I got my start as a photographer/writer working for a newspaper in Hawaii many years ago. My very first boss was a curmudgeonly, former-infantry public affairs chief named Rhys Evans. Gunnery Sergeant Evans was kindof an intensely terrifying man for me as a young Marine and super-inexperienced photojournalist. The more I got to know him, though, the more I learned what a great leader he was and why he treated us the way he did. He rode us really hard, but he only did so out of a genuine love and with a hope to mold what he knew we all could become as story-tellers.

Gunny Evans' biggest single pet peeve that I recall was one of us having the nerve to tell him that there was nothing to write about if we were assigned to go, "find a story." He would get all bright red and apoplectic and launch into this diatribe about how every single person in the Navy and Marine Corps had a story that not only could be told - but SHOULD be told and if we couldn't find a story it was because we were lacking as human beings (except maybe the Gunny's language wasn't quite so genteel).

The reason I'm reminded of him this morning is because Phil, our soon-to-be-groom from this engagement shoot is a fantastic newspaper writer and it was really cool to connect with him and Lynn. You see, every single couple we shoot has a story. Every couple has MANY stories. For us it's not about "insert couple A into pose/situation B." We really do feel like we have a responsibility to figure a couple out through photography and make sure they have photos that remind them of themselves and the love they're committing a lifetime to.

Today's story (and I'm sorry if that's cheesy - it's just how I feel :) ) was told over the weekend in historic, downtown Lewiston, and we're pretty proud of this set.

We love to shoot first thing in the morning or right before the sun sets -- the light then is just gorgeous, soft and perfect. So, when we mentioned that to Lynn, she immediately agreed to an 8 a.m. weekend shoot. (which, really, doesn't happen - almost everyone goes for the evening or middle of the day shot) So, it was really fun for us to play with the light that we rarely get to play with with our couples.

Perfect example of that light is this set - my favorite of Rich's, hands down... and nice removal of the newspaper boxes, babe. :)

You noticed I did that?!?! Man, my clone-tool skills are usually much more stealthy. Now you're going to make me go back over it again...but you just can't have bright red and yellow newspaper boxes distracting from Lynn and Phil (is there some superior irony there? - photojournalists working digitally to remove print newspapers? That might be deep)...though I don't know how you could look anywhere else in the frame but at the couple. This was taken 5 minutes into our shoot and they were already tearing it up. Other than taking out the boxes - the photo has ZERO re-touching. Sometimes shots just need to be left alone the way you shot them.

You guys (all three of you) are adorable.

Thank you! And I appreciate you just telling me I'm adorable without mentioning you photoshopped my gut out, like the last time you took my picture. Humph. Anyway, no, I didn't notice the boxes being removed in the photo - I saw the before and after on the computer, and you did a great job. Here's a photo I took in the sequence I was shooting above...

Yep - four years into the marriage and I still have no clue when to keep my mouth shut. Subject change time...Hey look, John Candy! Anyway, we stopped for a minute in front of the Irish pub on Center St. because of its awesome paint job.

Our first date after we had Murphy was at that restaurant. I still remember how weird it was to be away from him, and how we rushed back... now, as we're tying this post, we were making noodle necklaces and he started eating the raw noodles and threw a fit because we tried to take away the raw, apparently delicious, noodles, and I wonder why we didn't spend more time at that restaurant... :)

This shot is really cool, Alyssa. Have I told you lately how much I learn from working with you every day?

You're making me blush! Thank you - I really like how ridiculously serene she looks.

One of my favorites of the day... You can never go wrong with an awesomely painted picnic table in the middle of the woods...

These were all shot at Art Park, by the way. It was pretty cold, but by this point we were all either totally used to it or completely frozen - I'm not sure which. I tend to completely zone out when I'm shooting as far as weather, etc. And, by the way - STOP IT WINTER. STOP IT. IT'S APRIL THIS WEEK.

