Philadelphia Engagement Shoot: Beth + Patrick

Yesterday my Fairmount Photography cohort Matt and I had the chance to spend some time getting to know Beth & Patrick, whose wedding we are shooting next weekend. We explored the area behind the Art Museum, where the photo opportunities are pretty much endless. This is one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia, because you can get a mix of naturey photos and urban photos. (Ben and I even had our own engagement portraits taken here by the wonderful CT photographer Sarah McCoy just a few weeks ago!) Beth and Patrick are very laid back and we are really looking forward to their wedding at the Japanese Tea House in Fairmount Park. Stay tuned for those photos in a few weeks.

Patrick gets a thumbs up for bring the chess board...what a perfect prop!

The photo below is a great example of why I love doing weddings and engagement photos with two photographers. I had an idea that resulted in a nice shot, which then inspired Matt to make this even better photo.

Teamwork again! While Matt was setting up the image above, I was shooting the one below. It's a great way to get more variety and capture more natural images.

The best way to do portraits...

Kevin and Jacqui didn't want to worry about having enough time for formal portraits the day of their wedding, so the day before they rented a limo and we hit a bunch of their favorite spots in Philadelphia for their portraits. The weather was perfect, and they were such a fun couple to work with. I wish we were able to spend three hours doing portraits with all our clients!

I have no self control...

Saturday we took Alex out to Cedar Beach in Allentown for his six month photos. We got the perfect glowy light, and even though it was pretty toasty outside, Alex stayed in good spirits for most of the shoot. Just when we thought he was about done, his daddy showed up and he just couldn't stop smiling and jabbering away. He's just so freaking adorable that even at the risk of boring you I just couldn't narrow down these photos any more.

What's better than a bucket hat on a baby?

Ok, a monkey might be cuter.

These next few are special requests from Alex's dad...

His beautiful mom...I guess it's easy to see why he's so good looking.

Beautiful glowy light...it was so worth chancing the cranky baby.

This is when Daddy arrived at the shoot...notice the huge smile.

We decided to end the shoot by popping him in the water. We weren't sure how he'd react, but I'm so glad we went for it because these are my favorite shots. He looks like a little Buddha...

The blue, the green, the adorable kid, I just couldn't resist. I told you, no self control.

Nephews Part III

And of course, there are the obligatory Alex photos. He was not so happy about sharing the spotlight in this shoot, so I have a lot of shots like this:

But I was able to get at least one where the boys were looking in the same direction.


I couldn't pass up this awesome sunset. Luckily Alex's mother was happy to oblige :)

Nephews Part II

Here's David's doting big brother, Danny I wasn't sure how cooperative he was going to be, since he's a kid who is always on the move, but Danny was a natural little model.