Friday, January 25, 2008

Yes Foto

I've never liked having my picture taken. In fact, I find it to be kind of a weird phenomenon, having someone point a machine at me and produce an image that I rarely find to be representative of what I think I look like (or at least, what the mirror tells me). I was a cute kid, and kind of a weird-looking teenager, and since then I've hardly had my picture taken at all. In fact, I never even had senior portraits taken, mostly because I was embarassed about my skin.

My skin's mostly better these days, but it's still blotchy and uneven, and I rarely wear makeup because it's so sensitive. I knew, though, that I would need to figure out something makeup-wise for the wedding because I would be having my picture taken all day long, a prospect that fills me with a little bit of dread. And I want those photos to look good, because it's probably the only time in my life I'll be paying someone to take photos of me (and Dan, of course, but he always looks good).

One of the other things about the California part of our recent month-away-from-home that I really stressed about was the engagement shoot. Though it might seem like somewhat of a narcissistic or unnecessary add-on to a pretty low-key and low-budget wedding, I really wanted to do it so I would have a chance to get used to having someone point a camera at me for an extended period of time (read: more than one snapshot). While I had every confidence in our photographer to capture great photos of other people (having seen his work), I was really nervous that I would hate the way I looked in the photos he took, because it's just how I usually react. I don't think I'm at all photogenic, and a while ago I just resigned myself to never looking good in pictures. But I wanted to look good in these pictures!

Luckily, the day we picked to take photos in San Francisco was one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen (there), not to mention it was late December. We had an appointment to meet at 2 PM at Baker Beach, and we were a few minutes late because I got us lost trying to navigate through the Presidio. Our photographer got there really early because he wanted to scout out the area, and I guess he felt bad for being so late when we met with him before (that wasn't his fault; it was horrible traffic in both directions). He found some really neat places to shoot, and after about 5 minutes I was completely comfortable with just playing on the beach, holding Dan's hand, and enjoying the gorgeous day. It was warm and sunny, with hardly any breeze. The colors were crisp and clear, very difficult to come by any day of the year on a San Francisco beach. We got really lucky that the day was so pretty, and I am thrilled that we had such a good time working with the photographer. I feel much better about the prospect of having my picture taken all day long now.

Yesterday, the photographer sent me an email with the link to our photos. I really wanted to put it up on the blog immediately, but Dan wasn't home until about 7 PM last night and I wanted him to get to see them first. After seeing these pictures, I am so glad that we decided to go with the photographer we picked - I think he's really talented, and I think we're getting a fantastic deal - but I'm also thrilled that he's so good at making us both feel comfortable around the camera(s). And I could not be happier with the results of the engagement shoot.

Which ones do you guys like best?

10 comments:

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

These are really good! Both you AND Dan look fantastic, by the way (incidentally, he has the warmest, most genuine looking smile in all of these).

My favourite:

071230-6192.jpg...which I like better than the other one because you have a sweet smile in this one.

I really liked:

071230-6996.jpg

071230-6841.jpg

071230-6289.jpg (this one makes me think of the white stripes song "you and I are gonna be friends")

Small Criticisms:

071230-6233-2.jpg-this is such a gorgeous shot but I would have loved it if he had captured your face here because even in this lighting I can tell you look incredibly happy and you're staring ahead so he should have been able to capture your face.

Some of the shots seemed a bit "distancey"-I think you should get more closeups for the wedding. Especially detailing on the dress and whatnot. I have this same criticism of my sister's wedding shots. They all seem to have been taken at a distance (like so 071230-6216.jpg)

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

sorry, I forgot that this one

071230-6896.jpg

would also have been a surefire winner for a natural, candid looking shot. And it is REALLY nice but I wish he had closed in on your faces a little bit more.

Sara said...

What a great shoot! I love 6201, 6216, 6238, 6247, 6859, 6895 (WOW!), and 6996.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Difficult choices!!

These are the ones I LOVED:
071230-6841.jpg
071230-6260.jpg
071230-6873.jpg (artistically, this was a COOL shot)
071230-6973.jpg
071230-6996.jpg
071230-7000.jpg

But truly, I like all of them. The one thing I truly regret from my wedding was not getting a good photographer. It is the only thing I would do differently. The ONLY thing.

Unknown said...

071230-6996 is really good.

Several of the good shots need more fill lighting to get your faces better.

Dan said...

"(and Dan, of course, but he always looks good)"

Ha!

Very kind of you to say, but still...

Ha!

Rayne - I disagree. I vastly prefer natural light to studio artifice. Bright sunlight, even with all the tricksy shadows that go along with it, creates a lot more depth and character than artificial lighting.

-qir said...

I went through the pictures about six times. Like Ms. Terror, I think that the lighting and composition of many of the photos are off.

Tricksy shadows may give a sense of character but only when put to good use. Not being able to see your faces well is not good use in my book.

That said, some of the photos are good shots. The following are my favorites in reverse numerical order:


6996 nice pose, pretty picture
6841 nice pose, nice setting, nice shot framing
6973 captures setting & your togetherness & I prefer to see you from the front side, not your rear ends

6859 & 6896 for the facial expressions I have seen on your faces in moments of real life

6292 best of the kiss photos

6247 & 6232 love your playfulness on the beach

6195 setting + expressions. I can see captions Dan: "You do realize you agreed to marry me?" Emily: "yeah, I know."

Dan said...

Name some photos in which you cannot see our faces well because of the shadows. I'm really baffled by this concept.

Anonymous said...

You look lovely! I like the ones of y'all playing in the surf.

Erin said...

I like the one where your arms are around Dan's neck and you're both sorta looking down.