A fun session with Jeff and Mandy in the arboretum. Jeff took a little warming up – but once he got into it, he had a good time, or at least, that’s what he told me, after Mandy poked him in the ribs a few times I’m just glad that the dock didn’t collapse – Putah Creek does not look like a fun place for a swim, although it would probably make for some good photos… hmmmm….

I’ve been wanting to try something new with my engagement sessions, and Brooke and Mark provided the perfect opportunity. Brooke is a friend from the triathlon team, and she’s engaged to Mark, also a cyclist. I offered to take some engagement photos for them if they’d serve as my guinea pigs, and they were more than willing to oblige.

My goal was to try to catch more “natural” poses and expressions – more specifically, to show the couple interacting and bring out their personalities. Mark and Brooke were well suited to this, as they’ve got tons of personality and are a really fun couple. We walked around Davis near the Farmer’s Market, and found some cool locations – I told them where to go, and gave them a little bit of direction, but mostly let them do there own thing. I’m really pleased with the results.

More here.

Haven’t shot with Mairin in a while, so we headed out to Old Sacramento for a Railroad themed fashion shoot. Mairin’s been doing lots of shopping lately, and had some great outfits to try out. Due to the complexities of changing in the car, we ended up only using one dress, but it worked well – nice bright colors to stand out against the clutter of the train museum. While Mairin was posing on the back of the train (the first two shots below) she saw a cop walking towards us… she told me “You’ve got about 30 seconds left…” so I just kept shooting (and I’m glad I did!), until he got to us and told us to stop. He informed us that climbing on the trains was a misdemeanor offense, but we escaped without a ticket… although he kept a close eye on us the rest of the evening.

A really fun session with Jamie and Brad at McKinley park – when Jamie told me that Brad is an avid BMX racer, I encouraged him to bring his bike to the engagement session. Much to my delight, they both brought bikes – Brad on his stylin’ BMX bike and Jamie on her cute pink cruiser complete with basket. Needless to say, this made for some fun photos! Aside from the bikes, they were a fun couple to work with – easy-going, quick to smile, and just all around nice. Jamie’s mom came along to help with wardrobe changes, which was a nice bonus.