Can I just say what a great poser Lynn is?! Seriously, at one point she was moving around and Phil started laughing, so I asked her what she said. She told me she'd practice in the mirror the night before to see what was her best angle! I love her! Seriously, we do this casual posing thing that sometimes becomes a bit more posed than casual, but we rarely even semi-posed Phil and Lynn. They just fit together so perfectly, and sometimes people just get it (it being getting their picture taken), and Lynn totally did. Perfection!!

This would be where Rich mocked me for having our couples hold hands and which is TOTALLY not what I was going to have them do (ahem), so I had them rock out the giant, cement couches. Sweet!

It wasn't mocking - and far be it from me to tell ANYONE to not shoot something, least of all your bad-ass self - but I really needed to do something else right that minute. The funny part? I was like, Alyssa - can you do this tilt-shift, double shot I want to do? So, not only did I stop you from doing one thing, I asked you to do another....so, I promise I won't ever do that again - but the shot(s) came out awesome together!

Okay - so this shot was on our, "hike." Alyssa, as you know from reading our blog, always remembers little, cool places to stick couples that she's filed away for later use. We call it our "visual notebook." Unfortunately, sometimes Alyssa remembers some things that MAYBE aren't exactly where she thought they were....or exist at all...but we found some killer spots anyway :).

Okay, Lynn and Phil and Rich are all transplants to WNY. So, I remember going to Art Park as a kid and there being this covered, raised, wooden walkway where you could paint on the easels below it, and I think potter's wheels. I remember a glass blowing demo there one year, and I remember making paper on the covered wood walkway... Seriously, I'm not hallucinating, am I?? Does anyone else remember it being like that? Instead, we found a really windy road. So, we stopped by this area, and I just read Annie Leibovitz's latest book, and I really wanted to do something similar to that blueish-grey toned look she always seems to rock in her photos.

(Okay, Rich just said, "Holy Crap, Alyssa, don't compare our work to Annie Leibovitz!!!" To clarify - I'm not, but I love the blueish tone on her, say, Miley Cyrus photo or the Vanity Fair cover with Scarlett Johanson, and I was trying to get that cold, blueish feel)

We do foreground/background shots a lot, and I dig how this one came out. Hey - it's the bride's day, no one denies this - but the groom is an equal part of all this and it's important we show him some love, too.

The other of my favorites from the day!

These were all Lynn and Phil next to this random shed that has some kind of kiln in it - great light...

This shot feels so different from what we usually shoot, but I decided to include it for the blog post, because there's something I love about it - the lighting and the pose and the location just worked for me.

Phil was like, don't you want me in this photo? Sorry Phil! Lynn wore a bright red coat and you were in guy wear (brown), so it had to be adorable Lynn portrait time.

Hey - unless we're in our black suits for a wedding shoot, all I wear is "white guy brown!" That's like our uniform.

Lynn has a really cool ring with some fun elements, but we're going to save a rad ring shot for their wedding blog post later this year...and feature the random chess table we were using as a backdrop. It IS still cold in Buffalo, but the end is near, the end is near...

Thanks, as always, must go to another one of our incredible couples. We love what we do not because we love photography - but because we love working with couples like Lynn and to try and tell their stories (You like how I rambled and rambled up top and then just remembered I was supposed to be making some self-important statement about documentary-style photography? Yeah...). Lynn and Phil - we are so happy to have gotten to know you better and we can't wait to see you on your wedding day :).

We don't really do engagement shoots in two parts unless the weather really, really, really kicks our collective butt, which is exactly what happened with Keith and Stacy when we first go together with them...last year. It was a rainy, nasty and horribly cold day so we took a few photographs and then decided to postpone for a re-shoot. It took a while to get our schedules matched back up (and for the weather to get a little warmer), but this weekend we got to shoot with them again...

These are a handful from our first shoot, taken in back of the Erie County Historical Society to try and stay covered and dry before we gave up. You're going to notice a few things about Stacy - she is not only really, really vibrant in photographs (man, is she going to be fun to shoot on her wedding day!) but she is constantly cracking up...

