Amanda + Alex - St. Louis, Missouri Engagement Session

St. Louis Forest Park and Delmar Loop Engagement Photography

This St. Louis engagement session was an insane amount of fun! Amanda and Alex are fantastic people. If you’ve been keeping your eye on the St. Louis culinary scene, you may have seen this feature that Sauce Magazine did on Alex’s work and career. So sick!

We took engagement photos in the St. Louis Zoo, the Steinberg Skating Rink, and finished the evening off with a lap around the Loop. If you’re wanting to do engagement photos at the St. Louis Zoo, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

• First, because of COVID guidelines, the zoo is operating at a limited capacity so you need to make reservations in advance of your visit. I went ahead and did this in a few minutes for all 3 of us!

• Second, keep away from busy paths and high-traffic areas. To take the photo, the photographer will likely want you two to take off your masks. Stay off the beaten path and respect your distance from others, and you’ll still make some great images.

• Finally, make sure you call to clear the commercial shoot with management. Make your reservation, stay socially distanced, and call ahead to make sure you’re good to go!

If you’re looking to get some engagement photos done at the St. Louis Zoo, I hope this helped you a little bit. Other than that, keep scrolling and bask in the awesomeness of Amanda and Alex! BONUS if you can guess what their nicknames for each other are…

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Josie + Cole - Alton, Illinois Engagement Session

I’m elated that I get to photograph such an amazing couple like Josie and Cole! They’re a blast to photograph, and take my weird and wonky instructions like TOTAL champs. We spent the evening taking their engagement photos in Alton, IL: both in downtown Alton and at Gordon Moore Park. I took way more photos than I usually do at engagement sessions, but I had to! These two looked so good!
I’m loving the amount of blogging I’m doing lately. Though I often struggle to hit Google’s SEO word count recommendations (and may not even hit it here), I find so much value in showing shorter visual stories for each couple as opposed to the one or two photos they may get featured in my portfolio section. I feel like this is such a more accurate depiction of the couple and how they interact with each other.

For photographers: I used my Nikon 45mm f/2.8 tilt-shift lens pretty frequently in this shoot. It still was only on maybe 10% of the overall session, but that’s significant for a specialty lens like this one. It’s super sharp when you nail the plane of focus, and the color renditioning is top-notch. It’s definitely one of the pricer lenses in my bag, so I kinda need it to be as sharp as it is. The rest of the session was done with my 58mm 1.4G and my 24mm 1.4G lenses. These are what I shoot 98% of all my photos on. They get me in the action, they’re sharp, they’re reliable, and they render perfectly. Take a look, if you dare.

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Getting engaged? Already engaged? Not engaged yet but thinking about it? I’m your photo guy!

The 5 Most Important Tips for Engagement Sessions

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Getting engaged is a really cool thing. You and your person are in love AND are ready to take that next step! Awesome!

But... you're kind of nervous about the session. You've never had real photos taken together, and your boyfriend/girlfriend has told you, "Just... let's not do any of those awkward pictures."

So, what do you do? How do you prepare? Never fear! Here are the 5 most important things to remember for your upcoming engagement session.

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1. Wear simple, comfortable clothes

It may feel weird at first, and may even be weird to accept, but your engagement session is about you and your relationship with this other person. It's about the joy, the tension, and the nuance of your specific love for each other. 

The more simple and comfortable your outfits are, the more comfortable you will both be, and the more REAL your photos will turn out.

2. The first 15 minutes are a wash 

There isn't a sprinter in the world that can roll out of bed and set an Olympic record. By the same token, it's very likely that you're not going to come away with jaw-dropping moments straight out the gate.

Hopefully, by this point, you've spoken to your photographer, gotten to know each other, and hung out for at least a little bit. But there was one thing missing from all that interaction. A camera. Throwing that bit of metal and plastic into the mix adds a whole new element to the engagement session that a lot of people aren't used to.

Just relax, chat for a bit, and focus on the person next to you. All good!

3. Do what you and your person are comfortable with

This one is pretty simple. Your photographer should be the professional, and should know a ton about photographing couples. You know the most about your relationship with this other person. It's a partnership! Maybe you are uncomfortable kissing in front of the camera, or maybe your left ankle is sprained and that pose is killing you! Just let the photographer know so that they can adapt.

4. Communicate!

Not just with the photographers. With each other! Talk to each other during the session, recount great memories, or make fart jokes. Whatever your style is, let all parties involved with the engagement session know!

5. Trust Your Photographer

The person you entrust to take the photos at your wedding and engagement session is more than your uncle Gary who has a nice camera and a couple of lenses. This is an artist, whose work drew you to them in some way. You resonated with the way that they saw the world.

Trust that feeling, and that initial pull to that person. You are making an investment in them, and they are chomping at the bit to make you happy and comfortable every step of the way. So get comfy and get weird! You may just make some really cool art.

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Interested in creating some cool stuff?

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Katie + Kyle - Ballwin, Missouri Engagement Session

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So excited to share this session! Katie and Kyle are a fantastic couple and so much fun to hike with/photograph/hang out with. Yes, it was a bit chilly, and yes I am really bad at remembering how long the trails are, but I had a blast with them (and Jax, their puppy with boundless energy).

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Ellie + Austin - St. Louis, Missouri Engagement Session

Literally could not have asked for cooler people to take pictures of. An absolute dream of an evening with Ellie and Austin!