How to Rock Your Engagement Session

You may be feeling a little nervous about your upcoming engagement session. Never fear! Here are 3 tips to insure you and your fiancé are ready to enjoy your time in front of the camera as your wedding photographer creates portraits of this exciting and anticipation-filled moment in your relationship.

Tip #1 - Plan for Awesomeness

Just like a good road trip, planning can make all the difference between a well-executed engagement session and a photo session you just show up to and smile on command. Here are two questions to think about as you start planning:

What do I want to do with my engagement photos?                                                                                 

A few ideas from me: Save the Date cards, invitations, a few large prints to display at the reception, a photo book for your guests to flip through at the sign in table, images for your wedding website, and of course a new profile picture for your Facebook.

When should I schedule my engagement session?

Depending on how you answered the above question will determine how early you need to schedule your engagement session in your wedding timeline. For example, if you would love to send a Save the Date card designed with a engagement photograph or two, you will need to make sure your session is scheduled on the calendar around 6-7 months before your wedding day.

Tip #2 - Pin it Like it's Hot

I know you are on Pinterest. In fact, you probably have been pinning wedding related goodness since you first opened your account. Create an engagement photos board to save your ideas for outfits, poses, and props all in one place. Add your photographer to your board so they can comment on the ideas you are sharing and collaborate with you. You may be dreaming about elegantly styled and romantic engagement photos. Or perhaps you are leaning towards a more casual and spunky feel for your photos. By sharing your inspiration board with your photographer they will be able to get an instant understanding of the vibe and style you are hoping to achieve. BONUS TIP: The Polyvore app is a perfect tool for outfit inspiration. You can browse other users' creations and put together your own stylish creations! You can follow me on Pinterest @taylordphotonm and on Polyvore @taylordphoto.

Tip #3 - Get your Pretty On

Do not forget to set up an appointment with your go to hair and make up artist prior to your session. Spending a little extra effort on your look will up your confidence in front of the camera. The engagement session is the perfect opportunity to give your makeup look a test run before your wedding day. If you have never had your makeup professionally done I can recommend some great professionals. BONUS TIP: Also consider treating yourself to a manicure. I always make sure to photograph your engagement ring sitting pretty on your left hand.

The last (and the most important) thing you need to rock your engagement session is a fun and relaxed attitude. Think of your engagement session as a fun date night with your favorite person and you are bound to enjoy every second of it!

June 2015 Image Round Up

Here's a few of my favorite photos from this month's sessions!

Patrick and Lenisa blew me away during their engagement session. I love the backlighting in this image and the way the field is illuminated by sunset.

And just like that a mom and daddy are created. Hospital or "Fresh 48" sessions compliment maternity and newborn photographs perfectly. 

Austin's parents are big time Texas Longhorn fans. They made sure we incorporated a few Longhorn props into the newborn session. Austin seems to be already be cheering on mom and dad's team.

Only 81 days until Ryan and Melissa tie the knot! Posing these two was very organic. They seem to fit into each other's arms just right. 

It's Not About the Camera

This last month I went a little nuts to beef up my personal YouTube channel. In one week I filmed and published 10 videos. As a result, I have been asked what the theme of my YouTube channel is. The purpose of my personal YouTube channel is to show my clients three things: 1 – It doesn’t take great equipment to make a great video, 2 – You don’t always need to hire a videographer to make a good video, and 3 – The main reason you want to hire a videographer is for editing.

It’s not all about the camera

Just because I don’t use my cell phone to make client productions, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. All of the movies on the channel were shot with point and shoot cameras except for two and new videos are mainly shot on my cell phone. The equipment may help with the quality of the video, but the story is what engages viewers. A good video leaves the viewer thinking about the story, not wondering about the equipment used to make the video. On Melody’s Dad Videos, my record for the most views on a single video in one day is 10,000. That video was shot using a camera that can only shoot 720p. Another video I shot entirely on my cell phone just aired on German TV on RTL, the equivalent of ABC in Germany, and I have never been asked what I shot the video with.

You can make good enough videos

I am not saying you should never hire a videographer, there are going to be times you are going to want a professional video. Hire a videographer for the important projects or life events. For a business, this would be product/service and core business promo videos. For families, this would be weddings, new family members, and golden anniversaries. Businesses need to understand it doesn’t take a videographer to make relatable content for your audience, just as families need to know the difference between a home video and a professional family production.

Post production is the difference

I originally created Melody’s Dad Videos as a place to store home videos that my family could watch on demand anytime. Now I have repurposed this channel to be an example to my clients. The point of the channel is to show that anyone can make good video content without investing thousands of dollars on videography equipment or even hiring me. The difference is all in the editing. My record video I mentioned earlier that received 10,000 views in one day all shot on a 720p point and shoot camera could have been extremely boring. After I finished shooting the video I had 5.5GB, over an hour in 720p, worth of footage. In post-production I edited the video down to a 250MB 1 minute video. The reason why it engages viewers is because it is short, thorough, and doesn’t waste the viewer’s time with redundant or duplicate information.

The moral of the story is this, don’t hire a videographer for their equipment. Anyone can point a camera and capture a moment, the difficult part is taking that footage and turning it into a larger message. When you want to have a deeper response from a video, the art is in the editing that happens in post-production. Shooting the video with post production in mind is the difference between a professional and a bi-stander with a cell phone. Hire a videographer when you want to tell those important meaningful stories, and choose the videographer right for you based on how well they can tell a story.

