Mitchell + Camille
There is something so radical about shooting for people you have met earlier in your life, whether you know them a lot through school, work, church, etc... this couple is one of them...
About four long years ago I decided to be a barista and see where the world took me. When I first started Camille worked there as well, I got to work with her for a couple months and she was always a righteous individual. At this time she knew I had a passion for photography and writing (if you know Camille you know that she enjoys writing) so I became her friend instantly. After she left she still every now and then kept me on my toes, whether it was proof reading my blogs or giving me pointers on how to grow, I always highly appreciated this. Throughout the years my photography has grown with the support and encouragement of friends like Camille.
While working with Camille years ago, she always mentioned her Mitchell. She would just walk around the store and I always heard in the back of my mind "Oh Mitchell! (insert loud laughs here)" Fast forward to about four years later...
I'm sitting around my house just doing my daily's when I get a comment on my Instagram from Camille, she wants to book a shoot with me. So naturally I get excited, but one thing arises, I didn't know if she was engaged or just updating some good ole pics with her and her man. So naturally, I stalk her profiles up and down, left and right, and I see no sign of engagement. Well come to find out she was just a little behind on posting one of the most important pics of all time to her Facebook, phew. Anywho, as Camille and I are communicating about what kind of vibe she wants for their engagement session, she says to me "We like to laugh a lot." This comes naturally to me as I am always making people laugh during our shoots.
As we began shooting I noticed instantly this would be fun, easy, and grand! I have never seen two people laugh more in my life, I didn't have to say anything or do anything, they just started laughing non stop, it was perfect! If you know me at all, you know I love laughter in pics, it's my flavor fave! As our shoot progresses the weather begins to take a turn, usually this would be a concern for me, that is up until I got my hands on ten clear umbrellas that I now keep in the trunk of my car at all times. We begin taking a walk and I start shooting, as we were heading back from my desired location, I turn around and notice sun peeking through clouds, but it was still raining. So naturally the right side of my brain goes into instant gratification as I form one specific shot in mind, but I knew I had to act quickly or my shot would be gone forever! I believe I was so siked for this shot that I couldn't even form words, my ADHD and right brain metrics didn't want to work together, so all I did was point at them and say "Go!" I ran for about ten feet behind me, crouched down, pressed the shutter, and I heard the most pleasant sound of the shutter doing it's magic, I look at the shot on the back of my camera and I wanted to do a back flip I was so siked. You will know what shot I am talking about once you scroll through all the pics.
As we continued shooting, about an hour has passed and Camille looks at me and says "This is why we chose you, you always capture personality." This was a large compliment for me because that is the one thing I work on the most, whether I have five minutes to work with you or all day, I do my best to evoke personality, after all engagement sessions are the time to showcase personality, without personality in engagements you are just looking at robots, so this was nice to hear someone say that to me in person.
The shot you see above in black and white was the last shot we took, I always try to end on a really good one, I would say this is a really good one. So lastly, a toast to Camille and Mitchell, I look forward shooting the big Wedding day, and until then stay golden!!
- T
