A Smokin’ Engagement in San Diego

I call the picture from Lexi and Andy’s engagement weekend above a “happy accident.” I love it! But the half the credit for the genius of the composition goes to fate because I hit the shutter button by accident while I was fiddling with my flash, took a similar picture to this one (not quite composed so nicely) and thought, “COOL!” Do you get it? I love the irony of the shot!

I had a great time in San Diego! Lots more pictures below!

If you’d like to see Lexi and Andy’s FUN engagement slide show, send me a message, or send them an email message. I picked a perfect song for them and I really hope Lexi gets my subtle message to her from the song! I love you guys and I can’t WAIT for your wedding so I can see you, your family, and your San Diego friends again!

There are several reasons that photographers, in general, like to do engagement sessions…

… I like to do them, in part, to document the place where the couple spent their engagement period. In the case of the image above, the succulents on the rocky shore in La Jolla, near where Lexi and Andy live, are a tell-tale sign of that beach location.

I’m a lifestyle photographer, so my goal is not necessarily to take beautiful portraits of my couples, but to document their lives, their friends, and the fun places where they like to spend time together. In the image above, you’ll notice I added a little caption in the photograph. Uh, we don’t know who that guy is! We were at the San Diego Beer Festival taking pictures with Lexi, Andy and their friends and this guy just crowded into the picture. I had only met Lexi and Andy’s friends briefly, and the place was SUPER crowded, so I didn’t know until later that Lexi and Andy had no clue who that guy was. So we had our own little crasher event. Something about that is, like, soooooo California.

I think by the time my flight arrived in San Diego, the beer festival had been going on for hours! I’m really looking forward to seeing Lexi and Andy’s friends again at the wedding! I had such a great time hanging out with them!

This is my artsy take on the beer festival.

The next day, Andy had to go to work in the morning, so Lexi and I got manicures before meeting Andy at one of their favorite restaurants, Hudson Bay Seafood, for lunch.

Later that afternoon, we went to La Jolla to capture some fun couple shots.

I love this one. I used it in black and white in the slide show because I wanted viewers to focus on Lexi’s eyes to coincide with that point in the song.

Sweet.

I LOVE THAT FEDORA and Lexi’s awesome red blouse!

We had some awesome sky that afternoon.

Another reason I like to do engagement sessions is so that my couples get comfortable with me and come to understand that a relationship with me translates into a relationship with my camera, which translates into a relationship with the printed image, which will eventually go into their guest book or a wedding album or in a frame atop the piano in mom and dad’s house.

Love this one. Lexi and Andy are so much fun to hang out with!

See what I mean?

Love this one!

Hot! My couples are not allowed to kiss during their engagement sessions, saving the first image of them kissing for the actual ceremony kiss. That no-kissing rule DRIVES PEOPLE CRAZY, which makes for some awesome shots!

Love the reflections at La Jolla!

A few days prior to this shoot, I had been shooting on a beach in New Jersey. I probably brought some sand with me on my camera bag.

Love this one.

And this one too.

After running around on the beach, we were all starved! Lexi and Andy invited their friends over for pizza.

EARLY the next morning (as in “New-Jersey-time early”), we went to Balboa Park for more couple shots.

I’m not saying we were going for formal shots though.

We were more into the fun stuff. Love this one!

I love the shape of Lexi’s skirt in this one. She looks like a ballerina.

Beautiful. I can already “see” the awesome guest book I’ll be designing for Lexi and Andy!

Another reason I love engagement sessions — people get so comfortable with me that sometimes they spontaneously break into show tunes!

Love the light, lines and color of this shot.

Can’t do a lifestyle shoot of Lexi and Andy without a trip to the coffee shop.

But my absolute favorite part of this engagement weekend was getting to go to Andy’s office.

He’s in a graduate program helping to develop medicines for Alzheimer’s patients.

I only took a few shots of the lab, but I love them!

Before heading to the airport, we had brunch with Sylvia and Zak, photographer friends of mine (and now friends of Lexi and Andy’s!) It was so much fun! Sylvia and Zak — I hope you don’t mind I put pictures of our brunch in the awesome slide show. I love those pictures because it shows how welcoming Lexi and Andy are to new friends, capturing yet another aspect of their lifestyle.

Sylvia took this one for me! I love it! Thanks, Sylvia!

Lexi and Andy, I hope you love your slide show as much as I do! I seriously can’t wait for the wedding!