WOW this is long overdue. I’ve always wanted to blog my shoots, but apparently I’m really bad at it. I hope to get better at this as time goes on, but for right now I’m going to be quite a few months behind.
These lovebirds were brave enough to be my guinea pigs. I am so thankful that they did & I couldn’t imagine a better couple to be my first shoot.
I was hot on the heels of watching my first videos of my newly purchased Heart University online workshop & was ready for something to happen. I was ready to use these posing & editing tips, but I knew no one to test them on. Really, I didn’t want to use anyone I knew. What if I did & they hated them? Then I’m just supposed to go see them in social situations & pretend like everything is fine & dandy? No. I needed to find strangers that I could hide from if everything blew up in my face.
What better place to find strangers than those Facebook buy & sell groups? I made posts to many of those, saying that I was a hopeful photographer just needing a couple willing to get in front of my camera. Promised that they’d get the photos in return & that it’d be free, but made no promises about the quality of the photos.
Tina hopped on into this deal, saying that their backyard turned into a wonderland in winter (did I mention that it’s like, February? In Ontario? Probably not the best time to advertise for outdoor shoots, but Tina + Andrew decided to be troopers.). I was excited about not having to do the shoot at the marina or riverside park (both beautiful places in my small town right on the Ottawa River, but was fearful that this would be the only places I’d ever take photos at & wanted some diversity in this portfolio) & hoped that this would help them to be more comfortable too.
So off to a stranger’s house I went. I brought my now husband, Josh, because I had listened to waaaaay too many Crime Junkies episodes to risk it. They had a cute house & an even cuter dog.
After awkward introductions, they showed us the way to their backyard & they weren’t lying about their beautiful backyard. Andrew had shovelled a walkway & the snow around came up to my waist (mind you, I’m 5 foot 2, so I don’t know if that’s saying much). The snow ended at a creek, there was a red shed & trees & it was just beautiful.
I’m sure I started off really awkward, honestly it was a blur. What I do remember is how lovely these two people are.
You could tell how in love they were with each other, laughing & joking like best friends. Meeting at a party, Andrew found cigarettes to talk to her & seeming to never leave each other’s side since, my short time with them saw tons of teasing, joking, & seeing pieces of their love story come to life.
Of course, one of the coolest things I think is when I asked about their hobbies. You see, Andrew is part of a 90’s rock-inspired band called the Underclass Heroes. I think this is one of the most awesome things I’ve ever heard. I mean, as someone who still lives off of 90’s-early 2000’s pop-punk-rock music, this is like the dream.
Since this shoot, Tina has been one of the biggest supporters of my photography business & I will never be able to thank her enough for all she’s done & said. While I learned a lot about posing & technical aspects during & since this shoot, this shoot made it clear to me that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to hang out with rad people, get to know them, & take photos that I hoped they would love.
If you want to know more about Tina’s side of the shoot, keep reading for her review. I seriously can’t believe how kind she is & I hope that even half of what she says is true.
Thank you again, Tina & Andrew for being such wonderful guinea pigs. For being so wonderful since this shoot, & for being such great human beings in general.
“I saw Caroline make a Facebook post about starting to do couples shoots and I was hoping to get some nice photos with my husband (and dog) of the winter wonderland my backyard turns into. She was open to the idea so she agreed to do the shoot right in my backyard which was awesome.
Before she got there I was having second thoughts like why are we getting photos done, nothing exciting is going on, blah blah blah. But I’m SO glad we did!
Caroline and her fiancé came over and we started taking photos. She was fun and easy to work with! She had so many ideas for poses and would ask questions about us like our hobbies and how we met. It made us feel like we were just chatting with a friend and looking at the photos I feel like it gave us very honest moments in our photos, not posed.
I didn’t know Caroline before the photo shoot and if I could have had her for special events in my life I would have! She makes the experience so much fun and she makes you feel comfortable which definitely makes for better photos! I couldn’t have been happier with the photos she took!”
If you’re trying to get into photography & looking for couples, I can only hope that you get a couple like Tina & Andrew. They were so accommodating, understanding, & troopers in that snow, only complaining at the end when I said we were done. They also brought their dog, which is a huge plus & I’m always for that.
All my love,
Caroline Dorothy
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