I had the pleasure of recently photographing Kate and Erik during their engagement session at Swarthmore College, where the two originally met as students. During my e-mails with Kate, I could tell we would hit it off—anyone who mentions bringing bubbles and animal head hats as props gets an instant thumbs-up of approval from yours truly. During the shoot, we began our journey near a rail overpass that the duo filmed a scene of a horror movie at when they were students.

We made our way to the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater on campus, which was constructed way back in 1942 and designed by noted Philadelphia landscape architect, Thomas W. Sears. The college holds their commencement here each year, so while remaining symbolic, it was also a beautifully serene backdrop for our shoot.

My heart pitter pattered when they brought out the bubbles, because I cannot resist swirly, rainbow-y goodness.

Erik even crafted handmade signs for their save the date cards, which was a sweet detail to capture during our afternoon together. As a side note, who doesn’t love a good moose hat?

Back when they were students, Erik became instantly smitten with Kate after he met her while she was hosting her own show at WSRN 91.5 FM, Swarthmore’s student-operated radio station. Kate tried ringing the station to see if they were open so we could snap a few photos there for nostalgia’s sake, but no one answered (sad face).

We crossed our fingers and made the short trek to the station, to see if someone might be around to allow us inside. As fate would have it, the station was open and several students were broadcasting their show live on air. They were kind enough to allow us to recreate the moment when Erik first laid eyes on Kate (who couldn’t be cuter, by the way), which was a ton of fun.

We flipped through the albums and stumbled upon one of their favorites, Skinny Puppy, a band that Erik introduced Kate to when they started dating.

It was absolutely adorable to watch the two browse records while rehashing memories from their college years. We covered everything from music to horror movies during our time together and they couldn’t have been easier to talk to.

I’m a newbie when it comes to Swarthmore traditions, but apparently a visit to the college must include a trip to the oversized Adirondack Chair, one of the many works of public art on campus. I am really happy we were able to fit it in during our session, since it led to me being photo bombed for the first time ever during an engagement shoot!

I couldn’t stop cracking up at the kids who started hanging upside down from the chair while I was snapping photos. I had an absolute blast with Kate and Erik, so I can’t wait for their wedding at the Philadelphia Magic Gardens next summer.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Something pink (Day 25): As fellow East Coasters are probably aware, we got quite a bit of snow this past Saturday. I figured I’d capture a photo of Betty White in her winter attire, since she is a shivering mess when she doesn’t have her pink coat on.

Close-up (Day 26): I decided to go for a bit of a photo walk around the block, where I usually walk Charsi during the afternoon. For “close-up,” I focused on holly leaves, which always reminds me of the winter season.

From a distance (Day 27): For “from a distance,” I made the trees in the background in focus since they are a brilliant shade of red right now.

Flowers (Day 28): I always see these flowers while walking the pooch and they stand out to me as being the most interesting on the block. I have no idea what kind of flowers they are, but I’d love to find out so we can plant our own in the future.

Black & white (Day 29): Not to get all nature photographer on you guys, but I liked the contrast of the organic shadows with the rough grain of the wood.

Self-portrait (Day 30): This is me being a noodle with my puffy South Park-esque hat on because it was COLD outside this weekend. I don’t care if I look ridiculous, I was cozy and warm and that’s all that counts.

Long exposure (Day 16): Here’s an oldie from when Pete and I started dating and we were playing around with long exposure photos. Hoping to recreate this in our new home once I gather the motivation to set up my tripod (these cold months make me lazy). He spelled out our initials in a heart while we kissed. I like my weird grimace face transitioning to us getting our smooch on…I’m sure I was asking him why he was spelling our initials backwards (I was a dumbfounded long exposure newbie). And yes, that is Betty White curled up to the right of my head on the couch arm.

I had a lot of fun doing this photo challenge, but I’m looking forward to creating new challenges for myself this November (perhaps removing all of the wallpaper upstairs?). Check out days 1-5 and 6-10, 11-15 and 17-24 if you haven’t already.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Betty White (sad panda) and I (Slytherin student) are psyched to hand out giant-sized candy to trick or treaters!

