Engagement shoots are my favorite kind of sessions.

When I meet with clients to discuss what to do, I will pitch a few different ideas based on likes, personality, hobbies, and other information I've gleaned from our interactions. These pitches have generally been pretty safe, but lately I've started throwing out the Big Ridiculous Ideas to clients, and to my surprise and delight, they've been taking me up on them.

I like putting people in settings you wouldn't normally think of getting portraits; in our first meeting, Sebastian mentioned that they enjoyed sailing occasionally, and that his dad had a sailboat that we could probably use. Yep, that sounds good.

I also really like contrasts, and playing off of similarities and differences. For Marlo, I wanted to shoot her in a more classic east-coast nautical look inspired by Patrick Demarchelier's portraits of Nicole Kidman in Vanity Fair: lots of stripes, big sunglasses, fair skin, blue skies. Very classic. And so for Sebastian, I wanted him to be a little more absurd; a little more of a salty sea captain/Captain Highliner than modern day sailor. Just ridiculous enough to make you laugh.

The light was incredible, the wind was brisk, and the subjects were fully committed...I don't think I've had a shoot where everthing came together so perfectly. I had an absolute blast with them.

Marlo and Seb - you guys make my job easy. My hat (captain and otherwise) is off to you.