I had such a great time hanging out with Tami and Omar for their engagement session, and we had a bit of an adventure trying to avoid incoming trains, and trying to sneak some photos with someones scooter before they came back (better to ask forgiveness than permission with those things, right?) After taking some photos nearby their home, we headed into Old Town Alexandria for a change of scenery with the beautiful arcitecture and open parks. I can't wait for their wedding next month!
Katie and Jeff have an unusual first date/how they met story: Katie won a date with Jeff through some serious basketball skills (both were captains of their college basketball teams) and they wanted to capture that common interest and history in their engagement session. Moshe Zusman and I shot this session at Katie and Jeff's old stomping grounds at Johns Hopkins University, both in the gym as well as around campus. we had some beautiful overcast skies, and couldn't have asked for a better looking, and fun couple to spend the morning with! I took the opportunity to also test out two new pieces of gear, the Pocketwizard MiniTT1 and the LumoPro LP160 (which was triggered using a PWII), both of which worked wonderfully, with minimal hangups. For most of the gym photos, I used the LP160 racked into 105mm and rested it on top of the bleachers at about 45 degrees from where Katie and Jeff were doing their thing. I can't wait for their wedding later this summer! It's going to be at the beautiful Woodend (one of my favorite outdoor venues).
This engagement session set a lot of records for me, the highest elevation, lowest elevation, longest shooting time, furthest distance traveled for an e-session, and also the most fun I've ever had for an engagement session! Brandon and Ashley wanted to have their session at Skyline Drive, which I figured would offer only a limited variety of photos, so I looked at Google Maps and saw that Luray Caverns was close by, so I suggested we hit a couple locations in the area. We were driving along and spotted a run down theme park (with gift shop) called "Dinosaur Land" and couldn't resist stopping by. We navigated the complex garden maze and trekked the mile hike to the bottom of Luray Caverns and back again (remind to never ever decide to haul a backpack full of speedlites on a mile hike underground without an assistant again)! I love these kinds of engagement sessions where a couple can get really comfortable and just be themselves! Can't wait for their wedding next summer!
