We started out the session with a few fabulous portraits of Jolyne and Greg with their “fur kids!” We love dogs a ton, so it’s always a treat when our couples include them. :)

Look at that face!!!  OMG, she is ridiculously cute!
Our plan was to hit up Canal Fest, but on our way there, we stopped by the river to grab a few shots there.
L-O-V-E!!

We were lucky enough to be near the water at the most perfect time of day – the light was AMAZING (and these two are too cute for words).


Jolyne’s dad has a sweet boat docked right near where we were going, so we decided to stop and grab a few shots there, too!  This one’s pretty fun!  :)



Then, we entered the Canal Fest craziness…

…but, clearly, it was worth it…
…to get shots like these!!  ”Kissing on top of the ferris wheel” shot?  CHECK.
We walked around the back of the ferris wheel, and happened to bump into a classic car show.  Loving the color of this truck!
We played around with some slow exposures for a few…I loved this one of Ben’s.  It’s different, and cool, and definitely a picture I wish I had of us.  :)
Our very last stop on the Tonawanda tour, was this fabulous alley.  The block glass was a major win (as was this adorable “un-posed” pose)!

Jolyne and Greg – have we expressed enough that we think you’re a ridiculously adorable couple?? You guys are just waaaaay too cute together, and we honestly cannot wait to shoot your wedding! :)

Before we headed up to Canada, we stopped at a park near Miquel and Paul’s house to grab some pictures of them with “the girls.”  This was my favorite.  :)
So, like I said, Niagara-On-The-Lake has a ton of cool stuff to shoot around.  Like this triangle-shaped bike rack, for example…FUN!!
The Prince of Wales Hotel is always a winner.

I love this shot of Ben’s!  It’s totally perfect.  :)




Miquel is an English teacher, so we thought some book shots would be completely appropriate.  These are super cute!!


There was a wine shop on the main strip in NOTL that had its front windows stuffed with corks, and we thought it would make a sweet backdrop.  LOVE the way this turned out!!  (Of course, being as gorgeous as Miquel is definitely helps!)



Toward the end of our shoot, we drove down to the lake in the hope of catching an amazing sunset (and hoping to cool off!!).
I am IN LOVE with this one.  Are those lashes for real???  Seriously…GORGEOUS.
Taking in the sunset!

Miquel and Paul – Thanks so much for spending some time with us up in NOTL!! We had such a great time just hanging out with you guys, and we’re totally looking forward to the wedding! It’ll be here before you know it. :)

I wish I could be (and believe me, I have tried to be) one of those girls who is an actual sports fan. Not an “I’ll-pretend-to-like-sports-until-he-marries-me” kind of girl, but an actual sports fan. The kind of girl who pays attention enough to know who’s being traded to where, or which sport is played in which season, or even the kind of girl who loves football so much that she would sit in the nosebleed section at Ralph Wilson Stadium in the freezing cold, while the semi-incoherent drunk men behind her scream in her ear and spill beer on her head, just because she loves the game that much. Those girls are impressive, and I applaud them. Unfortunately, that’s just never going to be me sitting up there in those bleachers, all half-deaf and beer-soaked. I would rather spend my time elsewhere, I suppose. Is that wrong? Hopefully, no one will judge me.

Lindsey and Joe happen to be huge Sabres fans, (and I’m 100% positive that Lindsey is the actual kind of awesome sports fan I mentioned above), so they wanted to start off their session in front of the good ‘ol HSBC arena!
Love and Sabres jerseys…ADORABLE!

Standing on tiptoes is also ridiculously adorable…
GO SABRES!!!
Shortly after the super fun jump shot, they changed out of their jerseys and we took a few more cool shots around the arena.


From the top of the parking garage next to the arena…gotta love the Buffalo News trucks in the background!!
Then, we went inside the parking garage, and played around with all the cool stuff in there for a while.  Awesome stairs…

Awesome circle thing-y…

…awesome cables, and an AWESOME COUPLE!!!
The rain tried to crash our party, but we pressed on throughout the sprinkles to grab this sweet shot.  We were both loving the “Queen City” signage.

