I kept a secret for a very very long time. One that kept me giddy with excitement and full of expectations… In November 2012, I photographed Adam and Monika’s epic engagement session in Paris. To this day this remains one of my favourite sessions ever for many different reasons, the good vibes, the great locations and most importantly the amazing new friends I made in Adam and Monika that day. But what noone apart from Adam and me knew was that I actually wasn’t hired to shoot an engagement session, but to shoot the proposal itself!!! Months of preparations, Skype meetings went into the planning… you see it’s not that easy secretly photographing someone you never met in one of the busiest touristic spots in the world in a place they never been to before, but we pulled it off! Butterflies in my stomach, shaking hands and a single bush to hide behind later these pictures were created which never saw the light of day till this June, a year and a half later…. We were sneaky masters and decided to plan the engagement session the day after the proposal, just to make sure that Monika didn’t suspect anything and Adam presented her with a beautiful album on their wedding day with THOSE pictures….. When I took these photographs I never expected that I could be the one next to Monika when she opened the surprise of her life, but these two flew me to Pennsylvania for their wedding and the long awaited picture reveal was without a doubt one of the highlights of my professional career so far. She cried, I cried and again with shaking hands and butterflies in my stomach through the tears I was lucky enough to capture yet another incredible and unforgettable moment…. have I mentioned recently how much I adore my job!? Thank you Monika and Adam…. thank you thank you thank you for all these incredible memories, your engagement rocked, your wedding rocked (next up on the blog!) and you guys rock…….
Engagement Session in Paris | Adam & Monika
A few months ago I received an enthusiastic email from Adam, explaining that he is about to propose to his girlfriend Monika and he would love to surprise her with an ad hoc engagement session while they would be vacationing in Paris. Excited is not the right word to describe how I felt, I was awwwwwwwwwing at my screen for minutes before I could formulate a proper response. My “proper” response was along the lines of YOU ARE THE BEST BOYFRIEND EVEEEEEEEER… etc. let’s just say lots of capital letters and lots of exclamation marks! 😉
November quickly came and I finally met these two in person in a very very chilly afternoon in Paris (but at least it was not raining like on my previous two Parisienne engagement sessions… see here and here). After spending the whole afternoon and a fun filled evening together I can confirm what I’ve suspected… Adam IS the best boyfriend ever and their love with Monika is crazy, passionate and oh so right!
I’m beyond thrilled to have met you two and I wish you nothing but the best of the best, exciting adventures, a life full of travel and happiness together!
Ben & Jennie | Engagement Session in Paris | Part Deux
I’ve already shared my excitement about this gorgeous couple in part one of their engagement session… but you didn’t think we would do an engagement session in Paris without having a few pics in front of the Eiffel Tower did you? 😉 After frolicking around Laduree, the weather Gods decided to play a prick on us and it started to pour…. like realllly pour! We quickly snapped a few shots at Trocadero, but then we had to find a hideaway spot in a cute little cafe/creperie, which we didn’t mind one bit. After we filled our tummy with delicious treats it was back to work on a Parisienne carousel and we even managed to fit in a few shots with the sparkling Eiffel Tower!
I said it before, I’ll say it again… I loved loved loved meeting Ben & Jennie and I cannot wait for our next shoot somewhere beautiful! ;D Au Revoir!
(For more images, feel free to check out their custom website)
Ben & Jennie | Engagement Session in Paris | Part Une
Every once in a while you come across a couple that literally blows your mind, the kind of people you wanna be best friends with, the kind that you secretly hope would hire you as their personal photographer, the kind that you adore from the very first email exchange on… Ben & Jennie (from San Diego) are definitely one of those couples! Jennie has been following my journey for quite a while and practically the day after her long time boyfriend Ben popped the big question, she wrote to me to set a date for their Parisienne engagement session.
You can imagine how excited I was to return to the city of lights after my last rainy session in December (see here and here) and how much I was looking forward to photograph Ben and Jennie in this beautiful scenery! I seriously had the best time with these two and I just couldn’t stop shooting them… I think everyone would agree that they are drop-dead-gorgeous as a couple and let me tell you… I could not take a bad picture of them! 😉
After I initially went through their images I sent a message to Jennie saying: “That’s it!!! I refuse to edit your pictures… they are all so goddamn gorgeous I can’t even handle it! How am I supposed to pick? IMPOSSIBLE. Sorry. You guys need to come back for another shoot! ;)” and I meant every single word… as I couldn’t just narrow down the images to one post, it will be a two part session starting with the images we took in front of the famous Laduree on Champs Elysee and frolicking on the streets of Paris…. next time I show you the real heartbreakers we shot around the Eiffel Tower. Coming soon! 😉
Thank you Ben and Jennie for choosing me to capture this very special occassion for you in Paris! You have been amazing! I cannot wait to catch up and work with you again some day soon! 😉 HAPPY WEDDING PLANNING!!!
Agi + Gaspi | Engagement Session in Paris | Part Two
I know that Paris is not famous for its gorgeous weather, so it was almost expected that we’d have to do our engagement session in the pouring rain with Agi and Gaspi. 😉 (Ok, it’s December, it could have been worse!) These two were real troopers though and we managed to frolick around the Trocadero area, hop into a carousel and make it work, but in the end we were all very happy to finish our session inside, in the cafe of the Hotel de l’Abbaye, where we chatted over coffee and hot cocoa and enjoyed one of those special moments, that you can only have on the day of your engagement shoot! 😉 I hope to be back in Paris for a spring/summer engagement shoot soon. It must be beautiful when the flowers are in bloom!