Last year, I had the privilege of photographing Heather and Brett Pocorobba for their engagement and wedding. I am not a traditional wedding photographer, but they wanted a real street vibe to their collection, so it was a good fit.
As we discussed the project, I suggested a series of street engagement shots, one every month. The idea was to show the evolution of their relationship as they moved towards marriage. It was kind of a crazy fun idea, and made it interesting from an artistic perspective. Heather and Brett are big fans of art (Brett is the bassist for DC rock band Skip House) and they really liked the concept.
I think we caught some street style in this, but we also evolved beyond that, too. Looking back at the project, we added a sense of style to the classic engagement shoot that’s not quite street, but definitely beyond the usual soft white engagement picture.
The following photos show the project month by month, each with a little side story. Because people always ask about equipment, these shots were taken with a variety of Nikon cameras, including a D810, D750, and Df. If a unique lens was used, I note that. Otherwise, assume the shot was taken with a Sigma Art 35, Zeiss Planar 50, or a Nikon 85 (1.8 version) lens.
January
I took this outside of St. Elmo’s coffee in Alexandria, right after we agreed to work together. Since it had just rained, and we were executing a street-themed concept, capturing a kiss in a puddle offered a great way to set the tone for the project.
February
The National Cathedral added a sense of grounding to the series. First, it was cold out, so yeah, we wanted to shoot indoors. The open, almost universalist spiritual nature of the building made it welcoming. And of course the soft reddish purple light was perfect for Valentine’s Day.
March
It was still cold outside so we went to the National Gallery of Art. And boy did we get a sense of avant garde style and power from the couple. These are not your usual engagement shoots. They look chic and cool. These shots may have been the best of the whole series with the tunnel shot as my favorite portrait of Heather and Brett from the project.
April
We finally got outside in April, and went to the National Arboretum for our next shoot. I even brought in some lights to get some stronger classic engagement pics. While I like this shoot, it lacked the street portrait and scene edge that the other pics in the series have. If this were music, then these are your top 40 pop songs.
May
A rainstorm brings us back to the street. The top shot was taken through a window at le Madeleine’s in Old Town, Alexandria. The rest of the shots were taken underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Most notably, these latter three are within my normal street style, a bit of subject isolation mixed with grand scale.
June
June was not a great photo shoot. I was experimenting with the Sigma Art 135 mm lens, and just really did not produce many outstanding shots outside of the above fountain shot. I rented the lens for two weeks and remained mixed with its performance overall (Stay tuned for a review of three 135 lenses next month). The good news is that we did capture this awesome summer couple shot. The photograph has a great street vibe to it, and really fits well within the project’s direction.
July
Oh July. So we tried a crazy photoshoot on some railroad track with a smoke grenade. And it bombed (so punny). We then relocated to the Wilkes Street Tunnel in Alexandria to make some lemonade. I got a sense from Heather and Brett that they were starting to feel the wedding tension, but that it was bonding them. They were really together now, married spiritually.
August
August was a much more natural shoot, featuring Heather and Brett enjoying one of their favorite activities together, paddle-boarding on the Potomac River. We had a special guest star for this shoot, their dog Sora. I like that there was a great sense of calm with this final series of engagement shots. All photos were taken with Nikon 200-500 mm lens. Next up is the wedding.
September: The Wedding
The wedding was super fun, and Dwight Jefferson and I shot it from a journalist perspective. We did have our fair share of standard wedding fare (portraits, the ceremony, etc.). In all, we delivered several hundred photos to Heather and Brett.
Here are some of my favorite shots that I think met the spirit of the overarching project. A new lens is introduced to the mix here, a Tamron 24-70/2.8.
A special thank you to Heather and Brett for having fun and experimenting with our shoot!
