To follow on from my last blog on how I pose couples, I thought I’d show you some more couples portraits, while I share Ellie and James’s experience of being photographed by me.
Ellie booked a session with me last summer, following a portrait giveaway on my social media. I was very generous, and Ellie was one of three lucky people, who I offered a portrait session to in the Ashdown Forest.
After I told Ellie that she had won a portrait session with me, I asked her what kind of session she wanted. She replied that she would love to have a couples session with her fiancé. We chose a date in July and arranged a Zoom call, so we could have a chat and discuss the details of the session (I also gave her advice on what to wear and tips for how to get ready).
To prepare for Ellie and James’s portraits, I asked Ellie to send me examples of couples portraits/engagement photographs she liked, and sent her a link to my ‘Couples Portraits’ Pinterest board, so I could get a feel for the kind of images she wanted, and write a shot list for myself. As the couples session was going to be in the Ashdown Forest, I also went out and did a spot of recon, so I could report back to Ellie and finalise the location for their engagement session.
We chose an area of the Forest near Crowborough and met up on a very warm afternoon in the Hollies Car Park. I suggested it because it was a versatile setting, featuring both shady wooded areas and open heathland covered in gorse and heather.
Before I took any photographs of Ellie and James, I went through some basic posing guidelines and taught them some foundation poses, to help them relax and feel more confident during their portrait session (see last blog).
We then spent the next couple of hours together, while I took a variety of photographs of Ellie and James (both posed and candid) with the Ashdown Forest as the backdrop. I took posed shots of them standing together among the tall grass and gorse bushes, and some more relaxed candid shots of them sitting together, looking out over the landscape.
We made our way down a tree lined path, where I took shots of Ellie and James walking and holding each others arms, etc, and posing for the all important ‘ring’ shots, and then posed them out in the open heathland for some wider shots, surrounded by trees and purple heather.
Finally, we made our way to an enchanting area of woodland, full of twisted oak trees, where I photographed them walking hand in hand and standing together in beautiful dappled sunlight.
After that, we went our separate ways. Ellie and James went home for a relaxing evening together, and I went home and backed up all the images from an enjoyable afternoon of photography. Ellie was delighted the following day, when I offered her a sneak peek from their couples session, and incredibly pleased a week later, when I sent her the link to a private online gallery, so that she and James could take a look at all of their engagement photographs!
Here’s what Ellie had to say:
“My fiancé and I had a wonderful engagement shoot in the Ashdown Forest with Natalie.
Before the shoot she was incredibly informative and helped us choose what we wanted done (it was our first photo shoot), which made us both feel much more confident. She was so professional on the day, she made us feel really relaxed and made the shoot very enjoyable. We are both pretty awkward in front of the camera, but she made us feel so at ease and her clear directions soon had us feeling like professionals! We managed to fit so much into one shoot; lots of different locations, poses and a good mix of posed pictures and more candid pictures.
After the shoot she kept us updated on the editing process and made us feel very involved. The finished pictures were stunning, Natalie is clearly an incredibly talented photographer. The photo shoot was on the hottest day of the year, but you wouldn't know it looking at the pictures! She managed to get the composition, colours, lighting, everything looking perfect! I would book Natalie again in a heartbeat and will definitely be recommending her to all my friends.”
If you are interested in booking a couples session for yourself, or are recently engaged and would like to celebrate with a portrait session, you can contact me here.