Day in the Life - A Documentary Engagement Session - Dangerously Good Stories

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Day in the Life – A Documentary Engagement Session

December 15, 2015

When Lauren emailed me to inquire about wedding photography, she said what appealed to her about my wedding gallery was all of the STORIES the photos held. She wants to remember her wedding day as a story, as well as to see the bits of stories that happened that she + Nick didn’t see.

When she became a client, she gained an engagement session as well…. a documentary engagement session to be precise.

Here’s the backstory to my photography approach:

Being married almost 6 years, I now look back on life with my husband before babies. It all seems like a distant memory now as our home is filled with the noise (lots of noise) of our two kiddos.

Back then, we could be selfish and do what we wanted, when we wanted. Life was calm and quiet. We could wrap ourselves up in each other all day with no interruptions.

We lived dreaming of babies, a perfect (bigger) home, and taking the steps to make our passions become our careers.

Fast forward to today and I can see how we’ve grown as individuals. I’m more confident. I’ve embraced this role as an entrepreneur. Dave has matured into a caregiver + provider role to our family – that I find sexy as hell! 😉.

I want my kids to know the us that lived before they were in our world. So for my engagement clients, I want to help them preserve their own unique stories of THIS season of life.

Engagement sessions don’t have to be all about the snuggles, kisses, and a love show for the camera. This time is about the foundation to their marriage: friendship and life together so far as individuals growing together.

It all began by sending Nick and Lauren a series of questions.

Learn my entire process right here.

They fulfilled my request to answer the Q’s and even mentioned how they had fun filling them out and listen to each other’s responses… kind of like a date night.

Next…. full inspiration was born. They were hooked. The date was set.

And so it began….

A Day in the Life Documentary Engagement Session

I arrived shortly after dawn to begin to Nick and Lauren’s condo. In the couple’s questionnaire, they mentioned how they love to taking an early morning boat cruise around the lake. So, that’s where we began.

After the boat cruise, it was time for breakfast.

Then, working on a wedding decoration project that they planned also keep in their home after the wedding (a sign with lights that spells out LOVE).

Then, they parted ways as Lauren baked an apple pie + did some dinner prep and Nick was in his workshop area to work on another wedding project. It’s important to me to show their individuality, because isn’t it normal for people to do their own thing during the day?

(My husband (and even my kids) aren’t glued to the hip for an entire day)

Later, they invited Lauren’s siblings and their spouses over for dinner, because in the questionnaire they mentioned they love to entertain friends + fam. It was a perfect way to give them photos truly unique to their story.

At the end of the day, before the whole crew headed out to a haunted house, they played the game Celebrity together. The laughter, the characters, the togetherness…. perfect way to sum up this honest story, don’t you think?

The lenses used:

50mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm (only a few), and 100m Macro (for the rings). Ok, so the rings are not so much documentary as they’re set up, but I love sprinkling important details in the spotlight.

And that’s part of the beauty of being our own self as the photographer, you can shoot however you want. I do give my clients a couple of portraits (not shown below), because who doesn’t like a great photo of their faces once in awhile?

The rest of the day, entirely documentary.

See for yourself how Nick and Lauren’s before-marriage story was told:

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So there you have it.

A documentary engagement day in the life.

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