apparently leigh & ryan are at one with the universe. or nature owes them a favor. either way, i cannot remember the last time we enjoyed such a PERFECT blend of love, sun, mist, pastures and connection. maybe we never have. but let me just say that about 10 minutes into shooting these lovebirds our cameras could have exploded and we’d still have been 100% THRILLED with the images we’d captured. leigh & ryan are relaxed together; they glow with joy and a deep sense of understanding flows between them. sometimes they joke with one another and sometimes they just talk sweetly and quietly but no matter what they are up to they are clearly perfect together. spending the early hours of the morning capturing these two on the beautiful grounds of berry college was a dream come true. quite literally since i may have actually been in an out of dreams having woken up at 5am to start shooting at sunrise. it was beyond worth it; this shoot definitely makes it in our top favorite shooting experiences ever:
oh leigh & ryan, where to begin with you guys? i am SO glad we finally found the perfect date and time for these images- you guys truly were amazing to capture. we are so looking forward to the wedding day- capturing everything as you guys start your new life together will be such a blessing.
noel & michael are our kind of people- they laugh and goof off together but, equally well, they can pull a seriously fierce pokerface- something they assured us from the beginning they couldn’t do! oh, they were so wrong! …in a good way!
we met them at the gorgeous berry college campus for an afternoon of exploring the area & photographing it. noel was an excellent tour guide- she knows everything there is to know about the different parts of berry and just listening to her talk about the place where she met michael we could tell it holds a special place in her heart. they showed us all around campus- where they lived, where they had their first kiss, where they used to talk all night and watch the stars- it was awesome to get such a beautiful picture of how their relationship developed!
before we knew it the sun was setting and we were hurrying up to the retreat center to catch it! we only got a few shots off before the sun dropped behind a few clouds and then finally, set, but they are some of our favorites of the day- i am getting ahead of myself! picture time!
first up- we’d heard from some friends that there was one little service road that would be absolutely essential for images and sure enough, it was on noel’s list of places to stop. and oh my gosh now i know why- it’s stunning!
you know- they’re just workin the sun flare! after postponing their original session due to rain they ended up with the most perfect day!
yup- still on that pretty little service road! i love how direct this image is:
it is always so sweet to shoot a couple where the guy is so enamored with his lady that he cannot help but grin. that guy is michael- all the way. noel simply makes him the happiest guy ever!
remember how they claimed to not pull off serious!? i think this proves otherwise! ;)
so we were all sort-of amazed by this little piece of grass that seemed to be growing out of a whitewashed brick wall. who knows how we saw it to begin with but after we all examined it and moved on matt had the brilliance to grab noel’s ring so we could incorporate the little guy in the shoot! so sweet :)
the retreat center used to be a dairy farm and the renovation of the white buildings has left this beautiful landscape with a timeless quality.
so this was a little bit of a friendly competition that turned into a series of hilarious images- a little competition can be healthy!
my favorite image of this shoot- really, my favorite image we’ve made in a long time. so soft and dreamy! makes me want to do an entire shoot in this style! i’ll have to add that to my list- right under plant a vegetable garden, start an etsy shop & take spontaneous roadtrips- haha, one day!
we wanted to end this post with one of the retreat center images we grabbed while the sun was out- doesn’t this just look otherworldly!? such a beautiful landscape- i hope we can shoot at berry again!
noel & michael, you two are a blast. we had a great time hanging out with you guys, getting to know you & your story and grabbing some images. we’re so excited for your wedding this fall but hopefully we’ll run into each other before then! :)
