever so slightly. Obviously, they have not tied the knot yet, but this photo shoot was suddenly "we eloped and are celebrating through the night." I loved it even more.

I learned something with this, though: don't be afraid to improv your narrative. Planning is important, and I'm glad I planned as much as I did. I scouted locations and figured out what times would be best for those locations. But going with the flow is just as important. The whole vibe of the shoot changed and for the better!

We started out on 2nd Avenue getting some classic motion shots. Holding hands, running across the streets, dodging cars...this was seriously a lot of fun! I found that where in the last few shoots I'd done I had leaned heavily on my Leica SL with Sigma 45mm f/2.8, that evening I was almost exclusively on my Leica Q. It's 28mm f/1.7 lens is a powerful bit of kit and one that is amazing at telling stories. Using my flash to freeze Sarah and Matt in the moment, I used slower shutter speeds while continuously moving to create a sense of motion. I was so happy with how these turned out. And while I am a devout lover of the 35mm film camera, the benefit of using a digital camera is that when a photo hits, I can show the couple and excite them even more!

A sequence of people dancing and moving outdoors in front of an orange building wall with windows.

We then walked over to Gramps, half a block up on 24th Street, and got funky. The sun was setting, so I was posed Sarah and Matt outside of the iconic Wynwood dive in classic editorial fashion. They understood the assignment and immediately went to work giving me fierce and relaxed, in-the-moment and dislocated, all at once. I made a few with the 45mm, but again I leaned heavily on wide angle here.

Having gotten our establishing shots, we moved indoors. I pushed past the DJ equipment blocking the arcade and suggested they play some games. Matt immediately jumped on the opportunity to complete his James Bond look with a pistol from a shooting game machine, while Sarah went classic with a pinball machine. I didn't even have to direct her to place the flowers exactly where I wanted them...she was a natural!

Chefs working in a dimly lit restaurant kitchen with red ambient lighting and professional equipment.

A collection of black and white photos depicting a person striking dramatic and artistic dance-like poses in various lighting.

A romantic black and white wedding portrait shows an intimate moment between a couple in formal attire.

After going through a couple of quarters worth of playtime I began to walk over to the bar. I wanted to get some shots of them ordering drinks. However, as fate would have it, there was an old school photo booth tucked away in a dark corner. I had never noticed it, but Sarah did! We walked over and got to work. I had Matt sit down first and Sarah sit on his lap. Although we didn't actually turn the machine on, they immediately started posing as if it was. Sarah hit the classic anime-inspired peace sign, giving Matt a funny little mustache. I initially asked them to redo this pose so I could take it from a different angle that didn't leave half of Matt's face obscured, however, I ended up preferring the earlier one. There's a spontaneity and authenticity to the moment that could not be replicated. The kiss, though, was posed. However, my favorite trick is to prep a couple and tell them I'm taking a certain kind of photo. In reality, I'm actually shooting for the moments in between where they start and end. I'm fast with the shutter and always capture both, but I always prefer the in-between moment, like this one above of the moment just before they kissed.

Street Photography?

We wrapped up at Gramps and went back up to 2nd Avenue, where we'd walk one street over and to our next destination. Passersby shouted congratulatory remarks at Sarah and Matt as we walked, photos snapping intermittently.

We again came across an unplanned set piece. The bus bench was empty and behind it was this amazing and colorful wall art. The dislocation of the young couple, dressed to the nines with this street scene behind them was something I couldn't pass up. So, we stopped and made a few portraits there. I chose to frame this with some symmetry, placing Sarah and Matt in the center of the frame. Maybe I've been feeling a little Wes Anderson-ish lately, but I'm finding these symmetrically balanced shots very fun to do.

Sequence of five photos showing couples posing against colorful graffiti walls and murals in urban settings.

We made it to the corner of 2nd and 25th Street, where we found a street light that would work very well as a prop. I had Matt lean up against the lamppost standing very tall and straight, and then had Sarah lean into him. This provided one of my favorite shots of the session.