Yeah, when I was selecting blog images, I started questioning my choices... I love showing couples in love and romantic, wistful images, but almost all the images I picked for this post were really fun, because I can't resist Stacy's smile. Seriously killer!

It was funny looking through both the photo shoots -- Stacy and Keith looked so happy and vibrant that I completely forgot it was so unforgivingly cold and wet we had to stop shooting. And when I was looking through the photos this weekend, I got toward the end of the shoot and was wondering what these little white dots were all over the photos - yeah, it was snow. But, again, they were so amazing in front of the camera that I'd completely forgotten it was a pretty nasty day again!

When we got together this weekend, Stacy and Keith suggested we shoot down at the Marina. For those of you paying attention, that was two photo shoots two days apart at the same place. I like to think our photos are as individual as our couples, but I was nervous about the shoots looking similar. After all, since we'd been there the day before, all the things that worked well were going to be fresh in our brains, and I didn't want to repeat shots. So, I made a concerted effort to come up with completely different stuff, and instead of being nervous about the shoot, I really looked forward to the challenge of doing something completely different (like the opening shot to this post was in the same crazy observation tower). It ended up being a blast.

We do shoot a ton, and it's really important to us that we keep from being repetitive. That said, every couple we work with is completely unique and has their own incredible story of how they came to be together and in love. I think, for the most part, just letting a couple get relaxed in front of our lenses and taking what moments are offered to us is how we do our best work. You can always tell when a smile is forced or a tender moment is completely orchestrated and that just wouldn't be what a couple like Keith and Stacy are all about.

I really do like shooting around the naval park downtown...but it would be really cool if maybe the city hadn't hired the Taliban to do the demolition on the Aud.

Yeah, it does look crazy - I wish we had gotten in on the seat purchasing. "Hello, welcome to our studio, have a seat in our row of old Aud chairs." Sweet! So, have I mentioned how much I love a couple who laugh together? And I love when my lame, lame jokes find an audience! I'm so funny. Hello open mic night!

I love the blue of these windows!

You are hilarious, my love. Most of our humor is either super self-deprecating or a little dry, so I really appreciate a couple who laughs along. We decided to give Woodlawn Beach a shot for a few more photos before Keith and Stacy had to head to something like 13 straight hours of Pre-Cana. The beach itself looks kindof like a landfill right now, but we always dig this pathway down to the lake.

So, we get down to the beach, and there is this totally windswept dune that I totally NEEDED to have Keith and Stacy on. Apparently walking up a sand dune in heals isn't the most easy thing in the world. :)

Favorite alert! I absolutely love, love, love this shot!

Hey - it made for a really pretty photograph!

I saw this on a tree we were shooting on and around and felt it was appropriate...I'm kindof superstitious, so hopefully this is a sign of good luck for Keith and Stacy :).

By the end of the shoot it was sleeting/raining (slaining?) and the sky got super overcast. We took a few shots by the train tracks to no where at Woodlawn and called it a wrap. Stacy. Keith. Thank you so much for bearing with us on TWO less than stellar weather days and doing it with huge smiles on your faces. It's humbling to have clients who trust us as much as you guys do, and if I have to borrow some of those crazy rockets the Chinese used during the Olympics - it WILL NOT PRECIPITATE on your wedding day.

Our second engagement photography shoot of the weekend was equally awesome. As the weather warms up (well, okay - relatively speaking) we're spending more and more time shooting down by the water. The Erie Basin Marina is a great place to start off with a couple.

You see, most of our clients have never hired a photographer (much less two) before or been shot professionally. We really appreciate that and try to keep things pretty loose and relaxed as we shoot these semi-posed type photo sessions. It can be completely unnerving to have a camera pointed at you. I pretty much hate having my picture taken and, ironically, I wouldn't have the first clue as to what I should do in FRONT of a camera if I was asked to pose. The "shoot" where we were photographing these little "head talk bubble" things for our website almost ended in marital counseling.

