Shooting a couple can always be a gamble. Simple common sense would tell you that, obviously, two people would be twice the work as opposed to just shooting an individual (I know, groundbreaking discovery), you're working with two personality types, two people have to get used to the camera, there's twice the posing, and so on. But it's when I thank my lucky stars when I get a couple like Abby and Andrew.
I know Andrew from graduating with him from high school. And knowing that he is one of the funniest guys I've met, and completely uninhibited, I was already expecting shooting him to be a breeze. And he completely talked up this Abby character, who at this point, I knew nothing about. I heard adjectives like "chillest", "amazing", and "freaking awesome" being tossed around when he was describing her. And who-da-thunk-it? She drives a Jeep Wrangler. Boom, I'm done, sold. I instantly knew she was awesome. I mean come on! We are basically kindred Wrangler driving brethren!
After weeks of delays and bad weather we FINALLY got to have the session. As soon as I met them at the scheduled time and place, I was pleasantly surprised to see the obvious rad-tastic-ness emanating from these two. They oozed confidence and were completely down for anything that I wanted to try. Both Abby and Andrew's personalities played off each other so well it took most of the hard work right out of the session and it felt more like shooting some really great friends.
I, being the goober that I am, thought we should start with one of the harder to get to locations first, so after a short 10 minute mini-hike and a very minor allergic reaction we started shooting. The next 3-4 hours seemed to fly by!
So, Abby and Andrew, I want to personally thank you guys for being such a riot to shoot and I hope you enjoy your photos.
And for the rest of you, enjoy the shots below and feel free to hit the like button, or post a comment.
I have one of the coolest gigs ever. It may seem as simple as just taking photos in exchange for mad cash, but when you look a little closer, you realize how truly awesome a job like this is. Not only am I documenting something like a child's innocence, or a couple's wedding, but when you get to see someone from behind the lens, you get to see a side of them that no one sees. It starts out as a nervousness or shyness, but when that fades away, you see the people for who they really are. And when I shot this session with Eric & Cassie I saw these people for what they really are. And that's truly in love.
I had met Cassie way back in the day in my freshmen year of high school when I was just starting to get interested in photography. We took the same class called "digital imaging" which was pretty much my first serious dive into Photoshop and image manipulation. And when I finally got to meet Eric before we started the session their chemistry was undeniable. Those two are like peas in a pod.
I'm always really excited to have the privilege of taking photos of somebody, or a couple from where I used to live in West Virginia. It feels great to know although that they have other local photographers, they still like my style enough to hire me. (So thanks, Cassie and Eric, you guys are amazuhzing.)
Our session started at New River Gorge bridge in West Virginia, and since all three of us were not from the area we had absolutely no ideas for locations to shoot. We literally drove around back roads and through small towns looking for a place to shoot. I'm the kind of person that I like to have stuff planned down to exact timing on which locations to shoot, but going with the flow that day was definitely fun! We took a visit through downtown historic Fayetteville, found surprise hayfields, stopped traffic in busy streets and considered stealing a golf cart.
Overall I had an absolute blast shooting this couple, and I hope you'll enjoy just some of the images below.
