LeeAnn and Jerad are a wonderful couple who I’ve known for many years and had the pleasure of shooting their wedding nearly four years ago. It’s exciting to follow them now to the next chapter in their lives as they prepare for a new little one to join them later this spring. We were fortunate the weather was dry and not freezing, so that worked in our favor and they were both excited about getting their session in outdoors rather than in the studio. For this lesson for our first assignment, I scouted a location, a place I’ve driven by, but never used before. So the morning before the session, I returned to look at it again and that was helpful. I also made the decision we’d drive a mile or so down the road after that location for a bit of diversity, to a park on the waterfront. The week before the session I searched online for some new and different ideas poses and/or props to use during the session. I contacted them with some ideas and asked for a few props (baby items) from them and came up with a few on my own. This was very helpful, not to mention inspiring with some new ideas for my maternity shoots. During most of my sessions, I’m fortunate enough to have my husband (he calls himself my “sherpa”) to help with props, carrying things for bouncing light from the reflector. Our first location was great…I loved the light and the wall behind them, but there were a few obstacles I hadn’t noticed upon scouting…some crazy blackberry vines (which can be quite spiky and sharp!!!) and we found tons of “landmines” aka dog piles, which created some obstacles to work around, along with the blackberry vines. My preparation was very helpful and communicating ideas to the couple beforehand also helped prepare them for how the session would go. What I learned – REALLY walk around the location, looking up and DOWN, when scouting, just so your are prepared…as we drove home, I had to leave my shoes (a bit stinky!!) in the back of the vehicle because I tend to not look down when photographing, my eyes are always scanning the area and thinking about how I can get more out of the area!
