Sometimes couples don’t realize the Engagement Session is an important part of the experience for the couple as well as the Photographer. It allows a stress-free, dry-run to get comfortable with each other before your wedding day. When you really think about it, I usually arrive at your wedding while you are still in the process of dressing, so it is very helpful to be comfortable with the Photographer before the wedding day festivities begin. Fortunately for me, it’s easy for women to relate and get comfortable with each other quickly, and I soon feel like “one of the girls!” I suppose it also helps that I love weddings, and it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in the excitement of the day that just bubbles over the morning of the wedding!

In addition to the “practice” element of the Engagement Session, this is likely one of the only times you will have a Professional Photographer at your disposal to capture your lifestyles and who you really are. This is a snapshot of you, right now, as you are. The session always provides amazing photos that are likely to be cherished by you both, your friends, and especially by family. Enough of my reasons to have Engagement Photography done, on to the photos!

Portraiture seems to be a bit of a lost art. Well, maybe not a lost art, but an overlooked art perhaps. Not many people in my general age group take the time to have their portrait taken, and I feel that’s just too bad! For the record: I consider a Portrait to be a snapshot of a person, of who they really are at a particular point in time. I remember every year around Christmas, my mom, dad, sister and I would go to Olan Mills and take a family portrait. In addition to the photo of our whole family, there was always an individual picture of each of us. I’m sure my grandparents enjoyed getting a photo each year of all of us! Although sometimes it’s awkward to look back and see how terrible my teenage years were (physically and emotionally speaking…braces, face fat, unkempt eyebrows, and acne are not a good combination), I’m so glad that there is a record of each time in my life. It is the record of the hardest times of my life that let me know how far I’ve come, and how far I still want to go. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage people to take the time to have themselves, their lives, documented as they are now, because I promise that ten years from now you will be thankful for having something to look back on. Until you get your own portraits done, enjoy these highlights from Erin Elizabeth Photography’s Portraits of 2009!