June 2015 Published Videos Update

Every month I post a list of the videos I published and share my motivation/inspiration behind each video. 

Taylor'd Photography

I use this YouTube channel for professional projects using professional DSLR cameras (mostly). 

Adrian & Justine

Lovebirds. My favorite people to work with. I wanted to tell the story of how they overcame opposition together, how they made the best of bad situations, and how they have decided to continue choosing to be happy together. They tell their story so well, I decided to let them tell it themselves. I just tried my best to get out of the way with this one.

Melody's Dad Videos

I use this channel as an outlet for my personal videos. All videos are shot with point and shoot cameras to show you can make good videos without having great equipment.

Father’s Day Week Vlogs

During the week of Father’s day I made 6 Vlogs with my kids. From going to the mall, working in a lettuce greenhouse, testing out the video camera on a new cell phone, taking family pictures, going to the pool, to doing a service project. All kids have so much personality, I am glad I have my little girls to entertain me and keep me on my toes. We had a fun week and have the Vlogs to help us remember. These are the type of home videos I wish I had growing up. I know my kids will enjoy them as much as I do.  

The last Vlog, Maddy’s Mighty Minions, was played on the German RTL (basically the ABC of Germany) TV Show Best of. I was contacted and asked if they could use it which in full support to the family of #MaddyTheMighty I undoubtedly said yes.  

Why I hate Chik-fil-A

My favorite fast food restaurant by a landslide is Chik-fil-A. But how do you convince your five year-old to go to one fast food place over another when it doesn’t have a playground? When I was working for KPMG, I bumped into a Chik-fil-A big wig in Houston, TX. I asked him when they were going to open up another location in Las Cruces with a playground and a drive through, to which he stared up at the ceiling a moment and replied, we just opened one off of Mesa. I quickly shot back saying “yeah, that’s in El Paso, and is an hour away”. Needless to say, we are not getting another one in Las Cruces anytime soon. I should thank them for that really, they are saving me a bunch of money by not providing an easy air-conditioned option for our afternoons.

How to tie a tie (simple double Windsor mirror follow along)

There comes a time in every guy’s life when you have to tie a tie. Surprisingly, I know people that hadn’t ever needed to know how to tie a tie until they were interviewing out of college. This video I made simply to help those in the situation of needing to learn how to tie a tie. If it were me, I would want to lean my phone against a mirror and play a video where I could pause and play as needed every step of the way until I ended up with the knot in my tie I needed. This video does just that. It shows the exact same mirror image you would see and doesn’t show more or less than what someone would need to follow along the steps. There are plenty of similar type videos on YouTube, but I wanted to provide a short 1 minute video for those out there that learn like I do, by doing.

Are Pelican cases watertight?

I made this for my fellow photographers. Elise and I bought a Pelican case a while back to easily transport some of our photography equipment around in without it getting damaged in transit. When we purchased the case I remember reading somewhere that the case was waterproof and would float. My thought was as soon as it was summer, I was going to verify that in a pool for myself. The family and I took the case for a swim and made a quick video to show the results.

This video was featured in a PetaPixel blog post written by Michael Zhang.

Art projects for kids: Custom wall art

Melody draws all the time. She is great at it. Always wanting to support her at anything she is interested in I suggested to her she cover an open wall in her room with art she makes. We bought some canvases and let her go to town. I made this video to help other parents out there who are getting desperate for activities for their kids this summer.  

 I publish videos regularly to both YouTube Channels (Taylor'd Photography and Melody's Dad Videos). Subscribe to, comment on, and share both. 

April and May 2015 Image Round Up

As a part of our monthly newsletter I will be posting my favorite images from the month's sessions. Here goes!

This is my favorite image from this newborn-ish session (he was about a month old). I normally favor simple blankets and props for newborn sessions but I enjoy how the pattern of his quilt mimics his playful expression quite nicely in this image.

The best family photos show off the interactions and relationship of the family. That's exactly what this photograph depicts.

Besides the adorable expression on mom's face, I love how the backlighting is highlighting the subjects' forms in this image. The bokeh of the tree in the background is pretty dreamy too.

When I work with a family with young children I am always happy with an image that captures both children looking at the camera, at the same time. Yes! I love this photograph even more for the sweet moment between mom and dad.

It isn't often I get to pose my engaged couples on a log over a roaring river, well, roaring for New Mexico standards. I love the beautiful evening light through the trees, the sweet interaction between Justine and Adrian, and the fact that no one fell in the water in the making of this photograph.

I checked something off my photography bucket list this month. Birth photography. The whole experience was amazing. Rather than merely documenting the birth I was able to create storytelling images like this one.

Sometimes a photograph can captivate the viewer simply by not revealing an expected detail. In this photo I purposefully cropped the eyes out of the frame to draw attention to and accentuate her lips.

In this image I used the design element of line to guide the viewer's eye to the subject. I love the dramatic lighting of "golden hour" which is when this photograph was made.

One rule of composition is to not center subjects in the frame. Sometimes it is okay to break this rule in unique ways. In this photo I centered Debbie's engagement ring to be the focus of the image. The composition remains dynamic with the lines of Debbie and Zack's bodies pushing out of the frame.