Almost every engagement session I photograph happens outside. Parks, streets, subway platforms, gardens, a coffee shop if it is raining. I don’t have a studio anymore, and I haven’t missed it, because New York is better than any room I could rent.
Then this couple wanted a specific, clean, black-and-white look, and a park wouldn’t give it to them.
How we ended up indoors
It was a mutual decision, which is how most of the good ones go. Engagement sessions are collaborative at every level, from where you shoot to what you wear to how long it runs, and the couples who tell me what they are actually after end up with photographs that look like them instead of photographs that look like everyone else’s.
They knew how they wanted the pictures to feel. I knew the outdoors would put a lot of incidental stuff in the frame that would fight it. So we rented a room.
Renting a space means you can go anywhere
This is the part worth understanding, because “studio session” makes people picture a grey backdrop and a stool.
I source spaces through Peerspace, and what is on there is enormous. Modern lofts. Cyc walls. Apartments that look like someone actually lives there. Bars. Rooms with fifteen-foot windows and rooms with no windows at all. If you can describe the room you are picturing, there is a decent chance I can find it and book it.
That changes the question from “indoors or outdoors” to “what should the room look like.” Which is a much better question.
For this one, we took a space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Bright, enormous windows, a lot of natural light.
The light
I shot it entirely with what was coming through the windows, because it was stunning and there was no reason to add anything. That was a choice about that room on that day.
If you want a look that daylight cannot give you, I light with flash, and I like doing it. Hard light, moody, high contrast, whatever you are after. A rented space means we control the light completely, which is the other thing you are buying when you book a room instead of a park.
Wardrobe
We talked about clothes before the session, which we would have done anyway, but it mattered more here. The whole concept was black and white, and they wore black and white.
In a park, the background carries a lot of the picture. In a mostly empty room, your clothes are the picture. That is not a reason to overthink it, but it is a reason to have the conversation early rather than the night before.
What actually happens during a session
We talk. I pose you. We talk more. You relax, I adjust something, we keep talking, and somewhere along the way it stops feeling like being photographed.
Nobody arrives at an engagement session knowing what to do with their hands, and nobody is supposed to. That is my job. You do not need to practice anything, bring a Pinterest board of poses, or be the kind of person who is good at having their picture taken. There is no such person.
How long it takes
This one ran two hours because they were changing clothes partway through.
Most sessions are an hour, and an hour is plenty unless you have a specific vision to execute or want multiple outfits. If you are thinking about more than one look, tell me when we are planning it rather than on the day, and we will build the time in.
Color and black and white
Every session I deliver comes in both. You get the full gallery in color and the full gallery in black and white, and you choose.
A session built around a black-and-white concept sounds redundant, but it is not. Some of these images are better in color than anyone expected, including me.
Should you do a studio engagement session?
It is worth it if you have a specific look in your head that the outdoors will not deliver, if you would rather not be photographed in public, if the weather has already ruined one plan, or if the room itself is part of the idea.
If what you want is New York in the pictures, we should be outside. I have written a lot about where to shoot around the city, and I am not going to talk you out of any of it.
Renting a space is an add-on, not included, since I don’t keep a studio. I am happy to source it and handle the booking. Just tell me what you are picturing.
Questions about studio engagement sessions
Do you have your own studio?
Not anymore. I shoot nearly everything on location. When a session calls for a room, I rent one.
What kind of spaces can we use?
Almost anything. Lofts, cyc walls, apartments, bars, industrial rooms, spaces full of daylight, spaces with none. Describe what you are imagining, and I will go find it.
Is a studio session more expensive?
There is an added cost for the space, since it is a rental rather than something I own. Get in touch and I will walk you through it.
Natural light or flash?
Either. This session was entirely natural light because the room was full of it. If you want something daylight cannot produce, I will light it.
How long is a session?
An hour as standard. Two if you are changing outfits or we are building something specific.
What should we wear?
We will talk about it beforehand. In a studio, it matters more than usual, because there is no landscape to carry the frame.
Do we get color and black and white?
Both, every time, the entire gallery.
Where do you photograph engagement sessions?
All over New York City and the surrounding area, and I travel. More on engagement photography in New York, or tell me what you have in mind.
