Sadie & Jesse

About the photos

Sadie and Jesse, two hot bods living in a cute ass house in Asheville NC. These two are my best friends, and I see them at least once a week because I love being the third wheel in their hella cute and wholesome relationship. So this photo series is here to commemorate their awesome-ness, to celebrate their newfound (not so new) relationship, and to just put out their good vibes to the world because I think we need a little bit more of it.

Also, they just let me create whatever I wanted for this session and shout out to you two for letting my creativity run wild.

When I shot this session, I was in the middle of a creative crisis. I was unsure of what my photography was, and I started to feel like I didn’t see myself in my work anymore, and that’s one of the worst things to happen to an artist. I would go through my photography and see other people in them but not my own voice. To remedy this feeling of stuckness, I set up a series of shoots that were just for me- and this is one of them. Also, I just wanted another excuse to break out my fog machine.

Finding your asheville nc engagement photographer

When you’re looking for asheville nc engagement photography, look for photos that you can see yourself in. As an engagement photographer, I want to create work that is constantly evolving and focuses on your relationship. I don’t want to take engagement photos that feel like I’m just taking a template and copy and pasting it across all of my clients. Asheville NC is the city of creativity- I’d be doing my community a disservice by photographing engagement sessions in the same way everyone else and my past work.

(Sadie and Jesse are not engaged, but if you had to categorize this session and put it into a box, you could call it a first home photoshoot (even though they’re actually moving into their very first home next week!!!!)

How I shot this

My Gear

I shot this session on digital, Polaroid, and 35mm film (color and black + white). My partner, Alex, shot all of the 35mm on his Leica M3 (shout out to Alex). I used some ‘roid 600 film in my SX-70 because I wanted to showcase the ambient light in my ‘roids. That glow you see in the photos is because of my new special filters, and I swear they are a game-changer. Oh, and I used my fog machine, and I never get to use it, so it felt so dope to smoke up their entire home (no fire alarms were triggered).

Creating the vibe

To create the vibe and emotion of this first home photoshoot, I asked Sadie and Jesse a series of questions to help me create photos that actually mean something to them. When Asheville nc engagement photography puts people in poses that don’t feel like them and have a cheesy feeling, it just doesn’t click or feel right. Jesse is a film photographer, so it just made sense to have him photograph Sadie like how he would at home. Sadie likes to cook for the two of them on weeknights, and it felt natural to have them hang out and cuddle in their kitchen. It’s shit like that that makes these photos feel like they aren’t posed. Engagement photography is about photographing your love and relationship as it is without your engagement photographer over-directing the shoot or pictures.

For Sadie and Jesse, they felt that they would feel more like themselves in the comfort of their home. But for you, that may be different! Savannah and Darren decided to celebrate their relationship in the grandeur of the Grand Tetons because being outside is what they love and value as a couple.

Behind-the-scenes of Asheville NC Engagement Photography

I like to ask the couple questions/prompts/homework to help me tailor the session to their unique relationship. I asked them things like “what are some weird things you do with one another that you don’t do in public” or “think of things you love about each other and during your session, I’m going to have you write them down and share it with each other.” I took their responses and made them reenact those weird things they do together and write those love letters to one another. How sweet and tender :’)

To make their first home photoshoot feel more like a group hangout, I spent like 3-4 hours with them, and we had dinner together. It was nice to hang and have a glass (bottle) of wine together and just chill. After we were sufficiently inebriated, we kept shooting, and that’s where the darker/second half of the shoot happened, and it felt like magic.

Hot tip for finding an Asheville engagement photographer:

Your Asheville engagement photographer should spend enough time with you to take the anxiety and stress out of your shoot. If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right! If you’re thinking to yourself that I may be a good photographer for you, learn more about the experience of having your photos taken by me (it’ll be a ton of fun and you’ll look so hot I promise).

I’m overwhelmingly emotional and proud about this set. Every time I look at it, I just feel a sense of pride, happiness, and growth. Honestly, I’m so excited that I overcame this creative rut to bring this same excitement and gun-ho into all of my other sessions and weddings this season.

I hope you like these photos as much as I do :’)

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