Technology (Day 17): Here’s a glimpse of what our office/critter room looks like when the lights are out. I spend a lot of time editing photos in Lightroom with the lights out during the day and by the time Pete gets home from work, I realize I’ve been sitting in the dark for several hours. Whoops. I’m 27 and I still haven’t gotten used to daylight saving time ending. We have double monitors since Pete can work a lot faster with web developing and it helps me multitask (*cough* watch tv on the other monitor) while editing photos.

Your shoes (Day 18): I apologize for the blurry photo, but I tend to take these photos at the end of the day when there is little to no light in our living room. Here’s a view of my shoes, with Betty and Charsi in the background…this is typically what they are doing (watching me attentively) while I work on my laptop.

Something orange (Day 19): Thanks to my parents, our sunroom is decked out with light-up pumpkins and the goodies we bought from Linvilla Orchards. We still have to carve our pumpkins this week…I think I might carve Han Solo to give Pete a pumpkingasm.

Bokeh (Day 20): Bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image. I took this photo in our sunroom with the crazy witch my parents gave us as a decoration. The lit pumpkins in the background are the “bokeh,” or blurred orange and yellow circular shapes.

Faceless self-portrait (Day 21): Whenever I go anywhere, the dogs follow me. For my faceless self-portrait I wanted to show a typical view when I look in the mirror. Betty White flops on the bed and falls asleep and Charsi stares at me until I pet her. In this photo I’m wearing the JCrew sweater Pete bought me over the weekend…cuddly sweaters and generous ginger boyfriends are the best.

Hands (Day 22): Checking my Twitter feed while multitasking (usually while cooking or in bed). Note to self: take off chipped nail polish. And yes, that is a blurry Betty White staring at me in the background like a stalker dog.

Sunflare (Day 23): There was plenty of sunflare at this engagement shoot, since the sun was pretty much directly above our heads. I really love the rainbow effects that happen when you have sunflare, but cloudy days tend to be my favorite for shooting since shadows can be pretty harsh in this lighting.

Animal (Day 24): I had the pleasure of petsitting this pooch for a little while this past week. She is super cute and didn’t stop smiling. Betty White definitely could have learned a thing or two from her since Betty is always grimacing in photos.

Be sure to check out days 1-5 and 6-10, and 11-15 if you haven’t already. I can’t believe we’re already nearing the end of the month, October flew by fast!

I had the pleasure of photographing Michelle and Marc, who won my contest for a free engagement shoot. We were joined by Beka, co-owner of Styled Creative, who was a blast to work with and brought some awesome props, like horse show ribbons and other vintage goodness.

The property at Radnor Hunt, where the couple will be sharing their vows next year, is one of the oldest recognized hunts in the United States. At every turn inside the venue there was gorgeous fox artwork and antiques, and the outdoors had its fair share of fox nostalgia. From fox hunting to horsemanship, this venue is breathtaking and we lucked out with an incredibly gorgeous (albeit windy), sunny day. This tree swing was so lovely and reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Big Fish.

How cute is this pumpkin, painted with a silhouette of a horse and rider? Radnor Hunt definitely has an eye for details and their staff couldn’t have been nicer by allowing us to shoot inside their stables.

Beka brought all sorts of goodies to snazz up our shoot, it’s amazing how much a few props can really give the photos more depth and interest. Be sure to check out Styled Creative’s website and “like” them on Facebook to stay up-to-date with their latest happenings (like their upcoming pop up prop shop!).

I never asked Santa for a pony when I was little, but after spending some time with these guys, I’m half tempted to this year. They were ah-dorable.

Good luck to the happy couple and congrats for winning my free engagement shoot contest!

Something blue (Day 11): For “something blue,” I resisted the temptation to capture our very blue toilet and instead focused on our vintage globe.

Sunset (Day 12): This sunset actually happened over this past weekend after the Philadelphia Union game. I decided to swap it out for the other one I had taken because I have a major crush on this bridge. (Taken with my iPhone.)

Yourself with 13 things (Day 13): This was the day I made the ginormous cookies. There are only a few left now, turns out Pete actually likes them quite a bit! I think I look like a cartoon character in this photo.

