ashley & austin | engaged

I met first met Ashley and Austin last year at a friend’s wedding. Like with most out of town weddings, the guests were all staying at the same hotel and hung out together all weekend. I instantly loved Ashley. She and Austin had been dating for several years and were on the verge of getting engaged. As the product of a five year courtship myself, I could relate to her story and was rooting for Austin to propose soon. I was super excited to hear the news a few months later that Austin had done the deed. They were finally engaged to be married! Ashley and Austin will be getting married this summer here in Birmingham, and I can’t wait to be a part of their big day. 

With the wedding just a few weeks away, Ashley and I had a photography-filled weekend shooting her bridal portraits on Friday and her and Austin’s engagement on Sunday. It is really heating up down south, but they couldn’t have been more willing and patient to do what it took to get good photographs. This was one of the hardest sessions I have had to narrow down for the blog, so I hope to be able to show more of their great session soon.

We were battling the heat and the bugs through the whole session. Austin asked me if you were going to be able to see all of the knats in the photos. I couldn’t see them with my eyes, so I just guessed and said told him I doubted it, but that if one landed on his face, I’d be sure to Photoshop it off! Ha! Well, it turns out you CAN see them, but in all the photos I’ve gone through, I haven’t had to remove a single bug from anyone’s face. Oh, the summer in the south… gotta love it!

I love this one. The light right here was beautiful. And there is a sneak peek at the our company during the session…

Austin’s lab Callie was with us during the session. I think it is so great that they brought her with them to add a special touch to their engagement photos. She was extremely well behaved and even without a leash, she did almost everything that Austin asked of her. The almost part will come in a minute…

As I took this shot, directly behind my back was a pond. I don’t know if it was the 90-plus degree heat or the lab in Callie, but as soon as she saw the water, she was gone. Austin tried his hardest to stop her, but in she went. She swam around for a few minutes while we took these next shots and then joined us like nothing ever happened.

I had my lens zoomed tight to focus on the shot above, telling them that there were no faces in this one. Out of my peripheral vision I could see them not paying any attention to me. So without recomposing or refocusing, I turned the camera straight up and fired. Because of the realness in the shot below, it may just be my favorite of the day.

But this one is a close second!

Or this one… Heck, all of them! I really wasn’t lying when I said I had a hard time narrowing them down.

Wet dog! Even though Callie was wet, she still wanted to be part of all of the pictures. This is such a great “family” shot, don’t you think?!

Ashley and Austin, thank you for being such good sports with the heat and the bugs and all of my hair-brained ideas! Let’s just call it practice for July, kay?!

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