You know that feeling when you’re so in love you just have to run around Toronto taking downtown engagement photos? That’s what Kimberly and Devin here did and they looked rad while doing it.
Okay, it’s time for some real talk about engagement photos. This year I’m working on prioritizing the connection between my subjects. For this shoot, I chose downtown’s busy streets and anyone who has shot downtown engagement sessions knows that it might be quite challenging, but nevertheless so rewarding. There can be too many people, too many distractions, too many busy backgrounds, too much everything! BUT that’s exactly what attracted me to planning some downtown engagement photos. I wanted to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone and see if I could show Kimberly and Devin’s intimate connection within a busy city background.
How did I do it? I’m sharing a few of my key principles below:
Prioritize connection.
I’m continually working on prioritizing showing genuine connection and emotions in my photography. I always want the humanity and happy emotions in engagement and wedding photos to be what stick in viewers the heart. That’s what brought me to shoot Kimberly and Devin’s engagement session in downtown Toronto, close to City Hall – possibly the busiest part of our city. By finding simple, photogenic spots that are full of symmetry and interesting leading lines, I brought their emotion and love to the foreground.
We started our downtown engagement shoot at the Financial District where I used architectural pockets as a tool to frame the couple. Once I led them to where I wanted them to be, I took a couple steps back so I could get a few wide frames. Being further away from the couple allows them to sink into their pose and get more comfortable. Once I see that they start loosening up, that’s when I get closer and am able to capture their true, fun-loving personality.
Once they are relaxed, they feel comfortable showing their true self and interacting with each other as if nobody is watching. Our last location was City Hall which I’ve really grown into loving shooting there. It’s busy, yes. But it pushes me to seek for better angles, better composition, and what’s more important, better connection in an engagement photograph. Kimberly and Devin are both super energetic people and I let them have their fun during their engagement session. By placing them in a busy location I forced myself to focus on their personality and the connection they share with each other. The result are the photos that are full of their energy infused with city’s never resting vibe.
Kimberly and Devin, you guys are amazing! Thank you so much for exploring the city’s core with me. I can’t wait for your wedding and I’ll see you soon!
Did you LOVE this post? Check out other engagement sessions we have photographed:
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