Eyes (Day 14): Pete looks like he’s impersonating Salvador Dali with his huge eyes, but perhaps that’s because we were watching Midnight in Paris at the time.

Silhouette (Day 15): Another shot from our trip to PPL Park for the Philadelphia Union game (I cheated and used two photos from this day, oh snap!). We went with Pete’s family, who had awesome box seats. Nothing makes me happier than free potato salad and an entire crowd wearing pink scarves. (Taken with my iPhone.)

Be sure to check out days 1-5 and 6-10 if you haven’t already! How is everyone else doing with the challenge so far? Are you like me and mixing days up a bit depending on where you’re going that day?

From a low angle (Day 6): Charsi and Betty kicking back. Betty White knows she really shouldn’t be on the couch, but she milks it when I’m distracted.

Fruit (Day 7): I took advantage of our overripe bananas by making chocolate chip banana bread for us.

A bad habit (Day 8): I am unable to contain my excitement for Halloween Oreos. For some silly reason, the Halloween and Holiday Oreos just taste better to me. No matter how much I try to hold back, there is always a sleeve of cookies missing less than 24 hours after an Oreos purchase. Poor Pete gets to eat maybe one cookie per sleeve if he’s lucky. Worst. seasonal. habit. ever.

Someone you love (Day 9): This one was a no-brainer because this boy makes me laugh every day. He watches Parenthood with me. He squeezes toothpaste out on my toothbrush. He cleans up bunny poop with me. He hugs me when he gets home from work and it makes everything a-ok after a bad day. He quotes Dumb and Dumber and Adam Sandler movies like it’s his job. He Tweets to me when I’m less than a foot away. He keeps me warm when I insist on having the ceiling fan on in the winter. He holds my hand when the blow-up gargoyles at Giant scare the crap out of me when we’re shopping for groceries. He tolerates my awful driving and inability to parallel park, even if I’m the only car on the block. He totally supports me and makes me feel like I can do anything. Yep, I love him. He’s the prettiest little sunflower on the planet.

Childhood memory (Day 10): Hootbot! Ok, so I stole this little robot owl from my brother growing up, but he was the best to watch walk across the kitchen floor while flapping his wings (he makes cute whistling noises too). I remember us playing with him and my hamster toy that would roll around in a plastic ball. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of putting the hamster in my hair while its battery-operated wheels were still turning…I’m not the brightest child out of the two of us, that’s for sure.

Is everyone still enjoying the photography challenge? I’m looking forward to forcing myself to take photos every day this month, I think it’s a really fun idea and definitely recommend it to other bloggers.

Self portrait (Day 1): Betty White & I on the couch.

What you wore today (Day 2): My lazy Sunday outfits, from PJs to Michael Kors shoes.

Clouds (Day 3): A peek at the blue skies through the dogwood tree in our backyard. As a quick note to my mother: Have no fear, I cleverly tucked pieces of toilet paper underneath my shoes so they wouldn’t be touching the comforter.

Something green (Day 4): Betty White wearing her green polo while sitting on a green rocking chair.

From a high angle (Day 5): Looking out the upstairs window to the houses across the street.

Have any of you guys been participating in the photography challenge? If so, be sure to post your blog below!

This past weekend I had my first ever family shoot at a private farm in Bucks County, PA. It was a pleasure getting to photograph such a sweet family, in addition to some teeny-tiny goats. I’m only posting the innocent-looking photos of the goats, but between you and me, I did manage to snag a few shots of the wee goat munching on the mom’s hair. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to photograph adorable kids because they are always striking precious, candid poses without even realizing it.

I hope to be given the opportunity to photograph a family again sometime in the near future. It definitely made me step outside of my comfort zone and experiment with fresh perspectives. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to get to hang out with baby goats again too, they are my new BFFs.

For this post, I’ll be offering my advice as a wedding photographer to both photographers and couples for engagement photography sessions. These photos are from my most recent engagement shoot at Terrain with an amazing couple whose wedding I had the pleasure of photographing recently (more on that later!). I couldn’t have lucked out with a more easy-going couple—they were willing to do all of the poses and ideas I brought up and they looked stunning while doing so!