I subscribe to the philosophy that every shoot needs to have a variety of different kinds of shots to tell a story. One of those is a detail shot. I like using hands for these. We connect through our hands. We touch things, people, places, with our hands. It's how we make those connections and maintain relationships. Matt's watch and Sarah's bouquet provided visual interest in this shot. The framing was purposeful, allowing just enough of the sidewalk and street to be seen to connect this image with the others in the series.

A couple holds hands during their wedding ceremony in front of red floral arrangements in a romantic setting.

A candid black and white photo capturing a couple at a nighttime event.

A black and white photograph of people in formal attire standing against a wall at night.

Wherever we saw a photographic opportunity on our walk to 1-800-Lucky we stopped and made some photos. That sort of spontaneity kept things fresh. It was like using GPS to get to a location I know well. Sometimes I knew that a detour would lead to a better route than what had been pre-planned. The planning was crucial. Figuring out a route and a game plan was paramount to this being successful, but going with the flow was just as important. We finally got right out front of 1-800-Lucky and made our last street photos before shifting gears.

Records and Rolls

Initially I planned for us to hit up Dante's Hi-Fi along with 1-800-Lucky and Gramps. But 1-800-Lucky has a small, but solid collection of records at their entrance. So, we utilized this space as it felt more intimate and wouldn't require time wasted in walking to another location.

Adding this segment to the narrative was important for me. Music is a universal and unifying thing. We love it, we hate it, but as couples we often do either or both of those things together. So, showing Sarah and Matt enjoying an activity together added a layer of intimacy to the narrative. This isn't a marriage of convenience, or lust, or arrangement. No! These are two people who enjoy spending time together, who must share that time together.

Couple in formal wedding attire browses through vinyl records at a music store.

Customers browse through vinyl records and music albums in a dimly lit record store.

Someone in a bridal veil holds up signs with text in a room filled with vintage records and album covers on brick walls.

The staff at 1-800-Lucky was very playful with us and essentially gave us free reign on their premises to do whatever we pleased. At the front, the clerk loved seeing us rifle through albums and making pictures. He pulled out his own Canon 35mm film point and shoot and snapped some photos of us playing around. While this happened, Sarah happened to find the re-release of Charli XCX's Brat. We had to get a portrait of her with it. It was the sort of playful and silly attitude that really made this work. But always, there was the feeling that what we were doing there was making pictures. There was a sense that art was at the core of this playfulness.

After our session at Lucky Records we headed through to the food hall. Sarah and Matt are foodies, so it felt natural to make food part of this narrative. We had already selected the sushi counter as our desired location for this segment of the shoot. But we got so lucky...at Lucky; there was no one seated at the counter!

Part of this was the preparation that went into the shoot. The time was carefully chosen so that these locations would be neither empty nor bustling. This allowed us to have 1) opportunities to utilize the spaces we wanted, and 2) space for me to move around and make photographs from the angles I wanted. I never had to ask anyone to move so I could crouch into their area to get the right perspective. Likewise, the most that we ever had to wait was a handful of seconds to allow someone to walk behind Sarah and Matt.

Wedding guests dancing enthusiastically and enjoying themselves on an illuminated dance floor at an indoor reception venue.

A black and white photo series showing candid moments of people conversing and laughing in a dark restaurant setting.

Dimly lit modern restaurant interior with neon fish signs glowing on the wall and bar seating along a counter.

Let's Take It Outside

After finishing most of the sushi we moved with the remaining roll to the outdoor patio area of 1-800-Lucky. Making photos both inside and outside of this setting was very important for me. I wanted to capture the neon-soaked vibe of Vegas, hence the interior shots. But I also wanted to utilize the paper lanterns hung in the outdoor patio.

Again, we got lucky and the table that I wanted us to use was empty. I put them in the center of my frame and used symmetry to bring balance to the photograph. I left my background slightly dark and underexposed to help the paper lanterns pop in the background with the other neon bringing in some interest here and there. But this allowed to draw attention to the center of the frame where our scene was taking place. Intimate and ever so suggestive, this scene was necessary for the narrative in my eyes.

A couple shares an intimate moment at a dimly lit restaurant table decorated with red lanterns overhead.

To ignore the intimate and physical aspects of a relationship in a set of pictures like this would be to tell an incomplete story. This doesn't mean, however, that there needs to be anything explicit involved in the shoot.

