Lauren and Andrew: Fearless!
I'm about to blow my whole "gonna keep these posts short in order to catch up" promise right out of the water. I'm so excited about these pictures and just couldn't narrow down the ones I wanted to share on the blog. Lauren and Andrew are just too gorgeous and too in love, not to mention one of my favorite couples ever, to cut it short. You may remember a few posts back my offer of a free "Fearless Bridal" session to the first three brides who responded. (The Fearless Bridal concept is less extreme than "trashing the dress.") Lauren was one of the first brides to call, much to my delight -- she is so much fun and so easy to photograph! On the day of the session, we met first in downtown Apex, just wandering around looking for great places to shoot. I found this wall in a back alley, really liked the blue and thought it would make a great background. Typically I try to stay out of back alleys, but sometimes it's worth it! :)
Lauren and Andrew had already done some location scouting for me, so next we headed to the Historic Society building to use the cool red caboose that sits next to the railroad tracks. Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers and I love to use them in sessions. I really like how they pop off the red of the caboose.
There was no way I could be so close to the railroad tracks and not make use of them, so we ventured out for some shots. After a bit, we heard the train whistle way off in the distance. The whistle kept getting closer and closer, but a by-passer assured us the train was still a way off, so I kept shooting. Soon we noticed people pulling up to the railroad crossing and getting out of their cars. Apparently, watching the train go by is a big night out in Apex! I fired off one last shot:
And then we saw this:
Did I mention I call this "Fearless Bridal"? Well, there's why.
Next to the railroad tracks, we found some great locations behind the businesses lining Main Street.
You can tell a lot about how comfortable someone is by what they're doing with their hands. And I love the hot pink nails!
Recipe for a cool image: Take a brick building with teal trim and burgundy railings (nicely run-down), lots of cool lines, add in great light bouncing up off the pavement and a couple of gorgeous newlyweds. Don't forget the sunflowers. Love it!
Now for my favorite part of the shoot. Andrew found this awesome open field of green grass that was the perfect height. The field was slated to be plowed over in a few weeks to make way for a subdivision (if you live in Wake County, this will come as no surprise to you.) The light was perfect, soft and golden:
Check it out. I can never remember if this baby is an H1 or an H2. Somebody help me out. And yes, I caught a ride. Quite a different experience from my little Forrester.
The image below is one of my all-time favorites. Definitely in my top ten. Thank you, Lauren and Andrew!
Just a little sun-flare...
One of the sunflowers bit the dust, so we used it to show off the rings:
I use Doug Boutwell's Totally Rad Photoshop actions quite a bit when I'm processing and love the look they give to my images. Some of my favorites are "Antique Tone", "Technicolor Dream World" and "Warm It Up Kris." I used "Prettyizer" on the following image. Doug must have fun coming up with names for his actions.
The light was fading very quickly, but we were able to grab a few more shots before it was completely gone. I processed the great majority of the images in the field in color just because of all the variations in green, yellow and brown in the grass, but I also really like the monochromatic feel of the next one and the black and white below it.
Lauren was so patient with me while I worked on these images in between all the weddings, engagement sessions and bridal portraits I've done this Spring. Here's what she wrote when I sent her the link to the slide show:
"You HAVE to know I woke up, was 1/2 asleep, checked my email and literally bounced up and down when I got your email and made Andrew wake up an HOUR early (trust me, that's hard to do) to view the images with me! I am so excited!! I love them ALL! Awesome job!" Happily, she reports that her dress wasn't too dirty -- definitely not trashed. Mission accomplished.
To have the luxury of time -- which is what it takes to get images like this -- on the wedding day is rare. It's a good day if I get 10 minutes of 'couple time' between the ceremony and reception. Lauren, Andrew and I spent over two hours on this session. That's why I'm hoping more couples will consider a Fearless Bridal session after the wedding. Lauren said, "I was able to feel the excitement of wearing my wedding dress again but in a less paranoid sense. It was actually fun getting it a little dirty! The pictures capture our delight in being carefree and the love that we have for one another. It was so relaxed...I feel like it shows in our pictures. We were just us."
To see more images from Lauren and Andrew's Fearless Bridal session, click here.