For the photographers: Always arrive early. Even if you’ve already visited your location, be sure to get there before the couple to scout out beautiful backdrops. You’ll want to be able to lead the couple around with confidence, which is why being prepared is so important. It also doesn’t hurt to greet the couple as they arrive, since they will most likely be nervous and looking for a familiar face.

For the fashionable or not so fashionable couples: Dress like yourselves. I strongly recommend that my couples don’t wear black or light pants. Men tend to look best in dark-colored pants or jeans, but the gals can pull off a lot more looks. It doesn’t hurt to bring several options along, the couple can always get the photographer’s input on a certain outfit. The more the merrier!

For the self-conscious, shy couple: Don’t worry about posing. Try to ignore your gut reaction of smiling into the camera, and just enjoy simple moments with your significant other. It’s always nice to get a few formal photos for the fam, but for the most part, these photos should capture your relationship together and appear effortless.

For the gadget-friendly couples: Be sure to leave your cell phones, pagers, walkie talkies, lightsabers and all other bulky objects in the car (or I can always carry them for you). Nothing is worse than trying to Photoshop awkward cell phone bulges out of jean pockets after the fact. For the ladies, you’ll end up feeling a lot more comfortable without having to haul your purse around, so feel free to either leave it in your car or have your photographer carry it around so it doesn’t end up being something you constantly have to toss aside.

For the city-dwelling couples: Do things in public as if no one else is there. Despite the fact that there might be nearby shoppers or tourists, act as if you two are the only people in the world and everyone else is in their underwear (except for me, please).

For the fellow goofballs: You are my people. Don’t worry about looking “cool.” Like Lester Bangs said in Almost Famous, “The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool.” Don’t be afraid to be silly…the more ridiculous you are, the more personal your photos will be. My favorite engagement photos are almost always the unposed, “blooper” images, which just happen out of moments of self-conscious giggle fits.

For the photographers who can’t seem to tell a joke: Don’t worry, we’ve all been there (at least I’m telling myself that). Sometimes I’ll say something random and ridiculous, in hopes of making the couple crack a genuine smile, but it just ends up in an awkward moment of blank stares and crickets chirping. As a photographer, it’s important to remember you aren’t Richard Pryor and you don’t always have to be funny to make the couple laugh and share a smiling moment. I’ve found that all it takes is simply asking the couple to stare at the camera in a serious, GQ manner, and they will be bursting into a fit of laughter in no time.

For the not-so-natural couples: Don’t feel like you have to wait for the photographer’s directions at all times. For the most part, the photographer will direct your pose in a specific location, but you will have to fill in the gaps. Don’t be afraid to just enjoy these quiet moments with your significant other. Your movements should feel natural and not like you are reenacting those posed Glamour Shots your mom still has on her mantle.

For the couples who need an outfit change/smoke/potty break: Sometimes there are lulls during an engagement shoot when the couple will be changing their outfits or freshening up. Take this time to politely ask the bride-to-be if she would mind you photographing the engagement ring while they are away. Pinky swear not to steal it and/or drop it down a drain and she’ll give it to you in no time. It’s always nice to have several minutes to photograph the ring and place it in different artistic settings, so this is the perfect time to do so without feeling rushed.

For the indecisive photographer/couple: Can’t come up with a shoot location? Trying to figure out if an abandoned field or busy storefront would best suit your personality as a couple? Sometimes the most convincing photos are taken by following the couple around on a real date. Strolling through storefronts and admiring organic pickles or roaming through a record store together is just as romantic as being surrounded by nature. For couples who prefer to shoot in Ansel Adams-like landscapes, consider bringing props from home which sum up your interests and hobbies. A rustic quilt from your Grandmother, some of your favorite books or a picnic basket with handmade snacks can really warm up the atmosphere.

For the chatty Cathy couples: If your photographer gives you the a-ok to ramble to each other, make sure you leave moments of brief silence where they can capture you at your best. This way there’s no blinking or half-opened mouths. It’s a beautiful blend of talking about puppy dogs and rainbows, but leaving a few seconds of smiley stillness.

Hopefully these tips will be helpful to you, whether you’re engaged, a wedding photographer or as bad as I am about being in front of the camera!

Congrats again to Lauren and Christian!