I love this one of Ben’s!!  It started to rain a lot harder at this point, but Lindsey and Joe didn’t even care!  How great is that??  They are HARD CORE.
Raining, raining, raining…but, I love this shot (and I love the man who let us use his building)!!
The sprinkles turned into monsoon like conditions, but we still decided to go check out the newer, more modern-looking lighthouse at the Marina.  We climbed up a billion flights of stairs to get there…no, I kid.  It was about 5 flights, but it felt like a billion.  :)
It may have been a wild, wet, and windy storm outside, but these two hardly even noticed.  Now that’s TRUE LOVE!!  :)



Lindsey and Joe – thanks so much for being such a fabulous, easy-to-work-with couple!! We had a blast with you two, (in spite of the crazy weather), and look forward to seeing you both again in October! :)

I’ve been looking forward to this post for a while, now. Sandi and Romie are super fun people, which made their whole shoot super fun! We started out in Allentown, and walked around to see what we could see. One of the most noteworthy and photograph-able spots in Allentown, is the “wall of flames” outside of The Pink. It’s definitely Ben’s favorite old “haunt” from his days of being a pool-shark-bar-fly. Trust me…he has many stories to tell about his days of living on Mariner, just in case anyone is ever interested.

Sandi’s neon pink shoes are bomb-tastic…

A few doors down from The Pink, is this awesome wall mural (I think this is the side of Hardware, if I’m not mistaken).  We stopped here for a few fun shots.  :)

This random parking lot/courtyard is the coolest of its kind I’ve ever seen.  By the way, isn’t this an adorable couple?  They are SO ridiculously cute together…

PURE PERFECTION!!




This shop on Allen Street was my favorite out of all the locations we stumbled upon during the shoot…it had the most unique collections of perfectly organized random objects that I’ve ever seen under one roof.

Fun with vinyl…

Possibly my favorite of the day…
…but this one is definitely in the running for favorite of the day, as well.

So, I didn’t yet mention that Sandi and Romie are both champion bartenders, who can flip/toss/juggle liquor bottles.  Think Tom Cruise in Cocktail, only a little less 1980′s, and a lot more awesome-ness.
The main attraction of the bottle-flipping sequence was Romie’s flaming bottles.  I’m pretty sure that this wins the prize for the coolest bartending skills EVER.

Sandi and Romie – thanks so much for hanging out with us in Allentown for some engagement photo session fun! You guys are such an amazing couple, and we know like we know like we know that your wedding will be beyond spectacular!!!

To start out, we grabbed a few shots in front of the Carousel Museum in North Tonawanda – definitely one of our favorite spots for photos!


Aiden happens to be at a very “wiggly” age, so it was pretty tough to get a portrait with everyone looking directly at the camera, but I really liked this shot of Ben’s, anyway.  :)
After the Carousel Museum, we headed over to the canal area in NT, where Aiden did some table dancing for us!  Just kidding, just kidding….we bribed him with chocolate to get that handsome smile.

What’s that in your mouth, Aiden?  An M&M, perhaps?  ;)
I LOVE this one!!  So cute!
We walked around the park a little, and took some fun “playing around with Mom” shots!


LOOK AT THAT FACE!!  Is that a happy kid, or what?!

This is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  We asked Breanne and Shawn if they’d like to do a more “engagement session-y” shot, and they did, so we set one up, and then Aiden popped into the shot, looking up curiously at what was going on!  Isn’t that just the cutest thing?  I love it.

Breanne and Shawn (and Aiden, too, of course) – thanks so much for hangin’ out with us by the water! We had a great time chasing you around with our cameras! :) Looking forward to the wedding!

