before their wedding on the 24th of this month, michelle and tom wanted to meet to do a practice shoot since neither of them have never been in front of a professional photographer. michelle scouted out this kitschy coastal location and we saw many painted rocks, most of them were covered with short messages of love. i wonder if tom will come back in the wee hours and paint a message for michelle in time for their wedding.

who wants tom to paint something for michelle!?!? comment below!

lots of natural smiles, i think they are at ease with the camera!

we found what we thought was a time capsule but who knows. whatever it was, it wouldn’t budge and was staying shut.

along with my series of little vignettes of people, here’s one of their shoes. shoes show everyone’s personality.

we also found a nice arrangement of stones with a spot in the middle for a fire pit.

i wrapped up the shoot with a nice silhouette of the couple.

on a weekday afternoon, i shot jackie and mike’s engagement session entirely with natural light. we had really great colors to work with that were enhanced by the late afternoon color cast. i’m excited for their chicago wedding this autumn at the newly renovated mart plaza. thanks jackie and mike for such an incredible afternoon! for a full gallery of jackie and mike’s engagement pictures, click here.

sam and abigail go together like peas and carrots. when i suggested to bring some personality to their engagement shoot they opted to bring along a frisbee and had fun playing a brief game in the park. abigail coordinated the outfits and the blue tied in very nice with the water and sky. i always recommend that my clients both gals and guys wear a matte translucent powder, like l’oreal translucide. it tends to reduce any shine due to sweat and oils on hot, humid days. i will be photographing sam and abigail’s upcoming wedding at the historic stan mansion.

update july 20, 2009, the bride abigail writes:

“Heather is our wedding photographer and we instantly connected with her when we met her over the winter. I appreciate how responsive she was in responding to my initial email and flexible in meeting with her. She recently photographed our engagement shoot at the Lakefront, which is included in her wedding packages and she did a great job. Though we had a bit trouble find each other in the massive park, she did not appear frustrated and ensured that we got ample opportunity for pictures in. I liked how she kept us moving around during the photo shoot and made us feel comfortable while getting our picture taken (not something we do everyday). She provided us with our pictures online and on CD almost instantly and we were very pleased with the results. We look forward to our wedding photos in a couple months.”