Megan + Paul // Just For Fun.

We're pretty excited about the session (so much so that we blogged it out of order). This isn't an engagement session, per se. Let's go back probably six months… Mindy and I were sitting in Dorothy Lane Market (a fancy local grocery store with an awesome dining area and great food), minding our own business. Sort of… we noticed this couple down at the other end of the cafe. They were über stylish, they looked like they were in love, and they looked like they were saying goodbye. We watched as they embraced, and watched him leave, hop in his car, and take off. She sat there, silent, pretending to read. Maybe even crying a little bit. We joked about how we figured they were from out of town. People don't dress that well to go to the grocery here in Ohio. As we cleaned up our lunch and headed out to our car, we had a mini conversation about something our friend Andria Lindquist talked about earlier that week. She talked about her own boldness and how she will approach random people and ask them to take their photos. We said, "man, we should totally just ask them if they'll model for us…" as we started the car and began to drive away. At that point Mindy stopped me, and said, "Wait. Screw it, I'm going in there and asking. Do we have a business card?" To which I responded they way I usually do when I get that question. "Umm… not on us. But we have this napkin and a pen."

I waited in the car while Mindy gathered up the courage to walk in and talk to Megan. She told her about how we noticed them for their fashion sense, and then saw a little bit of their story unfold in front of us as they said goodbye. She asked Megan a little bit about their relationship, and if they would be interested in spending some time in front of our cameras, because we felt like they might be a good fit. Turns out they were engaged, but also graduate students working through a long distance relationship. And we were right, although Megan grew up here in Dayton, she is originally from England, and Paul is from Nashville. "That explains a lot," we thought.

Megan was actually surprisingly warm to the idea of doing photos with us, but with all of their traveling and studying, it was a crapshoot at best. Mindy thanked her, handed her the napkin (apologized for how unprofessional we are when it comes to business cards), and we went on our way. It felt good to step up and ask, even if we'd never hear from them again. We had done something new, something we had never done before.

Fast forward a number of months. At this point we had nearly forgotten about the whole thing. Obviously we would never hear from them, so we moved on. Then we got a surprise Facebook message from Megan, asking if we were still up for it. They were going to be in town visiting family, and her and Paul were interested in having their photos taken. Wow! It worked? We were able to coordinate a day that worked, we got the absolute perfect evening, and this is what happened.

The Hunt

Our family has an annual tradition of heading up to Fulton Farms and hunting down the perfect Christmas tree. Obviously Holden takes his job very seriously.

Sheila + Andy :: Dayton Engagement (& Family) Photography

When we first met with Sheila and Andy, they made it very clear that their families were very important to them, and that they would be a very integral part of the wedding. When we were explaining why we include and engagement shoot with every wedding, we mentioned that we could turn the session into a combo engagement/family shoot. They loved the idea, and we were super excited to shoot it!

As you can see, they have some beautiful kids, and we were so impressed with how positive everyone’s attitudes were! Their family single handedly reminded Mindy and I why we do what we do, and reinvigorated our love for family photography.

We’ll be featuring Sheila and Andy’s wedding in a few weeks!

One thing Mindy and I have been talking about lately is including a little bit more in our blog posts about who we are and how we create the images you see. We’re a team, we actually shoot differently, but complimentary to each other. We have different personalities, and it allows us to approach each client a little bit differently and adapt to the situation. Mindy took the kids while I spent some time with Sheila and Andy, and it allowed us to get some really unique images in a really short amount of time. This whole shoot was finished in less than an hour and a half!

Mindy working the wide angle:

This next shot is pretty funny. As a photographer, I often find myself sitting, standing, or laying in areas I never really thought I would before.

And this is the resulting photo:

The Harrs :: Dayton Family Photography

Laura’s a blogging mom. Rob works at the amazing design studio known as Forge. They have a son names Chris, and we just found out their expecting a second! We wanted to say congratulations an show off a few of the photos from their recent family session. We had a blast following them around Island Metropark on an overcast afternoon filled with geese (and their poop!), bridges, playgrounds and water fountains. Enjoy!