The Obsessive Photographer

A tender moment with a great couple.

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of working for Christina & Fred for an engagement session.  Christina found my site searching for a photographer on Google, and I was fortunate to have her select me as their photographer of choice after an afternoon meeting last month. (click here for rates & services)

Personality? Yep!

The first time I met Christina & Fred they were in uniform…they are both enlisted in the Air Force and assigned to MacDill AFB here in Tampa.  The uniforms weren’t enough to hold back their personality.  These two are funny! It was obvious right away we would work together really well.  As I’ve said on my site, having a good relationship between photographer and subject(s) has a tremendous impact on the finished product.

The most important thing to Christina and Fred was capturing their personality.  Fortunately one of the things I’m best at is bringing people out of their shell.  Once the ice is broken people can relax and be themselves…and that makes it easier to get those smiles.

We met in Tampa’s Ybor City, an area rich with beautiful photo backdrops.  The old brick, the rich doorways, tilework, balconies, wrought iron gates, and even the graffiti all add depth and interest to photos.  These places tell a story, and they can be adapted to many individual styles.  It wasn’t very long after we met in Ybor we were shooting, laughing, and feeding off of each others ideas.  It was a blast.

Love Crosses All Boundaries

After an hour of shooting in Ybor we changed locations to the University of Tampa, across the river from the city.  We shot there for almost an hour and got some beautiful night shots.  When we were parting ways Christina and Fred asked to schedule an additional hour for the next day, which I was happy to do.  We set the time and I sped off to start working on the shots.

One of the funniest things in recent memory happened on this shoot. While we were in Ybor City I knew I wanted to get a picture of Christina and Fred standing on opposite sides of a doorway looking at each other.  Fred had the idea to add a prop into the picture, having both of them reading a paper.  We grabbed a couple of free copies of the “Tampa Bay Times” and started shooting some test shots in the first doorway we found.  Instantly it was obvious this was a great idea.  Christina’s eyes peeking over the top of the newspaper sneaking a look at Fred across the doorway was priceless.  I showed them the shot on my camera and we continued on.

Flash forward several hours, I’m behind my computer processing photos.  I get to the “newspaper photos” considering some crops and my eye is drawn to the headline of the photo.  Ice water bloomed from my heart and started to spread.  There it was, emblazoned in bright red on the cover is the word “DOOMED”. How could this be? How could I have missed that at the time?  More importantly, how was I going to fix it? I was mortified.

"DOOMED"

So…we meet at our scheduled time the next day.  I had already posted several of the shots from the day prior in their private gallery (with exception of the “DOOMED” photo, of course).  They were very happy with what we had shot so far, so far so good.  I sheepishly told them we were going to have to re-shoot the newspaper photos.  They were curious why and I reluctantly told them why.  Their reaction was surprising to me.  They laughed.  Hard.  I told them I would try and fix it or we would re-shoot it that day.  They refused…and told me it was perfect just the way it was.  Amazing.  Funny.  Wonderful.  What a sense of humor!

We shot for an hour at the University of Tampa and got more beautiful shots.  I’m really fortunate to have met these two.  We had a wonderful time together and they were great models.  I have no doubt their love will last a lifetime!

Cheers to Christina & Fred!