Hello, friends!

AHH, I LOVE THIS PHOTOSHOOT SO MUCH. You guys are in for a treat! I get to be the wedding photographer in April for my friends Sam(antha) and Graham, and after this engagement shoot, I’m anticipating it even more eagerly.

The appointed day for picture-taking dawned gray, cloudy, and cold. But thanks to hot chocolate and hugs, Graham and Sam made it through like troopers and you’d never guess from the photos that we were all freezing. They lit up the cloudy day so well that the pictures glow even without my favorite golden-hour sun.

Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my friends being cute together!

We started out driving to different locations in my car, but it was so muddy that I got it stuck after the first spot. Oops. But we did make it safely to the field behind the pond. I like the soft tones of this picture!

They were so happy and cheerful and easy to photograph, as is probably not hard to imagine from pictures like this. 🙂

This is one of my favorite B&W portraits I’ve ever taken. I feel like it encapsulates their personalities and relationship well and IT’S JUST SO CUTE.

Look how pretty Sam’s ring is! It’s elegant and beautiful and fits her perfectly.

Another favorite. I can already tell that I’m going to run out of captions for these photos other than just squealing about how cute they are together. Oops.

I realized during the photoshoot that I could get many unique photos out of one pose by moving myself instead of moving them. This is the same pose as above, but I came closer to focus on the details.

My family and I think Sam looks straight out of the 2019 “Little Women” movie in this one. Something about her hair and long coat maybe? Do you agree?

A lot of my favorite poses involve one or both people looking at the other instead of at the camera. It’s so much more… real. You know? Also Sam’s dress looked so gorgeous against the wintry background, ah!

But also since Sam is, like, a model, so I couldn’t miss poses like this one. GAHH. SERIOUSLY THOUGH.

Another cute pose: the guy looking at the girl and the girl looking down. So sweet and calm.

Couldn’t resist turning one of the walking photos into an artistic black and white. 🙂

Just Sam casually being a model again. :O

This one makes me happy. 😀

As does this one. I love capturing laughter in photos, and I got plenty of chances for that in this photoshoot.

Another favorite, ah! I’m trying to refrain from saying they’re so cute again but… it’s… hard…

Hehe, I think this was when I told them to take a break while I looked at my list of poses and then Graham gave Sam a big hug and I was like JUST KIDDING NEVERMIND THAT IS THE PERFECT POSE. Graham was like, “Ah, sneaky!” And I agreed. 😉 You gotta be a sneaky photographer sometimes.

Hehe, this is one of a series of photos of Graham kissing Sam’s cheek where Sam goes from a quiet smile to laughing by the end. 😛

This one looks so peaceful. As Sam said at the beginning of the shoot, I wonder how many photos this white shed has featured in and will be a part of. :’D It’s a great neutral backdrop though!

I feel like there should be a story behind this photo. An old story. I dunno, it gives me a nostalgic feeling.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Sam has beautiful and super long hair and at one point it fell like this and she said from behind it, “Can you even see my face??” I love capturing little moments and memories from photoshoots instead of just poses.

An elegant twirling photo. Hehe, Sam’s hair is more twirly than her dress is.

I’ll never get tired of photographing huge grins and laughter, but there’s something lovely about quiet smiles like these. The best relationships aren’t always overjoyed or always heartbroken – they feel steady and safe and better together.

After those three photo locations (field, pond, and shed), we went to one last spot on the path down by the hay barn. Their browns and grays fit into the wintry landscape well here.

This lift pose was one of the last things we did and I’m so glad I remembered to include it because… well, for obvious reasons. Look! ❤

We’ll end with one last happy B&W. I really appreciated how cheerfully Graham participated in the photoshoot because it’s usually the girl who’s excited to have pictures taken and the guy is more like… whatever. But they were both clearly just happy to be together, and that was my favorite thing to capture. 🙂

Sam and Graham, thank you so much for giving me the chance to take pictures of you guys! Seeing you together makes me smile, and seeing photos of you together does the same. 🙂 I’m so happy for you and can’t wait for your wedding in April!

Which photo(s) did you like best? 

Thanks so much for reading, friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D7200 and a 50mm lens.