June 2011, I had the opportunity to work with this beautiful couple for their engagement shoot. Christian & I love our Weber grill, and Christina & I love our Starbucks, right off the bat I just knew we are going to have a blast on our shoot. During our initial meeting, I asked C&C what do they wish to see in their engagement photos, as I always ask my client this question — Cuz it’s not just about taking pretty pictures, it’s all about them. So Christian was hoping to get a shot of the Vancouver skyline, and Christina wanted a shot in the rain! I was so excited to hear their responses; especially Christina’s idea. So the verdict was: We are shooting rain or shine! Given we are situated in Vancouver, the chances of rain are pretty good! I crossed my fingers and sincerely was hoping for rain. Not joking.
So we decided to break the shoot down into two parts:
Day 1:
1 — Stanley Park:
- City backdrop, Vancouver Convention Center, Shaw Tower in the backdrop > Spring/Fall Look
2 — Grouse Mountain:
- Vancouver skyline, winter, romantic, cool. > Winter Look
Day 2:
3 — White Rock beach theme:
- A day on the beach with Zach, low tide, summery, sand, train track, crab. > Summer Look
Day 1: First location — Stanley Park, with the Vancouver Convention Center in the background. It was a super bright day! We all baked under the sun for a good hour!
Love black and white! This shot reminds of the A&F campaign.
Day 1: Second location — Off road excursion at Stanley Park.
Day 1: Third location — Starbucks! hallelujah! Christina had her “usual,” a grande soy caramel macchiato, and Christian had a tall white mocha. Two purposes for this pit-stop: 1 — We want to capture what a typical day would look like with Christian & Christina. 2 — We all wanted Starbucks!
Day 1: Going to our forth location via gondola: Grouse Mountain.
The stage for the world-famous Lumberjack Show
I absolutely love this shot below. It’s so real, so genuine, so romantic. It reminds me of a still shot pulled out from a romantic indie film.
People on the opposite direction going down on the lift yelled out — “keep it PG!” And that was their reaction.
One of the last shot for the day: With the Vancouver skyline in the background, per request.
Day 2: A day on the beach with Zach
Zach was like “What’s going on?” or is it “I don’t know?”
All in all, we had an amazing and unforgettable time working with Christian, Christina & Zach. And we can hardly wait to capture your wedding day.
Equipment used:
- Nikon D300
- Nikon D7000
- AF 50mm F1.8
- AF 80-200mm F2.8
- AFS 18-200 VRII
- Nikon Speedlight SB600 x 2
- A host of reflectors and diffusers