Engagement Shoot at Fire Island Lighthouse

     Nadia and I have been best friends for almost 10 years now, so photographing her engagement shoot was obviously a given!  And I definitely had to do this shoot because I have the honor of being one of her matrons of honor (though I still try and call myself a maid of honor so I do not sound so old!),  so I cannot photograph her wedding.  After a lot of back and forth, Nadia chose the Fire Island Lighthouse for her shoot.  Neither Anne nor I have ever shot on Fire Island, so of course we were excited for this opportunity.

     It was a VERY hot and sunny day but Nadia and Joe were troopers.  We parked at the last lot and walked along the boardwalk to the lighthouse stopping along the way at different locations for our shoot.

     The best part about the shoot was watching the interactions between Nadia and Joe during the shoot.  It is always a much better shoot when the couple can let loose and have fun!  Joe was very playful with Nadia, and had us laughing the whole way!  There are a few shots/outakes that we were not allowed to post because of there... ahem... graphic nature.   But that just added to the hilarity of the shoot, and made Joe and Nadia much more comfortable while shooting the usable images.

      And through all of the fun images, we were also able to shoot some truly stunning and romantic images that clearly show how in love the two of them are.

     Even as we started our stroll back to the car, Joe and Nadia were willing to continue the shoot from a piggyback ride to a little PDA action!

      I am looking forward to seeing my best friend marry the man she loves on 6.16.13  (even if I am not allowed to shoot her wedding)! 

Stefanie




"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people" - Annie Leibovitz

Love is in the air.....Proposal!

     Words can't express how I felt when Chris asked me to photograph him proposing to Lauren.  First of all, Anne and I had not had the opportunity to shoot a proposal yet, and were excited to know the couple that would be our first.  Lauren is one of my best friends, and I have known her since kindergarten!  Chris and I conspired for months before the actual proposal date about the details of the shoot, and Lauren was none the wiser.   I have to give credit to Chris for the majority of the planning, he thought out a proposal that all women deserve.  It was personalized and memorable.  The hardest part was trying to figure out a special place that would not signal anything to Lauren.  The place that was chosen was in an arboretum on Long Island.

Chris, Anne, and I made our way to the Arboretum to check it out about a month before the big day, in complete secrecy.  We spent awhile wandering around the arboretum testing out the different locations.  There were many beautiful spots in the gardens and throughout the grounds.  Chris chose, with some help from us, a nice secluded location underneath a tree with pink flowers by a bench (sadly the flowers were gone by the time the big day came but it was still beautiful).  All we had left was to wait until the big day!   I knew Chris was excited for the big day to come, but I did not know how impatient and nervous he would get.  I received text messages everyday from Chris counting down the days,  and of course checking the weather to make sure no rain was coming.  The week before the weather was back and forth and it seemed like it could possibly rain on that day.  All we could do was hope for the weather to hold.

Finally, the day arrived!  We made sure that no one knew that I was even going to be in town with Anne.  I even texted Lauren complaining about how busy it was at the ariport that I work at on Nantucket.  Anne and I went to the arboretum early to assess the location and find our hiding spots...and we may or may not have played around for a bit coming up with ridiculous hiding spots that would never work!  We received some odd looks by passersby, but what did we care?  We were getting ready for an amazing shoot.  Then... my phone vibrates... and its a text from Chris, "We are at the bathrooms." (meaning they were about to start the walk into the area).

  I think I was just as nervous as Chris was because I wanted to make sure we did not miss a second of the proposal.  We sat in wait as they strolled around the arboretum, and then took cover for our covert operation as soon as they got close.  We were holding our breath, and our adrenaline was pumping!  Then we see them coming towards us.  They stop.  He has Lauren take a picture of the tree they are under to distract her, and then he drops down onto his knee!  The shock and excitement is apparent as Lauren starts to shake and her hands go to her face.  Of course she accepts the ring with tears in her eyes and they embrace.

Then after Lauren calms down a bit and grounds herself, she looks around and says, "Who is that over there?"  She found me!  At this point, it didn't really matter, and I was then able to congratulate her right away.  Next, of course, were the obligatory phone calls to family and friends.

After all the phone calls were made, Anne and I asked the newly engaged couple if they were up for a mini engagement shoot so they could have some more photos to commemorate the day.  They said that they would love to, and so we got to have some fun!

Can't wait to shoot the real engagement shoot and to be a part of Lauren and Chris's wedding in October 2013!  We wanted to thank Chris for making us a special part of his big day, we love you both and couldn't be more excited for what's to come.