To view more images or to order prints from Breanne, Shawn, and Aiden’s family session, click here! (Shoot us a quick email if you need the password!)

Stephanie and Chris are both HUGE fans of the Bills, so we did our best to incorporate some of good ‘ol Ralph Wilson Stadium into their session!
This one is SO fun!
We did a bunch of different shots at the ticket booths…this was Ben’s take on it, and although I did like the shots I took, I LOVED this one of his so much more.
Awesome creative lighting…a wickedly cool shot (if you’re a Bills fan).
Then, we headed over to one of my favorite little parks.  I honestly have no idea what it’s called, but it has this awesome blue bridge, so I just refer to it as “the park with the cool blue bridge…”
What a perfect looking couple…SERIOUSLY!
There’s actually a bunch of awesome bridges in this park, which is why I heart it so much.
A different perspective on “the cool blue bridge” – totally in love with this shot!
AWESOME supernatural looking light blob…
This one made me so happy!  Stephanie, you’re going to be a gorgeous bride!  :)

More fun with creative lighting…

Couldn’t resist using this fence…there’s just something so fab about a gritty chain link fence.

Stephanie and Chris – thank-you both SO much for being such awesome people to work with! You guys rock, and we can’t wait for the wedding! :)

I’m not sure if I’ve ever revealed this piece of information, but I grew up in a rural area, and am a country girl at heart. I love Buffalo and all, but there’s nothing quite like going to visit the family farm. Renee’s family farm reminded me of my family farm, and needless to say, I was smitten with it from the moment we pulled in her driveway.

When I saw this old tractor in the driveway, I knew that we HAD to use it in a few shots! I just LOVE it!

This one’s a little quirky, but it makes me smile :)
The vintage milk crate that Renee is standing on is a genuine antique, given to me by a genuine dairy farmer who has been in the biz of milking cows since he was just a boy.  I was honored that he entrusted me with such a treasure, and I’ve been so looking forward to the right shoot to bring it to – Renee and Dan’s location was absolutely perfect for it!!

This shot of Ben’s is SO great – “framed in leaf shadows!”

Oh, GOSH, how I love red barns!!  My family farm is complete with a red barn, too!  The first one was begging for a texture.  ;)

I really think these next few images are my absolute favorites from the session…



This next set isn’t too shabby, either…GREAT shots, Ben!!  ;)
And, of course, there was no shortage of old farm equipment to hang out around…this next one is another one of my absolute favorites from the session!


The family horses…
So, we had a gorgeous couple, walking around in a beautiful field with grazing horses, at sunset…SCORE!!!

After we “horsed” around for a while (pun intended), we headed on over to Taughannonock Falls (in the Ithaca area) for a few shots – an amazing waterfall that is even more amazing in person.

The sky was KILLER that night…we were loving every minute of working with these two!
FAVORITE SILHOUETTE OF ALL TIME??  Done and done!!  I LOVE it!

This last image is what I would consider “extreme engagement photography.”  To get this set of shots, I had to basically climb up and plaster myself to a sheer rock face, while Ben ran around clamping lights to branches and twigs…it was a definite challenge!!  But, when I look at the end result, it was totally worth it!  Of course, we could never have made such awesome portraits if it weren’t for Renee and Dan.  They were super-patient with us, fun to work with, easy going, and genuinely in-love:  all of the things that remind us of just how much we love our job!

Don’t they look perfect?

Renee and Dan – thanks so much for everything! You guys are SO great, and we honestly had so much fun hanging out with you! You two are perfect together, and we’re totally looking forward to your wedding day! :) See you soon!

The CTRC gave us two hours to shoot inside the building, which seems like it should be enough, but honestly, we could have stayed there all day, and not run out of ideas.  We were like two kids in a candy store (or two contestants on Supermarket Sweep), running around from room to room, trying to make sure we got everything we wanted to get within our time frame.  One of the things I love most about this building is the old lettering used in the signs, so we started by incorporating some of that cool-ness.

