Sunset Skies & The Photos
Golden hour is the most popular for a reason. You get the beautiful warmth of sunshine that glows across an entire gallery of love. I wanted to put out a small collection of images that went beyond my average golden hour portraits.
The ones that I took by accident…
I’ve noticed a pattern when I set out to capture golden hour portraits whether it’s an engagement session or a wedding. The timing of the photos, the prompts, and the setting are typically similar to each other each time. The couple is different and how they interact and move on camera allows for more diverse imagery, but ultimately, I have noticed this pattern. Everyone wants the same beautiful sunset pictures and I don’t blame them. I want them too! This process of repetition has cause a mild burn-out for me. As an artist, I want to feel creative and that means I don’t want to take the same exact pictures every weekend. To combat this feeling, I’ve looked for ways to make each weekend different from the last. Unique in their own right.
Here are a few ways I have made each session unique to the couple and creative for me:
Couples fill out a questionnaire prior to the session
This allows for me to design a session style/mood board just for them
I strongly urge couples to select a location that is special to them
Experimenting with camera settings at the session
This has been the biggest game changer for my photos!
At the session, I give prompts instead of poses
This creates more opportunity for candid and natural interactions
Editing less
I want photos to look more and more like real life- I want them to represent how it felt. Sometimes that means pictures are blurry or not straightened out. Yet just like life, imperfectly beautiful.
All of the photos featured in this post were taken without knowledge of how they would turn out. I tried new settings and new prompts, unaware of the end result. Whatever the sun did or the couple did was up to fate. And now I leave you with some dreamy imagery that represent how love felt in that moment in time between two people.