-Stef

"A photo says, You were happy, and I wanted to catch that.
A photo says, You were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch."
-Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

Amanda and Daniel Engagement Shoot

  

Amanda and I met in 2008 when we started working for the same photography company.  Even though we didn't work together very long, we stayed in contact over the years.  She recently moved to Israel with her boyfriend at the time(now fiance) so I was not sure when I would see her again.

When I found out she was engaged, I was so happy for her!  To my surprise, I received a message from her that she would be back in NY for a visit and wanted Elegant Edge Photography to shoot her engagement and wedding photos!  Of course, both Anne and I were excited about this!

We setup a meeting with Amanda, Daniel and Amanda's family to meet them and show them our work.    Sitting with all of them was a lot of fun, and we felt welcome right away.  They told us the story of how Amanda and Daniel met,  and how they spent the first portion of their relationship talking through Skype because Daniel was in Israel, and of course they told us about the proposal.  After finishing our discussion with the family, we were scheduled to head out and shoot engagement photos for Amanda and Daniel.

We went to the Westbury Gardens on Long Island for their shoot.  The gardens were filled with so many different textures and environments for us to work with.  There were all different pockets of flowers, trees, and ponds.  There were also many manmade elements to work with from a mansion to bridges to gazebos.  It also helped that Amanda and Daniel were a fun couple to work with!

In October, we will be shooting their wedding and we could not be more excited!

-Stefanie



“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.” – Ansel Adams

I Love Love!

Sorry for the delay in posting this... this month has become quite busy

for many reasons, but I knew I could not just skip writing about Caroline and Mike's engagement session.

Engagement sessions are obviously very different from weddings. The focus is on the couple and how much in love they are, which you would think would be the same for weddings but it is much different. Weddings are riddled with distractions for our couples and their guests; engagement sessions let us see who they are as a couple without those distractions.  And during this engagement session, we were definitely in for a treat with two individuals who love to let their personalities shine!

I have known Caroline pretty much since I was born, and I have always known what a fun and wonderful person she is. I have also known Caroline and Mike as a couple for a few years now. Based on my experiences with them previously, I knew we were in for an interesting photo shoot. They are not your typical couple by any means. Both are artistic, visually and musically, and they love to have fun. And my favorite part was how well their love translated to the images. I love love!

Caroline and Mike chose Yale University in New Haven, CT as the location of their shoot. I, of course, was thrilled about this choice because of the architecture of the campus. We used the architecture to frame various poses, usually starting out with simple poses that somehow always became wonderfully hilarious photographs. Caroline and Mike played off each other perfectly, giving us the simple serious moments while also conspiring with one another to surprise us with their goofy personalities. For example, we asked our couple to just walk along the sidewalk casually holding hands and laughing together. Then we see them whisper something to one another, and all of a sudden they jump up in the air and click their heels. And this scenario happened multiple times! Adorable!

Toward the end of the shoot, the images kept getting more and more hysterical! Especially when Mike spied a wagon on the campus... and decided to pull Caroline around for a few shots... and he may or may not have accidentally tipped the wagon over with Caroline still in it leading to even more hilarious images. After we put away our cameras, we went to go grab coffee and found a tiny alley along the way that lead to another hysterical moment and luckily Stef had her point and shoot with her so that we were able to capture this final image!  Now to prepare to shoot their wedding in November... so excited!!

Do you have any images that clearly show how in love a couple is? Or do you have any hysterical moments captured that you would like to share? Send them to us, we would love to laugh with you!

-Anne

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind

Wilson-Bishel Engagement Shoot

Jackie and John will be getting married in December at Woodwinds in Branford CT.  So what better way to celebrate their engagement then to take a few engagement pictures.  I left my little island this past weekend and after a short plane ride, and a two and a half hour drive I finally arrived.  The chosen location for the engagement shoot was at Gillette's Castle in East Haddam, Connecticut.  It was here that I met up with my good friend Jackie and her fiance John.  It was great to see Jackie, because it has been awhile since we have been able to get together.  We went to UCONN together, and I have missed her.  When I arrived at Gillette's Castle, I was quickly enchanted by my surroundings.  There was just something about the feel of the park and the old castle that felt familiar to me.   I have always loved old buildings and abandoned places, so this location was definitely a treat for me.

The park was beautiful, it had lots of stone walls, wooden bridges, and a beautiful patio that overlooks the Connecticut River.  Just getting to spend time with this couple for their engagement session showed me how comfortable and in love they are with each other.  From the way that they look at each other, to the way that they make each other laugh.  It was just beautiful.

We walked all over the outside of the castle and down by the woods, discovering new places along the way. It's a fantastic place to shoot with so many beautiful textures.

Jackie and John, your engagement session was so much fun and I just know your wedding day is going to be even better! We cannot wait to share that special day with you!! 

Stef

"In my view you cannot claim to have seen something until you have photographed it." - Emile Zola