Boudoir is an amazing genre within the art of photography. It is intimate, sexy, empowering, and beautiful. But it also pushes the boundaries right up to the limit between art and...something else. But taking those aspects, like intimacy and sexiness, and infusing them into a narrative photo session can create pictures with lots to say.

The suggestive and symbolic suddenly becomes way more interesting. At least to me. We tried a few of these with subtle variations to each one. Some were too suggestive for my tastes, at least in a shoot like this. Some were not suggestive enough. Sarah and Matt were great the entire time, always voicing their thoughts and opinions as I showed them the results on my camera screen.

This shouldn't need to be stated, but I'll state it anyway: always ensure that all parties are comfortable with the shoot.

Everyone really enjoyed making these and I think that shines through and in this set particularly. These subsequently are some of my favorites from the entire session.

Wedding couple feeds each other cake playfully at the reception under string lights and red lanterns.

We made our way over to bar once the sushi was gone. We wanted to utilize the cigarette dispenser that was up against the wall. These are the sorts of props that really sell the aesthetic. And it's because it isn't really a prop at all. I couldn't tell you the last time it was actually used as a cigarette dispense, so I guess it is used as a prop, but this is a real thing that once functioned as the prop it's intended to play as.

We again got a little risqué with the posing, but nothing explicit. If we'd had time and space to light this with continuous lights (my preferred way to light scenes), I think I would have been a little happier with the outcome. But the truth is that the real and gritty look to this is part of that editorial look. The hard and direct strobe simply works for this kind of work.

Black and white photographs show dancers performing energetic dance moves in a dimly lit urban setting.

Last Call

Our last few scenes all involved beverages. While we had already moved over to the section of 1-800-Lucky where the outdoor bar was found, we shimmied over to the bar after the cigarette dispenser shoot. The bar staff was only too happy to help us with the shoot. I really cannot overstate how amazing everyone at 1-800-Lucky was in making this possible.

The bartender brought over some more props that aren't props in whiskey bottles. Matt, who isn't a big drinker, played up the man-about-town character that we had concocted and (wisely, I might add) chose the bottle of Maker's Mark. No, I don't care that this is technically bourbon. Yes, I do care that this led to a great character moment for Matt.

Several people gathered around a dimly lit bar counter preparing cocktails and beverages.

Four sequential photos show someone in white leaning on a wooden bar counter in a dimly lit establishment.

A couple in formal attire, with one person in a black suit and another in white, walks together on a dark street.

We made a few more photos of Sarah and Matt together at the bar before heading to our last location for the shoot. This story was going to end with some coffee!

Unfortunately, this was the one part of the shoot that didn't go as planned. While I was certain I had checked and double checked the hours of Suite Habana Cafe, we arrived to an abandoned space. Not even a skeleton crew! How could I have messed this one up? Don't dwell on it, though. Fix it!

We walked one storefront over, where we found Hotline Korea and Boba. Matt ordered a Boba tea and was able to incorporate a character piece he'd brought up earlier in the night: removing his jacket and leaving his bowtie undone.

Can we just pause for a moment to appreciate the lost art of bowties? I take pride in tying my bowties and so does Matt. Folks, learn how to tie a bowtie!

We asked a deliver driver that arrived, conveniently as Matt got his boba, if we could use his scooter for the shoot and he acquiesced our request. Score!

Sarah mounted the scooter and we made the last exposures of the night, concluding our narrative. I knew at that moment that we had done something great that night, but I wouldn't know until I got home how happy I'd be with these!

Artistic wedding portrait sequence against colorful graffiti wall showing couple dancing and embracing in urban setting.

Final Focus

Maybe I'm still honeymooning with these photos and the feeling I had making them, but this engagement shoot has changed the way I want to make engagement photos moving forward.

Will it require more planning? Yes.

Will it require more collaboration? Also yes.

Will it lead to a unique experience for the couple and me? Hell yes!

I won't every deny someone a more traditional engagement shoot. The traditional works for a reason. But after this experience, I'm going to be throwing this idea out to everyone. Let's craft a story to shoot. Let's figure out what story that will be and I'll make it happen.

Until the next one, I'll keep marveling at the work that Sarah, Matt, and I did on this.