Engagement Photography Shoot

Lee & Nia in Dublin, Ireland

Hello there, dp here – I have just taken a quick 10 minutes to choose a few of my favorites from the photo session I had yesterday.  In a few weeks time I am shooting the wedding of Nia and Lee, a smashing couple from Ireland.  When Nia originally booked me I was living and based out of Pembrokeshire in West Wales so jumped at the chance of doing an engagement shoot in Ireland – just a 3 hour ride on the ferry from my house.

Since then as you know (if your a regular visitor)  I am now based just outside of Worcester in the West Midlands and class myself as a Birmingham Wedding Photographer so had to decide if I was going to drive to Pembrokeshire and catch the ferry or fly – I decided to fly.  I had a quick look into flying from Birmingham and found that Air Lingus fly out of BHX – The cost of the ticket (return trip) was less than what it would have cost me to drive to Pembrokeshire and back let alone the cost of the ferry.  Air Lingus were amazing (the first but not the last time I use them) – the flight time was 40 minutes and I arrived in Dublin and back at Birmingham Airport bang on time – 10/10 for Air Lingus.

Anyway so I arrived in Dublin and was met by a very happy looking Nia as Lee was waiting outside in the car to stop it being towed away  after a big hug we set off to our first location.  I always let couples know that engagement shoots are a great way to get to know each other and it worked out just like that this trip, it will make for much better wedding photos as we talked about the wedding most of the day.  I also know the guys now so they are so much more relaxed   I also point out that the first hour of the shoot is more a getting used to each other and that I dont expect many good shots as its just about getting used to each other as I said.

So after the first 10 minutes we pull this shot of the camera

Naturally I was pretty pleased.  This shot took about 3 or 4 minutes to get right as there are 2 off camera lights lighting the guys, Lee the good sport he is had to remove his outer top as it was casting a shadow on his face but did so without any complaints what so ever.  This was pretty much the tone for the whole day, Nia and Lee trusted me to do what I do best, went with the flow and would jump out into traffic and kiss and cuddle if I asked (which I didand never questioned me once.

I am only going to post a few pics in the sneak peek today as I want to keep a few secrets for the album – Oh, I forgot to say – the purpose of the shoot was to produce an engagement album for the wedding which will be used as a signing book – to see an example of this visit my Storybook wedding albums page on my wedding photography website.

I am guessing we walked for MILES yesterday 5 – 7 is my guess but the little fat boy (thats me) did good and kept up.

I don’t plan much of a shoot before hand for engagement shoots because they are led pretty much by what happens on the day.  At one point we were walking and talking around the lake when I spotted a clearing in the trees and as the light was coming in from behind the couple it made for a fabulous looking photo – this is the kind of spontaneous shots that just happen when you walk around and let the day just unfold.

I like Engagement shoots to be all about the couple and about love and I was very happy to see that these guys are very much in love and didnt mind showing it off at all – We had a bit of an audience for the next shot and they seemed intrigued that I would be lying on the floor to take the photo, the ground was not that wet !

This shot was quickly followed by this nice little romantic shot

Because the grounds of the the location were were shooting was open to the public there were times and places that people would be in the shots in the background, I have always found the easiest way of dealing with this to be nice and just ask them to move– But do it with a smile on your face – well the water fall shot (not the big waterfall shots) there were a lot of poeple around so I asked them to move and quickly snapped this picture.  After this I got the group of friends together and using their camera took a few pictures of the whole group – normally someone has to be missed off the shot – this made them very happy and they totally forgot about being asked to move – simples !

So after we finished our first session, we had a break and went into Dublin itself – OOOOPS we hadnt planned on the Rugby match – Dublin was heaving !!!! – We stopped for a bite to eat which I had planned on being my treat but Nia and Lee would not hear of it (Irish Hospitality) and naturally I had to have a glass of the black stuff – OH IT WAS SO GOOD.  After lunch we shot a few more shots around Dublin itself but with the crowds and having to get back to the airport we were pretty limited as to what we could come up with, we still got some amazing shots however such as this one !

All in all a FANTASTIC day was had by all – Lee and Nia were GREAT FUN and I hope had a good day, we got some amazing photos, and I even managed to chill out on my flight back home although it was a lady pilot and a lady co pilot !

Hope you like the sneak peek of my flying visit to Dublin.

More soon,

ciao

dp

David Purslow
Wedding Photographer
http://www.davidpurslow.com
01299 250114
0759 007 6666