There was no ring

but the love was there.

Angel & Caroline

Angel was a coworker of mine when

I used to work in hospitality.

He was young and suave and really loved his girlfriend, Caroline. It was cute that he wanted to surprise her with a couple’s shoot. This would be the only time I photographed a couple that wasn’t either engaged, getting engaged, getting married, are married now, or if it hasn’t happened yet it’s just understood at this point.

He bought her dinner out at a restaurant on the riverfront up in Westchester, New York. Before hand we went for a shoot as the sun was setting into golden hour. This was partly an experimental shoot as I had discussed with Angel before hand. This was one of my earlier shoots and I told him I wanted to explore different kinds of shots. I had an on camera flash that was worthless for all but one shot I blasted them with light. That’s how strong the sun was.

I think the biggest thing I learned from this shoot was that I went for really dramatic shots on a lot of them, and I was really proud of how I composed these shots. The truth was I learned when posting those photos that energy is everything. There were other natural shots I captured that I know the technical “quality” of them was lesser but the reactions were my impressed.

It was really after this session that I spent a lot of time thinking about how I engage my clients and how their energy in that moment impacts the image. Now when I pose couples I guide them towards their pose and snap away and let their personality shine. I really grew as a photographer after this shoot, and still one of my favorite photos is in this gallery here.