Wheeling Waterfront Engagement Session

Happy Friday, everyone!  I’ve got another couple for you to meet!  Everyone, please give your warmest Hannah Barlow Photography welcome to Kayla and Zach!  They are the newest couple on the blog and their Wheeling Waterfront Engagement Session was so special!  Enjoy!

I remember when I was a new photographer.  Others told me I needed to find my “target market”.  They said I needed to only post my best stuff and weddings that fit my style and taste.  Going off this theory, only clients who are a “perfect fit” for you will book you!  If you’re one of my loyal blog readers, you’ve heard this spiel before.  And you probably all know that I refused to abide by those “rules”.  Well, it was after last night that I had a light bulb moment and I thought, “Holy crap!! It happened!”.  That’s right.  Session after session and wedding after wedding for the past year or two…I keep leaving feeling so happy and so glad that amazing people keep hiring me.  I’ve felt more and more like I just “click” with my couples anymore.  So, last night after photographing these two, I thought “Well, holy crap!! It happened…I’m consistently booking couples that feel just perfect!”  So, it really has nothing to do with their weddings or style or anything like that.  Nope.   It’s a personality thing for me!  I just feel like the couples that are the best fit for my crazy personality and style of shooting/posing have found me!  We’ve landed!  AND with that being said, this particular couple got WAY too much technical photography knowledge last night…which made me laugh!  I never get all techy on people but our conversations just kept pushing me in that direction!  More on that later!! For now, back to their engagement session!  Color…black and white…I loved it all with this gallery!

These two have a story that starts at pre-school.  THAT IS RIGHT.  They even have a photo together from 1996…and I think ALL the Hannah Barlow Photography blog readers need to see that.  Yep.  Definitely!  So, someone better dig that baby up right now and I’ll paste it below! HA!  In all seriousness though, I love this story so much and the fact that their “relationship” TECHNICALLY grew from pre-school on!  It wasn’t until high school that they started dating though.  So yea…they were together 11 years before they got engaged! CRAZY, right?!

AND speaking of that engagement…Zach popped the question the day/night they closed on their home.  They were walking through and taking everything in…and they both thought the home was perfect.  That’s right…Kayla was even excited about the blinds.  I once decorated my WHOLE kitchen around a tea towel…for real! I GET IT!  So, while Zach went on about how much he loved Kayla in preparation to pop the question…Kayla went on and on about how much she loved the…blinds! HA!  I love it so much!  Once he got her on the same page, he popped the question…and guess what?!  She said “yes”, of course!

We had so much fun galavanting around the waterfront.  It had rained yesterday…SURPRISE…but that BRIGHT sun popped right out in time for this session…which tested ALL my skills.  It all worked out though because I was able to give them a full gallery with ALL the kinds of light and all the kinds of variety a wedding photographer is able to create!  These two are super easy to photograph too and Zach told me from the get go that he didn’t necessarily mind having his picture taken but wanted me to guide him…well, you found the right photographer!  In reality, they didn’t need any help.  I just told them to stand together and they easily moved through the poses…and it just worked!

Walking and snuggling was a must…I even photoshopped out the dreaded goose poo!

I mean…NO ONE can be perfect!  They came REAL close but when they got to the snuggle part…we ALL had a great laugh!  And somehow…I still love all of these SO much.

…but when they snuggled in place…it was perfect too ANDDDDDD this was the moment I felt like I knew Zach.  Or maybe he was in a bridal party…or maybe I know these two from another weddings  They deny ALL of those things but Zach knew EXACTLY what the shoulder sniff was…and he knew exactly how to nuzzle…and he knew exactly what I needed him to do and when to do it.  HmmmMmMMM…..something is fishy here! HA!  It was like he had read the Hannah Barlow Photography posing book (if there was such a thing) and Kayla…well, she just rolled with it all and it was perfect!

Golden hour was turning into blue hour and we just kept on shooting.  The session at this point had run over about 20 minutes at this point (I plan my sessions around sunset) and I just kept on holding them hostage and taking more…and more…and more photos!  Once I got in my car, I realized I had kept them from dinner…whoops!! Sorry, you two! I was too excited!

The inspiration for this session was one of my wedding blogs.  I had done the wedding photos last fall in this location so I wanted to make sure to end the session with the bridges in the background (because that’s something Kayla had mentioned when we were planning this).  It’s kind of neat.  I don’t know that I’ve ever started AND ended photos in the same place. AHHHHHH!! I love when it comes full circle!

That’s it!  These two will be getting married next June at Oglebay!! WOOOOO!! I have SO many Oglebay weddings coming up!  They are planning a simple wedding with friends and family.  If their guests are as sweet as them, their blog is going to be SO long!  SOOOO LONG!  They take a GOOD picture, don’t they?!

…and yea…I gave them ALL The techy knowledge they probably didn’t care about.  Kayla’s still deciding on what shade of green she wants to use for her wedding.  She even had her “models” wear sample dresses and stand in front of greenery outside…and stone…and I wanted to grab her and hug her RIGHT there for being so detail oriented.  But…COVID 19 and all that…so I didn’t.  I had told her in an email that sometimes green “blends” with the background so she was sure to test it all out.  And I’m going to play with the color samples she choose in photoshop too!  I want to make sure that whatever color she chooses looks perfect in her photos!  And while I’m chatting about all this and while you’re probably wondering, “why…why is she telling us this?”…it’s because green is a BIG deal in photography.  You can pretty much tell one photographer from another by their “greens”…and I’m going to show you below what exactly I mean.  Green grass actually has more yellow than green and the photos straight out of the camera are neon…and I just can’t have that.  Nope…no way!  No chartreuse in my photos!! NO WAY!

 

 

You see it now?  I strip that yellow RIGHT out!  Yep!  And now I’m off to play with her color swatches so I have a game plan a year in advance…because I’m a crazy person, ya know!?  Also…paranoid…HA!  I want them to be PERFECT!  Yep!! I’ll do just about anything for my couples…especially a couple like this!  I hope Kayla becomes one of those brides that starts to title her emails “Me again…” because I’m already loving the vibes of these two and their wedding SO MUCH!  Happy Friday!! I’m off to a wedding tomorrow!  Thanks for reading!