Assuming you've gone through my portfolio, by now you may have a good idea that I have a passion in capturing natural and organic expressions of love.  I will walk you through my 'creative process' here in a second.  

One of the most important things in getting these expressions is to simply be yourself.  I often get asked about what to wear and my answer to that is...wear something comfortable.  Without overthinking anything, my ultimate goal is to document a special moment in the life you both share and the best way I know of showing that is by capturing the true you.

Having said all of that, if fashion is your thing, by all means, come dressed to impress.  If your of the simple type and love to wear t-shirts and jeans, I'll be excited to capture you just the same.

I just have one request...be ready to have fun and enjoy a day of being together.

Note...each engagement session is going to be different.  

This has a lot to do with how much time I've had the pleasure of knowing you and understanding what it is that make you a couple.  If your session will be the first time we get a chance to meet, it will be critical for you to tell me as much as possible about the things you love to do.  

I'm a believer in things that happen for a reason.

I also like to think of that when coming up with the perfect location for you.  I recommend choosing a location that has a sentimental meaning to your relationship.  

In some cases if you are new to the area, we would go by the style/look you want for your session whether you guys would want to have an urban/city look, or if you both love to hike and want to venture out in the woods.  

There's also a few places we can go to have backdrops of the beach.  

Before your session I will go over a few very basic things in the first 5 mins.

You'll often hear me ask you to simply enjoy the moment.  There's nothing to overthink and as a matter of fact, I'll ask for you to do less thinking and instead, have fun with each other.  

For the technical stuff, at a minimum I will have two camera's with me during the session.  I will to start up close and capture all the details first.  These details will include the following:

• Engagement Ring
• Hands
• Shoes (below the knee shot)
• Clothing
• Anything not mentioned that may be meaningful to you (an accessory of some sort)

I'll ask you guys to do certain activities to keep you busy and often moving.  I love movement in my photographs and especially with lots of emotion.  It's one of the best ways I know to prevent you from being 'camera aware'.  

I need for you guys to forget I'm even there, even for just 1/60 of a second.  

Some activities that we may/may not do are:

• Running
• Jumping
• Skipping rocks
• Walking
• The usuals: The dip, The lift, etc... (don't worry, I'll demonstrate and you'll get some practice in before I capture it :))

I'm always looking for the perfect light no matter the situation.  

Having said that, I work spontaneously and as for the two of you, surprises are also a great thing to capture.  You'll see some of those moments throughout my website, specifically in my Engagement Portfolio where my couples were doing something fun and crazy.  

Those weren't planned.  They did that on their own and I was just ready for the raw moment to unfold which really told the true story of their relationship and love for one another.

Going back to the 'what to wear' -- If you plan on having two outfit changes, it's good to change the scene on your second outfit.  I'll be sure to have a good plan for this during your session.  

The two outfit changes I recommend are usually casual and formal.

As for the rest of my creative process, you will see me move around often.  Once I find that perfect light, I'll give you some direction then i'll step away and revolve myself around the two of you.  At some point, I'll be a good distance away where you are not gonna be able to hear me.  For this, I'll go over a few hand gestures to help guide you but ultimately, the main focus is for the two of you to be engaged with each other.  

I totally understand that I am not shooting a fashion shoot and that you two aren't professional models although some of the guys might beg to differ :)

No worries.  Just come ready to have fun.  

Best,
Ro