Alison and Rob | Engaged

A few weeks ago, Alison emailed me about doing an engagement session for her and her fiance Rob. She had clicked on one of my Facebook ads because she thought it was so different from all the others she had seen (and believe me, when you change your relationship status to “engaged” on Facebook, you’re gonna get BOMBARDED with wedding advertisements, so I was completely flattered when she told me that). Just from emailing back and forth, I knew we would hit it off, and when Jamie and I met up with them on Saturday to shoot their session, I wasn’t disappointed. Alison and Rob are so fun and laid back. They love books and films and computer geek stuff, just like we do, so we had plenty to talk about. These two are getting married in June back in Alison’s hometown, Price, a little town about two hours southeast of Salt Lake. And they’re having their ceremony at dawn. Like, 5:30 AM dawn. How amazing is that? They’ll also be moving back there in a month or two. Alison came here to get her PhD in sociology, and she wants to take her education back to help the people in Price, specifically in hospice care. She said that sadly, a lot of kids leave Price when they graduate and go off to college, but they never come back with what they’ve learned, and she wants to change that. So admirable. As for Rob, well, he’s never lived in a small town before, so he might be in for a little culture shock! :)

Before they left Salt Lake, they wanted to have photographs taken of themselves in the city where they fell in love to remember their time here by. So we started on the rooftop of the Salt Lake City Public Library (p.s.- the most awesome library ever) because it has the most breathtaking views of the city and because it seemed fitting for two avid readers. We completely lucked out with the gorgeous weather and light we got to work with, which made me a very happy photographer. So, meet Alison and Rob. (aaaaand of course don’t forget to watch the slideshow at the end!)

(p.s. I love how in Utah in springtime, you find daffodils and snowy mountains in the same scenery. Fantastic!)

This one miiiiight just be my fave.

When Alison first contacted me, I looked her up on Facebook (naturally), and this was during “celebrity lookalike week,” so she had posted a picture of herself and Rob next to their lookalikes, Katie Holmes and Tim Roth:

And when I saw them in person, I couldn’t get over how much they actually DID look like them! In fact, I may or may not have accidentally called Alison Katie a couple of times. Whoops! :)

Another bonus from shooting in the library: all of the huge glass windows and the glass ceilings were like a giant softbox, so the soft afternoon light was perfect.

We were getting ready to leave the library to go to our next location when we passed this staircase. I saw the reflection of the books on the glass and light streaming in from the window, and I couldn’t resist using it. I love the dreamy ghostlike quality of it all.

On the way to the next location, I saw this row of Eames chairs and asked if we just might be able to make a little detour in our plans.

Which actually worked out really well, because we also discovered this incredible alley around the corner.

This is what I’d like to call a perfect shooting scenario. Great couple, relaxed and in love, and great light. Late afternoon is still by far my favorite time to shoot.

Alison’s laugh makes me SUPER happy. How pretty is she?!

Then, after all our little detours, we finally made to the Broadway Theater, an indie movie theater also in downtown Salt Lake. This place is the best place to see all the films that don’t make it to the big theaters, and I love the cozy community atmosphere of it. It’s like an anti-theater.

Wanted to play a little with the movie advertisements:

Another fave. I love playing with off-camera lighting.

And then a few more right outside to take advantage of all this glorious light.

And the last two? Yeah, they’re pretty similar. But I love BOTH of them and couldn’t decide which was my favorite. Mmmm, I love couples in love.

Feel like you might need more? Then you might just need to WATCH THE SLIDESHOW and check out the whole session, set to one of the funnest and danciest songs ever, MGMT’s “Kids.”