Alex and I have known each other since high school or maybe even middle school. In other words, we go way back! I felt so stoked to have received her email inquiring about a couple’s engagement photoshoot session. Which, by the way, I now refer to as a visual co-creating experience. In fact, I refer to all my photoshoots as co-creating experiences that grow between my clients and I.
Anyways, It took about a month for the creative process to solidify completely. I remember the day before our experience together I was frantically scouting downtown Delray Beach for photo worthy backgrounds that would match their vision. They wanted something that would embody both architecture and nature.
Alex, specifically, mentioned in our first meeting she had a fascination for red bricked walls! I believe she had generalized it to brick styles later on in some of our conversations, but nonetheless, the bricks kept coming up. It was no easy task, but I was certain that the structures of Delray wouldn’t let me down and I was not about to let her down. After much walking and a little bit of sweating I did indeed stumbled upon an insurance agency that wore those red bricks with style and flare. Prayers were answered that day, hahaha!
We started our visual experience at Deke’s Coffee Shop where we ordered some delicious freshly made croissants and perfectly brewed cappuccinos. Upon the 7 AM soft light, I was able to capture Alex and Scott simply enjoying their hot beverages while the sun began to rise. We began with a coffee date because some of their most memorable experiences together had been of drinking coffee while admiring the sunrise at the beach.
Since I couldn’t get them on the beach I tried my best to be close by. When we finished our caffeination, we ended up steering in a completely different direction, driven more by my intuition and less on the Google Map trail I mapped out. We played in front of a burnt yellow wall. Did indeed make our way to the red bricked wall. Swayed and dance multiple times through the streets. We even shared some laughing along the way!
After our cityscape escapade, we continued a slower paced journey at a natural trail near by. I had always wanted to photograph at this oasis, but had never aligned with the opportunity until now. Scott has quite the green thumb. As they shared with me, Scott loves to tend to their garden. Turns out that his love for growing beauty rubbed off on Alex. As she wrote on their questionnaire: “Nature is a big part of us.”
Therefore, it was crucial that nature became a big part of their visual adventure with me. Arriving on the trail, I took out my speaker and played the first song that came to mind: “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley. My gosh was it such a joy to watch Alex tell Scott, “this is our song, how does she know?” I smiled and humbly expressed that “the Universe knows.” I could not have planned it better if I tried, because as the last hour of our co-creating experience unfolded it became one of the most ethereal fairy-like intimate adventures so far. I am glad I waited to share this particular natural space with them.
I admire Alex and Scott so much! On our exploratory meeting Alex expressed that even though it has been quite a bit of time since they have both been photographed, they were willing to put aside their insecurities and self-criticims to truly embrace their couple’s engagement with love and non-judgement. My jaw dropped, because in that moment they allowed themselves to be in full acceptance and love of who they are at this present moment! Such courage! Today, I feel such an honor and a blessing to have been their documentarian!
Best of energies,
~M
The feeling was mutual! We cannot express how much we loved working with Maria! We will undoubtedly use her again in the future to capture life’s moments. It never felt like a photo shoot, but rather dancing in the distance with a friend.