couples
Claire & Mirek were so sweet. Holding hands and smiling secret smiles at each other, with a glow that turned on like a light switch whenever they were together; it was so much fun to photograph their love!
We ventured to the farthest part of Spanish Banks, past all the August crowds, and there they ran through tall grasses, danced, and lit a candle by the water when the sun went down. They were beautiful.
I love it when couples can hardly keep a straight face the entire session - when they poke each other and tease each other in front of the camera, laugh with their mouths open, and make faces at each other. It feels like they're letting me in on their relationship & it makes me happy. Harpreet & Gurinder were like that.
Our email correspondence went something like this.
Me: "So how would you feel about...for example, running across fields in bare feet?"
Harpreet: "Sure."
Me: "Dancing in the middle of the park?"
"Of course."
"Dipping your engagement ring in an ice cream cone?"
"Naturally."
"Cheese picnic on the grass?"
"Willingly! "
Yes. They were awesome. And here are their happy Saturday engagement photos!
From the first email Christina sent me, I knew that she and Chad were going to be a fun couple to photograph. I love couples like them, that are unafraid of crazyness (like scaring away Canada geese by twirling in a field filled with goose droppings) or getting their clothes dirty (like walking into the shivering ocean in bare feet).
For all the days leading up to this session, the forecast had been uncertain and moody, and the day was moody too - but suddenly, near the time when our session was to begin, the sun apprehensively stepped out from behind a cloud. The sky looked stormy still, full of blue-purple clouds, but there were patches of sunlight, and we took advantage of that.
Christina and Chad told me that a large part of their relationship was based on a mutual love of food (which is something my husband & I resonate with), so they brought along some bubble tea and strawberries, and they got dizzy from twirling, and they laughed, and Chad poked Christina's adorable little nose, and they sat on logs and kissed. It was beautiful. And fun.
Here is their meadowy, oceany, sun-dappled session!
Mira & Jason met me at Holland Park in Surrey, wearing beautiful clothes and big smiles and carrying two wine glasses. (Good start to an engagement session, right?)
They got engaged one day last summer, after spending the afternoon downtown. Jason told me he'd been carrying the ring around in his pocket all day, sweating and nervous and silent. When he'd finally popped the question, he found out he had no reason to fear - she said yes!
And here they are today. I had so much fun with them, posing them and laughing and making them kiss (as a photographer, I have the power to make people kiss!) and sip wine (they love wine, so they brought along a bottle), and colour (yes - you read that right! Mira & Jason drew their own Save-the-Date sign with wooden pencil crayons!).
All in all - an evening well spent :)
You're probably here because you agree with me that Olivia and Francis are one of the most adorable couples ever. Right? RIGHT??
They are both from Hong Kong, and both moved to Vancouver in the same year with their families - but they didn't know each other at that point. Years passed, they met and fell in love and got married. BUT - and here is where this session comes in - they have been doing long-distance for nearly all of that time.
When Olivia contacted me, she said she wanted a styled shoot (I love styled shoots) and she also said that the theme was to be "long-distance". Having done long-distance myself for a year and a half, I got very excited. I started tossing out idea after idea of how we could make this session amazing, and each one made me more excited than the last. So, when we pulled up to Spanish Banks Beach, I knew this session was going to be fun.
Olivia walked up to me holding a seeded dandelion and wearing yellow, and Francis looked at her with so much love in his eyes, and the way they held hands and the way he watched her laugh, and the way she threw her whole self into her laugh, and the joy they had in each other - simply beautiful. They would be together for just a few days more before he had to leave, and I could see that they were reluctant to let go of each other.
One of my ideas was to pin memories of their long-distance relationship onto a string held between them, symbolizing the ways they showed their love even when not present. So they brought along a plastic bag filled with cards they had sent each other, and little notes they had written each other; they laughed rememberingly as they pulled them out of the bag. Carefully, we attached them to the string, along with daisies and paper airplanes, and they stood in the golden sunset light, connected in spite of the distance.
And here it is: their long-distance love story.
