Beth, Krys, Lexie, my girlfriend Ashleigh and I all headed out to College Station on a warm Sunday afternoon for their engagement set on and around the campus of Texas A&M University. It was exciting to try a completely different location that I was only vaguely familiar with, having only been there a few times to visit friends while in college. We met up at the Dixie Chicken to begin shooting at Bottlecap Alley. As we began to shoot, Krys’ sister who is currently at school at Texas A&M gave me a brief history of bottlecap alley and its significance. Having gone to a school where there wasn’t too much tradition, it was great to hear all the great stories that A&M has deeply ingrained into their students.
Beth and Krys were great to shoot with, and loosened up quickly in front of the camera. It has become traditional for me to check out the client’s Pinterest site so that I can get a good feel for what they are looking for in their engagement set. In my opinion, it’s an invaluable tool for me because I can see comparable work so that I have a concrete idea of how they want their set to work. Makes it much more streamlined for both me and the client!
After Bottle Cap Alley, we moved further into campus to visit the Century Tree. One of the first trees planted on the campus over 100 years ago, it has become a popular place for proposals. It is said that when you walk under the tree with a member of the opposite sex, fate will have it that you two will marry. If you walk under the Century Tree alone however, you are doomed to a life alone (heavy, huh?). It was the first time that Beth and Krys walked under the tree together, and it was great to see their natural reactions as this happened. Not wanting to die alone, I asked my girlfriend Ashleigh to accompany me under the tree while I shot Beth and Krys! The light was great under the tree, and I positioned the couple amongst the branches to take advantage.
Then we headed over to the statue of Sul Ross, where legend has it, that during his presidency at A&M, Sul Ross would often tutor students and only accept a penny as payment. Now student place pennies on “Sully” for good luck on finals and exams. We took a few photos of their A&M rings with the pennies left on the statue from finals a few days prior and headed to the huge ring near Kyle Field as the light was waning and we wanted to get some shots of the couple out in a field right at sunset.
We had spotted a great field on the way into College Station, about 20 minutes out, that we wanted to shoot at. However, we took a bit too long shooting and soon realized that we didn’t have enough time to make it there before sunset. We started to head back towards the highway that led us to Houston, and Ashleigh happened to spot a field right next to some apartment complexes right off the road. “This will have to do!” we though. It actually turned out to be the perfect spot! Bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, the field had a nice soft glow, and when I knelt down, the street and other distracting elements were obscured by the high grass. The shots came out great straight out of camera and only needed minor touching up in post to make them look their best.
Beth and Krys made this set everything that it is, having a lot of fun the whole time and not letting the camera intimidate them. Beth’s ideas continuously kept the shoot rolling and it was fun bouncing ideas off each other. It is definitely one of my favorite sets to date. Thanks guys!
On to the photos!
