Alex and Nick - Kalamazoo moody engagement photos

Alex: "We already had traditional engagement photos taken when I proposed"

Me: "Okay cool, how about we do ultra-moody UN-traditional engagement photos then?"

I’m a huge fan of alternative engagement portraits, and Alex and Nick were absolutely up for the challenge. I completely embraced the opportunity to go full “fine art” mode, and sent them a mood board with style inspiration in preparation. When going for a more monochromatic look, I want a simple, usually urban, location that doesn’t have a lot of color naturally. A parking garage is one of my favorite go-to spots for this reason, but this time around, I wanted something new with lots of leading lines, and this set of bleachers completely spoke to me.

The weather may have felt super inhospitable when the shoot day arrived, but they came prepared with all the moody layers to fight even the coldest winter day. This was also the perfect trial run for their January wedding photos (Pocket warmers are key), so win-win all around.

Thanks for being rockstars with hearts of gold you incredible humans!

Emily - High fashion portrait photography

I had the pleasure of getting in one last studio session a few days before the stay-at-home order was announced, and I was so thrilled that I did.
Emily is a crazy talented model who came to me with the concept of shooting portraits inspired by the sign Aries. She stylized the wardrobe like a boss, showed me her inspiration board, and let me go crazy with my lighting and camera tricks.

I used a 1/2 stop Pro Mist filter to get the dreamy vintage vibes, and edgy strobes to bring the drama. Additional drama was brought by Emily killing it.
This was the perfect mood booster to be editing within the first few days of home office life, and I can’t wait until we’re able to work together on a new concept!