I worked with Marnie and Scott this past weekend for their Engagement Shoot. We shot at Lockhaven Park near downtown Orlando and despite a tiny bit of rain, we had a great time.

As usual, I started them out sitting. This takes away most of the pressure of posing and lets us work on getting comfortable with each other. On that subject, I think it's extremely important for me to be comfortable with my clients as it is for them to be comfortable with me. I think the process of making great images of people is a totally collaborative process and if there is unease in front of, OR behind the camera, then the quality of the work produced is affected.

Of course, as a professional, I would never allow any negative feelings affect my work too much, but honestly, if we are all having fun (oh, and by the way, fostering that fun is 99% my job so sit back and relax) then the chances my work will rise above good to great is much better.

With my shoots, this is almost never an issue because I will do almost anything to ensure a good atmosphere.

Ok, back to the shoot...
As usual, things didn't go as planned, or should I say that the light didn't cooporate much until I thought we were about done. Then it decided to play nice so I told Marnie and Scott, who were relaxed and I think having a good time by then, that we would make our way back to where we started, recreating some of the shots we already did, this time with much better light.

They were old pros by now and it was not a problem. Scott was even picking up on the little details like hand position and Marnie was glowing as bright as the sunlight we now had to work with.

By the last couple of locations, I didn't really have to tell them much, they were comfortable getting into natural looking poses and I was able to capture some really nice moments.

This engagement shoot was very similar to most. Things started out a little uncomfortable but quickly warmed up. This "getting to know each other" is one of the most beneficial things about these shoots and maybe more important than the actual images produced because it makes getting started on the wedding day that much easier.

-Robert