I met with Evan and Eliza at St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church, where they both work as members of the Orthodox Volunteer Corps. After we talked about wedding photography possibilities, we went outside, and sought a venue where I could get some shots of them posing, or talking with one another. The ideal location might have been a park, but there were none nearby, and the light was starting to fade at the end of the day. We found a nearby street with overhanging trees, which made for a nice dark background against which they “popped.” Here are some of the results.
At first I had them pose, looking at the camera.
Then I had them talk with one another. A charming couple!
I had an idea, something I picked up from shooting my wife and our daughter in conversation: use the Lensbaby Spark lens to show one person in focus, and the other not, and then reverse the focus, all the while bringing them closer together. The black and white simplifies things artistically.
Then I switched to the Velvet 56 lens. I asked them to come together gradually and just touch noses. (If you ask people to kiss, it can get awkward, as many of us don’t want an audience when we kiss our beloved. I know I would hate it.) It worked! There was shyness, warmth, and laughter — and great images, IMHO.
I created a montage of the images, toning some of them with a warm or cool tone.
I have put up a gallery of the images under “Client and Other Galleries.”