One of the most important pieces to getting a great photo is the rapport between you and your photographer. One of the best ways to get to know your photographer is by requesting an engagement session. This session will help your wedding day run a lot smoother since you’ll be more comfortable and relaxed knowing your photographer and the way they work.

Personally, I like to spend some time with my couples through consultations and an In Love Session. That allows me to see how you really are as a couple and gives you the chance to see how I, as a person and a photographer, interact with you.

What’s an In Love Session?

An In Love Session is my version of an engagement session (some photographers also call them e-sessions). The difference is that you don’t have to be “engaged” to get one of these. The In Love Sessions are open to boyfriend and girlfriend, married couples wanting photos for anniversaries, common law couples, etc.

Here are some tips to get the most out of your engagement session:

1. How to select your photographer.

There are a lot of photographers in Edmonton, or any other city for that matter. You should aim to find the one that “clicks” with you. If you already chose me as a photographer, go to the next tip. But if you haven’t, there are 3 main things to consider when hiring a photographer: style, personality and price.

Make sure you do your homework by visiting their web pages and checking their portfolios. Ideally, you want to hire someone that has shot the kind of style you are looking for. Be careful with photographers that “specialize” in 20 different things, if you get what I mean. Meet with them and talk about their style and pay close attention to way they interact with you, be sure you will be able to have fun with them. Ask for their prices and what’s included in their packages. How much will it cost you to get prints or albums? You don’t want any surprises!

2. Book an In Love session.

As I mentioned before, the best way to get to know your photographer is by having an In Love Session. This may mean some extra cost (again, ask for all the details and costs so there are no surprises) but most of the time it’s worth paying for. You can also use the photos from this session in a guest book or for a slideshow on your wedding day. In my case, every wedding package includes an engagement session.

3. Select a location that means something to you.

The location of your In Love Session is really important. Not only will this location be in the background of your photos, but, most importantly, it will add emotional value. Some places that might make your list of locations are: where you first met, where you had your first date, your favourite coffee-shop, a really cool part of town or, a place which you think would be the last place you would meet a photographer, like an abandoned warehouse.

Talk about this with your photographer and make sure you ask if there are any extra cost for travel (in case it’s required).

4. Set a 2 hour window.

This timeframe is the average time for this kind of session. It can take less, but I’ve also shot sessions that take more. There may be an hourly fee, but it all depends on location and your photographer.

5. Ask for warm up shots

I usually spend the first few minutes warming up, getting a feel of you and finding your best angles. It also allows me to see your level of confidence in front of the camera and give you some tips on how to get the most out of your session. For you, it gives you a chance to get used to the camera if you haven’t done a photo shoot before.

6. Poses?

I try not to pose my couples, I rather direct them a little bit. I will tell you where to stand, walk and when to hug or kiss, look at the camera or smile, but I rather capture the real you than pose you all the time. The best photos will come when you are not posing. Practice by hugging and kissing your couple a lot!

7. What to wear

One of the main questions I get is “what should I wear to my engagement session?”. You can pretty much wear whatever you want, but try to stay within your usual you. You don’t have to be matchy matchy, both with jeans and white t-shirts, unless that’s your style. You can wear different colours. Think better on coordinating. You’ll have to look good “together”. Your shoes can be the same colour as his shirt. Layers add dimension to the clothing and allow to change the look really fast. If you are going to wear a pattern, make sure that your couple wears something a bit more solid, it could look funny if you both wear totally different patterns. And lastly, I recommend no big logos.

8. Accessorize!

Accessories add a lot of interest to the photos. Think sunglasses, hats, earrings, necklaces, umbrellas. If you aren’t sure, bring a selection and I’ll help you pick what photographs best.

9. What if I forget something?

Don’t worry. At the end of the day, what matters the most in your engagement session is the emotion. Make sure that you are ready to have a great time together, hug, kiss and laugh a lot!

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I had the great pleasure to shoot 4 of my high school friends a couple of weeks ago in Mexico City. We were all good friends, but they were inseparable. I stopped seeing all of them after we graduated, except for Eva, one of my best friends (I even call her “little sister”). However, they stayed in touch, and recently, when they saw some photos that I shot for a campaign for Eva, the Endometriosis campaign, they asked me to take their photos the next time I went to Mexico.

I gotta say this was a super fun session, full of energy and great memories. Plus they were awesome models. Here are some of the photos. Enjoy!

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I had the chance to shoot the Executive Board of AIESEC Edmonton. AIESEC is the world’s largest student run organization that facilitates a work or volunteer abroad program for post secondary students. Students can work in one of their 113 member countries, and they do a pretty good job providing a wide variety of options. Their Global Internship Program provides paid, 6-18 month long internships with the main categories of business administration, language education and IT. For making a short-term impact, their Global Community Development Program provides internships from 6 weeks – 3 months in length that can focus on language and cultural education, entrepreneurship, community development and environmental awareness. What is unique about AIESEC is that you not only get to choose where to go and what internship you want to do, but there is an AIESEC entity at every internship location that provides a support system while you are abroad. If you want to find out how you can go abroad, visit their page here, or, if you’d like to take a look at some of their internships, visit their AIESEC Impact website.

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I have been involved with Junior Achievement, in one way or another, for almost 16 years. JA has taught me a lot about business, but most importantly, it has given me the opportunity to inspire thousands of teenagers. There are so many stories that I can tell about the achievers’ potential. I’ve seen people start their own business, choose a career, make friends, travel the world, move to another country, win national, international and worldwide competitions, get scholarships, overcome bullying, get their dream job… even get married and have children.

Anyway, thanks to JA, I started my first business 10 years ago with 2 alumni of the Company Program, Jonathan and Gaby (they are one of those couples that got married and are expecting now). Since then, I’ve started a couple of businesses and failed many times, traveled a lot, had some of the best times of my life and met so many amazing people.

Because of all this, a couple of years ago I decided to shoot and design a campaign for JA. Here are the results. The statistics are taken from a study that the Boston Consulting Group did for JA Canada. Hope you like it.

BTW, there’s always a need for volunteers, sponsors and there’s always programs available from grade 3 to grade 12. If you want to get involved go to www.janorthalberta.org

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Want to buy or sell a business? VR Alberta company has been helping people do so and has sold over 70,000 businesses. I had the chance to take photos of their team in Edmonton.

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