Thirteen years of marriage is a huge accomplishment, especially when I see it in a couple younger then myself.  It reminds me of stories that I see on TV of an elderly couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary, and it makes me smile.  I truly believe Hope and Chadd will someday be that couple.

On the day before their 13th anniversary, Hope and Chadd met up with me for their first real portrait session.  They were excited about a photo session since I photographed Hope's brother's wedding, Alex and Corina, last year.  With locations in mind we started around MOCA in Downtown Los Angeles.  As we continued around the area we were quickly informed that the Water Court area didn't allow "professional" looking cameras, but I was free to take photos on my iphone.   sigh....  Do I have any couples out there volunteering to do my first engagement session taken completely on my iphone?  No need to worry about getting kicked out of anywhere!!!  Cause it's the camera that makes me professional, not my website or business cards or skill level.  Anyone??  Anyone?  :-)

So not worring at all about finding good spots, we still managed to walk around the area and find a few hidden corners, stairways, as well as walk over to the Disney Music Center and get some great photos around there.  With a Hope/First St. sign in the back, creativity rushed through our minds, coming up with different angles, poses, and shots around the area.  After an hour, we jumped in the car and headed over to Union Station.

Being probably one of the most visited and popular places for engagement and portrait photos, I wanted to get unique photos that I had never seen before.  There are always the chair shots or the long halway shots toward the trains.  I wanted variety.  So we wandered outside.  We wandered inside.  We jumped around in front of a fountain.  We stood in front of flowers.  And for the finale, we even got permission to walk in the CLOSED section for 5 minutes.  We thanked the friendly and generous security guard and quickly got the photos I was looking for.  Different, artsy, but romantic and elegant.  It was a perfect end to a perfect day for a perfect couple.

Thank you to both Chadd and Hope for being excellent models.  Maybe next time we can do a beach session and include the dogs!  :-)  Cheers!