Such a gorgeous couple!
Random patio heaters stowed away in a side room make excellent props…
We were IN LOVE with the wide variety of textures around the building.  I mean, really, who doesn’t love giant square bricks with big blobs of mortar?
The famous Union News Company kiosk…LOVE it!
This is definitely one of my favorite shots from the session…

The famous Central Terminal clock…

Another favorite of mine…
I love this shot of Ben’s; the outside of the building is just as cool as the inside.

We took a walk down the train tracks, and found a TON more amazing things to use.  Cool shot, Ben…very unique perspective!
The inside of what I think used to be some kind of baggage building…just a guess, though.
I’ve started bringing our “posing guide” on shoots to let our couples choose different things they want to try, and Courtney and Joe (being the fun-loving people that they are) definitely nailed this one!  AWESOME!
No photo shoot at the Central Terminal would be complete without a shot under the Presidential Platform…
More amazing-ness…
Ok, this one is definitely my number one favorite.  They both look PERFECT and completely in-love.
Joe informed us during the shoot, that he had been perfecting his vertical leap for the perfect engagement photo “jump shot.”  I’m gonna go ahead and say that this jump shot made its way into our top three all-time favorites – you guys ROCK!!

Courtney and Joe – thanks so much for being such a great couple to work with!! You guys are so much fun, so easy going, and so obviously great together – we can’t wait for the wedding! Talk to you soon! :)

We met up with Melissa and Matt at the Carousel Museum to get things rolling. We’ve seen the outside of this place a few times before (and have been dying to shoot it), but had never been on the inside, where all the magic is. It’s SO cute inside, and full of historical memorabilia…and, who doesn’t love a good, old fashioned carousel horse? Seriously.


This was the “workshop” room in the museum, and I’m guessing that they use this chair area for presentations/Q&A sessions, but we thought it was the perfect spot to stick an adorable couple…how cute are these two?

Having your engagement photos taken while sitting on vintage carousel horses and kissing = RIDICULOUS CUTENESS!!


Ok, so this was the place that Melissa and Matt wanted to take us, and boy did they EVER know what kind of locations we love.  This perfectly grungy, hasn’t-been-cleaned-in-a-dog’s-age hallway is in the Wurlitzer Building, which is undoubtedly worth checking out.  If you are a photographer of any kind, or even just a person who likes to explore random creepy locations around Buffalo, then you need to get there and check this place out like yesterday.  I’m not sure “creepy” really relays the full message of the vibe this place has going…I don’t know how to explain it exactly, but the following terms come to mind: Twilight Zone, alternate universe, wormhole, paranormal activity.  Sound creep-tastic?  Well, it was.  It was fantastically creepy; and no matter what, it will forever remain close to the top of my “favorite shoot locations” list.  Just look at this place…I simply could not love it anymore than I already do.

Perhaps my favorite of the day?  Well, one of my favorites, anyway…LOVE the red light!

Me:  ”Ok guys, just climb up that rusty little ladder there, and sit up on that ledge.  Yeah, don’t worry, it’ll hold you.  Oh, and ummmmm, try to look comfortable.”

Melissa and Matt, have we told you how much we love you for being so fearless, and so “down-for-whatever?” Well, we do.

FREE YOUR MIND.  love it.

Our third awesome location was the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda.
This is what happens when you inadvertently put your faithful, old DX fisheye lens on your relatively new-ish full frame camera.  Oops!  I kinda like it, though, so I added a vintage-y tint to complete the look.
Ben told Matt and Melissa to copy the people in the mural above them…he cracks me up regularly.  :)
We quickly shifted gears from “fun and silly” to “seriously in-love” to take this last set of shots, and I am SO glad we did.  I love this!

Matt and Melissa – what more can we say besides thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for taking us to these AMAZING locations!! You guys (and your sense of adventure) are inspiring! We are truly looking forward to being a part of your wedding day! :)