Derrick and Kristen: A Liberty Bowl Engagement

Hey hey y’all!

The weekend is alllllllmost here. I have a wedding tomorrow!! Eeee, so while I’m prepping for that, I thought I would go ahead and post this fun engagement session I had with Kristen and Derrick. Oh. My. Goodness. What a cute couple!! Now, in my last post with Matt and Jessie, I was talking about the best way to plan a winter engagement session. And this is a perfect example of that since these two had a January engagement session! We started at the Brooks Museum, then we walked around Overton Park a bit in a more wooded area, and then ended up at the Liberty Bowl! Derrick has some sweet connections since he played football for U of M (Bleed BLUE, baby!!), and we were able to go on the field!

As far as tips go, I think Kristen and Derrick did it perfectly when it comes to their winter session. I cannot stress this enough when scheduling an engagement session. Location, outfits, and light will make or break the day. LOL. Yeah, I made that up just now… I’m cool, whatever.

Anyways, let’s break this down.

Locations: Choose locations where the outside drab is either not a huge focus at all, or choose a location where it’s the main focus, like the Liberty Bowl photos. They chose that spot because it meant something to them, and it was a part of their theme! And then we also chose the wooded area of Overton Park because we wanted the bare trees and soft light look.

Outfits: Kristen and Derrick did a great job choosing outfits. They matched, but they weren’t too matchy-matchy (except for the themed part, which makes sense because it’s a…theme). And their outfits fit really well with the locations we picked. They had a formal outfit for the Brooks, a casual outfit for Overton Park (I thought this outfit was awesome. The black and brown jackets complimented the background and each other really well), and then a “themed” outfit! In my Engagement session tips blog, I recommend choosing at least 2 different looks. 1 that is you…100%. And then 1 that is still you…but a dressed up version. And by doing a 2 hour engagement session, we have the flexibility to change clothes AND change locations. Now luckily, we live in Memphis and the winter weather is sometimes a thing, sometimes not a thing. But, if it’s cold, make sure you bring a cute jacket. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck either 1. wearing a not cute jacket in photos because you’re really cold and don’t want to take it off or 2. Not wearing a jacket at all and REALLY cold. The choice is yours…

Light: Ok, on to the lighting part. In the winter time, in particular, lighting is crucial. If you’re location is not carrying most of the weight, then you have to have at least a little sun. Otherwise, you get the really dark moody photos. Which, hey – that may float your boat (and that’s totally cool), but it’s just not my shooting style. Light in the winter time is gorgeous. I can’t really describe it, but it’s pretty different than during the summer time. You will also need to schedule the session earlier in the day since the days are shorter, and your sunset will fizzle out in like 10 minutes. Just be prepared that you have to move FAST! And when google says that sunset is a 5:04, be ready to wrap up at like 5:10/5:15 because your light is pretty much gone.

Now that we’ve gone over the LOL of winter engagements…(I’m just crackin’ myself up over here), let’s look at the photos!!