This Weekend: Engagement Workshop and Senior Portrait Session

Starting this morning, I will be hosting an engagement/bridal workshop! About four couples and two former brides' whose weddings I shot will be modeling for me and about a dozen of my photography colleagues from the Mile High DPS Social Group and in the Mile High Photographers organization. You may remember the site as the secret garden inside the DU campus where I and my assistants took formal portraits of my last wedding couple, Peter and Harriet seen here:
Image courtesy of Paul Martin for Picture Your World Photography

I got this idea a few months ago to invite the brides I have shot to model their fabulous dresses so I could experiment with some illustrative, magazine style bridal portraits in a lush setting. All of the portraits of brides I've shot in the past have been during stressful times, usually sometime after the bride shimmies into her dress right before the ceremony. I had one session with a bride where I shot her in studio, but this will be the first time I get to relax and try out some lighting arrangements I've been researching without the pressure of wedding coverage weighing me down.

Taken by me while driving in the limo to the wedding

When a colleague told me he had a couple who needed engagement shots as well, we came up with the idea of having several more couples come to get shot as well, turning the shoot into a morning workshop. At first I was worried that we would have more models than photographers. But now we have plenty of shooters who need these kinds of shots for their port. Each bride or couple will be divided among a group of 2-3 photogs who will work with them for about 30 minutes, then we will switch so that each photographer has a chance to shoot all of the models. Afterwards, each photographer has pledged to give three free, unwatermarked images to the models, trading their time for prints. I will have the photogs email me the images and upload them to a private gallery on my website where the models can download originals from there.


Then, later that afternoon, I will be shooting a senior portrait session in downtown Denver. Jordan, 17, and his mother Monique, are one of the first people book a special discounted senior session I started advertising this week. The promotion includes a quick hour-long session with two 8x10s, four 5x7s, a strip of wallets and of course the yearbook image for just $150.

Jordan is an adventurous teen and he will be the first I've photographed with a prop -- his violin! He wants his shots to be urban, edgy and fun with interesting tilts and angled shots. He's definitely interested in doing some modeling, so the photos he chooses from this session could also be the start of his very own modeling portfolio.