So, having a fun place to start out where you do have some ideas ready to go can definitely ease into a shoot and help out couples get the hang of what we're doing with them. Jessica and Chad were a perfect example of things developing over the course of a photo shoot. We really, really enjoyed this shoot.

These were all taken up in that crazy rocket-ship-loooking observation tower. (I just saw this frickin' awesome t-shirt BfloTees does of the tower: RocketShip Tee. I want one immediately.) Anyway, while we were up there, we took pretty much the exact same shot at the exact same time, just a totally different composition at pretty much the same focal length.

You do have some pretty ridiculous t-shirts, so it would fit in, I think. My personal favorite is the silhouette of Marshawn's head with the gold teeth. You can never go wrong with that. Anyway, there is a very, very tiny beach at the Marina, and over the course of the winter it was littered with all these gorgeous pieces of drift wood, so clearly I made Jessica and Chad wander out onto the rocks to take some shots. I loved how overcast the sky was - nothing to distract you from Jessica and Chad being adorable.

Huh, this is out of order, Rich. I can see how you'd not realize this was taken with the other observation tower stuff...

And who has got two thumbs and is too lazy to reorder the blog images now? (and I'm pointing my thumbs at YOU, Alyssa). I get no respect.

Okay - here's yet another great example of why I need to update your life insurance policy. Just about every shoot Alyssa will do something totally unwise while getting a cool shot...

I was clearly at least 8 inches from the lake. You worry too much. Besides, I would've missed this! So cute!

So, I pass this church with these ridiculously amazing wood doors all the time. They look like carriage house doors, and I totally wanted to go play in front of them.. except I may have forgotten where, exactly, they were. Instead we wandered passed the really cool terra cotta tile building.

Yeah, nothing builds rapport with clients like a five-block walk to find doors :). We DID see the doors a couple days later, though...and I was WRONG about where they were, too, okay? Here it is in print, on the blog: I was wrong. Mea Culpa.

Wow. This shot is totally awesome, Alyssa.

Thanks! (And Jessica and Chad, the doors WERE one more block down!) So, Jessica and Chad like boating and spend a bit of time at the small boat harbor, so we headed over, but in the middle of, uh, Spring, with all the boats out of the water, we clearly wanted to just play with the docks. I loved how this one was missing planks (I just want to say it was safe - I really would never would put our couples in jeopardy! I may suggest some seemingly stupid things, but I would never, ever risk our couples falling into the icy lake!).

This one might be my favorite... I love how they just pop off the blue wood.

We try to keep every shoot as unique as the couples who choose us to shoot their weddings - but we DO have some things we do more regularly to keep the shoot moving and fun....like the "jumping" shot, for instance.

Whoops - here's another totally out-of-order shot from back at the marina...

This one is definitely my favorite of yours -- it came out fantastic! (And they're all out of order! I don't know who you think you're fooling!!)

Here's our random bait shop photo-shoot. Jessica and Chad, you guys look great!

I love this!

So, we did quite a bit with Jessica and Chad, and since we were over at the small boat harbor already, we decided to pop into Tifft for a couple minutes to take some quick nature-y shots. The light was really, really fabulous, and I totally lied. I forgot that this one is my favorite! (Or I just have a lot of favorites :) This is the photo that I would call yummy/scrumptious/delicious/whatever (because, Rich, I like it so much it goes beyond a visual thing... it's like that lady on the show we watched whose senses were all tied together and could get a taste in her mouth when she looked at a certain image. And this one is chocolate cake. And if you make fun of me for not making sense, I blame you for waking me up at 5:30!), but since you mock me, I'll say it's pretty. Doesn't quite have the same impact, does it?

Alright - I give. Your analogies to food are okay with me :). Thanks, Jessica and Chad, for the great afternoon shoot and we can't wait to see you at your wedding!