Posts tagged City | Page 10 of 13 | Columbus Wedding Photographer

Carlene & Arlo – Rock n’ Rollers Downtown Cleveland Engagement

Carlene and Arlo are real rock n’ rollers. They first met at a concert benefiting a friend at the House of Blues Cleveland. Like so many love songs say, things started with a bang. Now, they are planning their upcoming wedding, conveniently also at the House of Blues.

I actually know Carlene from a prior wedding. I met her first as a bridesmaid in her cousin’s wedding. She made the entire day A.W.E.S.O.M.E. It was such an amazing wedding, simply made better by Carlene’s amazing sense of humor and bright personality. For the same reasons, her engagement session was also that much better. We lucked out an had amazing weather, despite the early March session. To match well with their upcoming wedding, we chose a city-scape theme, highlighting some great areas around downtown Cleveland.

Being huge music fans, we had to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for Carlene and Arlo. With the warm weather, we were even able to spend some time by the lake shore. I recommend to clients that they plan something special for the evening after their engagement session. “Do you have anything special planned for this evening,” I asked. Carlene replied with the expected – “We’re going to see a concert at the House of Blues!”

Below are just a few highlights from this amazingly fun engagement session, all caught on film.

Crisp winter dowtown engagement session with Carlene and Arlo. Crisp winter dowtown engagement session with Carlene and Arlo.

I love the broad scene caught above. It’s the only frame shot digitally. For the photographers lurking about, the rest are all Fuji 400h (even the B&W) shot on a Contax 645. That’s all for today. More to come soon.

Vanessa & Ryan – Wild Weather Engagement Session in Cleveland

Sometimes you just can’t catch a break – literally. As I drove away from the office to meet Vanessa and Ryan for their engagement session in downtown Cleveland, I thought we might catch a break in the weather. It had been raining on and off all morning, but it looked like the weather was clearing. The sun was even shining by the time we started the session. Little did we know, the break in the weather wouldn’t last.

Vanessa and Ryan wanted a mix of urban and pastoral landscapes for their session. The sun was shining and it was a little warm as we started their session along the river in downtown. We chatted about their upcoming destination wedding in Mexico as we moved from location to location. Before long, things started to get a little cloudy. We were flexible though, and worked around the rain. We stopped by a couple sheltered, but outdoor locations so that we could keep the fun going.

As the cold and harder rain moved in, we decided to bag the session for the day. Sometimes you just have to know when to call it quits. We had wrapped up the urban locations, but had yet to capture the more pastoral photos. Instead of fighting the rain, we simply agreed to start fresh on another day. Before breaking, we got everything scheduled and we were off.

A couple weeks later, we met up again, this time in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The park is a personal favorite of mine. Both Vanessa and Ryan were in awesome new outfits and I had my film cameras ready to go. Then it happened AGAIN – rain! It was a light sprinkle, but it was definitely rainy. No worries though – we got what we needed. I had suggested the park because it has sheltered locations in case of rain. In the end, everything still turned out beautifully, thanks to some flexibility. Below are my personal favorites. It was hard to choose, as Vanessa and Ryan naturally look amazing together.

Wild weather engagement session in Cleveland with Vanessa and Ryan

Despite the session(s), I love how everything turned out. By now, Vanessa and Ryan are off to their wedding in Mexico, if not already back. While the engagement session may have been a bit rainy, I’m sure their wedding was gorgeous.

Samantha & Scott – Baldwin-Wallace University Engagement Session

You ever have one of those days where everything seems to go perfectly? Your favorite music is on the radio. You just happen to catch every green light. Even the weather is gorgeous. It just seems like this was one of those days. I was planning to meet Samantha and Scott at Baldwin-Wallace University for their engagement session. I was really early because of that whole green light thing. Finding the Beastie Boys on the radio set me in a great mood. It was warm and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Then along came Samantha & Scott – looking perfect and happy.

That morning I had decided Samantha and Scott’s engagement session would be a film-only session. This makes little difference to my clients. The outcome can be pretty similar. But using film inspires me. I love the brightness, colors, and quality. Film makes me work that much harder, and this was the perfect session for it. Each frame must be seriously earned, because I can’t just snap away. Patience and planning become the skill. Sure I brought the digital camera, but mostly so I could show some samples to Samantha & Scott.

As we wondered around the campus, they told me a little about how they had met. I think Samantha knew of Scott, and then they happened to share a nutrition class. Maybe it was PhysEd. At any rate, he caught her eye first. Before long, she had caught his as well. They are both very athletic people. Scott played sports for Baldwin-Wallace and has since gone on to become trainer in baseball. Unfortunately, this means Samantha and Scott now live on separate ends of the country. You can tell that the extra distance makes time together that much richer. Because the session was a special event, we made sure to stop by some favorite locations – the training facility, the place where they had their first date, and over by the lake.

Even more exciting is their upcoming wedding. They’ve picked an amazing location, and one of my personal favorites. I’m certainly looking forward to it. Now, the film –

Film engagement session at Baldwin-Wallace University featuring Samantha and Scott