When I’m out on a photography gig, I’m usually thinking of a hundred different things. I’ve taken portraits hundreds of times and I’ve only been on the opposite side of the equation: paying someone to take portraits of me twice, once for my engagement session and once for my wedding.
So, it’s hard for me to know what the clients are thinking about when I’m working. Maybe they’re thinking I’m trying to find a pretty background, or maybe they’re feeling self conscious, or maybe they’re worried that I’m judging their posing ability.
I bet the one thing that doesn’t cross their mind is my concern that they’re having a good time.
When I first started out taking portraits, I was so overwhelmed with backgrounds, lighting and poses that I didn’t have much mental space for connecting with my clients.
I so wanted to do a good job that I’d run back and forth in front of them with a hyper focused look on my face. Or I’d spend a ton of time setting up lights. Or, I’d stand there looking around, trying to solve this picture puzzle without explaining to them what I was thinking.
Admittedly, I still do a lot of these things. Especially at weddings I work fast, because you just don’t have time to chitchat. We’ll have 15 minutes to take all our portraits and I’ll just dive right in to the work. But, even in that circumstance I’ll work hard to maintain a cool and breezy demeanor.
If it’s a stressful day and I’m churning a hundred miles an hour on the inside, I’ll try to act like everything is chill on the outside. The common analogy is the duck, gliding peacefully and unruffled above the water, but with feet paddling like crazy below the surface.
Kyle and Autumn’s Engagement Session
These days, I’m much more confident in the technical ins and outs of my photography. And, so I focus a lot more on the client’s experience.
I heard from another photographer, that at the end of the day when clients get their portraits back they’ll also remember how you made them feel during the session. If you were annoyed or rushed they’ll remember that when looking back at the pictures, but if you were engaged, friendly and made them feel like a hundred bucks, they’ll get the photos back feeling that same way.
Of course, sometimes it’s easier to know when people are having a good time if they’re super outgoing and friendly like Kyle and Autumn. I met these two in Lake Geneva for their engagement session and Kyle in particular was one of those guys who says hello to every stranger walking by and was happy to tell you his life story. I feel like I learned how to up my social game, just from being around him for those two hours!
Also, when your clients are happy, smiling and having fun it makes me feel more confident as a photographer. Let alone the fact, that I’ll be taking more photos of really happy and smiling people, which is the most beautiful look a human being can have on their face.
Cold weather
I was glad for Kyle’s friendliness and their joy, because we were doing our session in December. Although snow wasn’t on the ground, the temperatures that day only reached a high in the 40s. And, cold weather sessions can go south in a hurry.
Everyone reacts to cold differently and if my clients are standing there shivering they are going to have an absolutely miserable experience.
Going in, I emphasized this to Kyle and Autumn so that they could dress appropriately. On a colder day with snow, I’d say wear scarves, nice coats and cute beanies. On this day it was warm enough for Kyle and Autumn to ditch the coats, but Kyle still wore a warm undershirt and a beanie and Autumn wore a nice thick sweater.
I wear undershirts for most every outfit, so a nice trick is to switch your under clothes for long underwear and it doesn’t look bulky but it keeps your core warm.
To keep them warm I also gave myself a strict time limit for photography. We chose three spots during the day and I stayed 20-25 minutes in each location.
Once we stepped outside I set the alarm on my phone and once it went off we all hopped back in our cars, cranked the heaters and jetted to the next stop.
Locations
This brings up another important topic on engagement sessions. Where do we go? For all these sessions I give couples veto power on where we choose to go. Nine times out of ten, they ask me for good locations and I’ll make suggestions based on their preferences.
Some couples really like nature and some couples don’t, but if they’re open to anything I typically choose a variety pack like I did for Kyle and Autumn.
The basic variety pack is water, trees and streets.
For water we met at Williams Bay Beach where we had Kyle and Autumn walking on the sand with Lake Geneva (water) in the background. I mostly photograph in Wisconsin and water is everywhere. You can’t go far without hitting either Lake Michigan or a smaller lake or river somewhere in this state.
We then traveled to downtown Lake Geneva for the streets. If you’re doing a wardrobe change, I’d recommend wearing your upscale and dressy outfit during the urban/city portion.
After that, we went to the location I was really excited about.
Woodhill Farms Nursery
I had always wanted to take portraits at a tree farm. Before our session, I called Woodhill Farms Nursery and asked them if we could stop by. They were completely chill about it and when we arrived we walked into the back of the property with all the evergreen trees and took our sunset photos here.
That’s another good point about sessions. I always choose the best location for the sunset photos and typically a nature location works best. Also, I’m like a hunting dog for evergreen trees during the cold weather months. I’d much rather see that, than a bare tree with no leaves!
Because of the symmetry, tree farms are also spectacular for photography,. The trees will usually be lined up in rows with grass in between so you can always find a spot to walk, dance or pose.
My favorite pictures from this session are of Kyle and Autumn dancing, dipping and holding each other with the sunset and trees behind them and high grasses all around them.
I’ll be excited to hang out with these two again when I photograph their wedding later this year and I’m really glad that they found each other when they worked in neighboring businesses in Eau Clair, Kyle at the BP gas station and Autumn at the Dairy Queen!
