Why I love engagement sessions!

I have decided to make my first blog about engagement sessions and their importance. I recently had one with a lovely couple. so it has motivated a blog. I feel it will give you some insight into who I am as a photographer, and this of course will show you who I am as a person because they are for me, inseparable. My reasoning in this comes from the many goodies that proceed from an engagement session that top the list of why I love my profession. At the top of this, is the joy I get from meeting new people under these circumstances. For my last engagement session one of these two beauties was actually a distant relative of mine; far enough away that it becomes hard to explain. I was introduced to my family tree and saw the joy of their life, adding something special to this shoot.

Zekar Engagement

What is special about an engagement session is it drives me to ask questions I might not have the chance to get to in a regular encounter. The fact that I am doing something special for a couple gives me the desire to know about their history together; what it is that makes them who they are? This is very important when taking pictures- I want to capture the essence of their relationship, so hearing about them helps me get emotional about what I am doing. In this case they were childhood friends that time blossomed into a courtship that is being united in marriage. For the sake of their privacy I won’t spill more beans on all that they shared with Kate and I, my wife and partner in Zekar. I like to leave the discretion of how their life is exposed up to them :) But I will say the importance of knowing these things is twofold, it brings richness to my life in knowing people on this level, and it drives the motivation and excitement of my photography. Can I translate what they are telling about themselves into a picture? This is the challenge at hand and one I can still grow in but feel I’m coming along nicely!

Zekar Engagement

Another goody is that an engagement session is more often than not a couple’s first exposure to professional photography. Before meeting me the most they may have ever seen of themselves with respect to pictures is your typical point and click shot… Oh and ladies, I must say, that camera-and-yourself-in-the-mirror picture, or camera-above- your-head looking up into it like you’re on a convenience store security video, it’s really not flattering!  I love getting to experience the reaction of what might be the first high quality photograph a person has ever seen of themselves in their element. So again it’s a special thing for me to be the first to introduce them to photography as it is on the professional level.

Zekar Engagement

And finally, the one thing this type of session provides is the opportunity to meet again, if they have requested my full service for their wedding of course. First and most importantly when the wedding day comes the prior engagement session has manifested a new friendship for them. This allows my clients to know my true goal, which is to be a new friend hanging out with them for the day, not a stranger. Another benefit is often in post production where I learn something about how a person’s emotion translates into a photograph. After the engagement session I know I will have the opportunity at their wedding to continue this process, and that is exciting for me. I believe a photographer could spend a life time on one person and continue to learn how to express who they are in different ways, the engagement session allows for this on a small level.

So hopefully this helps explain a little to my massive blog audience what it is about me and my camera that makes Zekar what it is.

Michael. Zekar Photography