Why is a wedding photographer posting a picture of his dog on his website? Why not? Here’s my dog Sparkie, she’s amazing. I’m sure that she has no concept of the term birthday, but this week she turned 11 years old and we celebrated by eating treats and taking portraits. To be clear, she ate the treats, I used the camera.  We captured a lot of great shots while the sun was setting. This was my favorite and now has become my desktop background.

Nancy and Chris will be married in Scotland next year. Here’s a slideshow from our engagement session in Ann Arbor.

Nancy and Chris Engagement from Edward Maurer on Vimeo.

Nancy and Chris will be married in Scotland in 2011 and I am very excited to be part of their wedding. We met in Ann Arbor for some fun engagement photos and to learn about their wedding day. Their two Australian Shephards joined us for the shoot too.

I’ve known Justin since we moved to Lake Orion and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to capture him and his friends before they went off to the Lake Orion Prom last night.  To the parents of that were there, the photos are available at the following password protected website:

http://edwardjohnphotography.smugmug.com/Events/LakeOrionProm2010

Please email me with the name of your child and I’ll send you the password.  You can also contact Justin for it too.  Thanks again, I had a great time photographing the group yesterday.

Why bother with an engagement session? Why do I include an engagement session in every wedding package?

My family and friends already know me as a guy that has a camera and takes pictures. That relationship has already been established since it’s common to see me with the camera to my eye and a smile on my face. Actually, the camera has almost become a part of the family as well.  I’m a member of this exclusive club of friends and family, and I know each person’s personality and how to capture it in the right way. I know that uncle Bob will be leaning against the wall with a scotch in his hand or cousin Joe will be dancing crazily on the dance floor after a few soda pops. It allows me to capture those candid moments that really tell the story of the day. Conversely, members of my family learn to expect that I have a camera and know when to pose for a non-candid shot if they want one.

When I meet a bride and groom, I’m not yet a member of this exclusive club of friends. The engagement session gives us an opportunity to become familiar with each other, and by the time the wedding comes I hope to have new friends that expect me to have a camera to my eye. I hope to be enough a part of the group to understand how to tell the story. That one or two hours of time that we have together gives the bride and groom the opportunity to become familiar with me, how I work, who I am, and who they are. I learn what angles work best for them, and what kinds of things to look for on the wedding day. The bride and groom learn how I work. They learn that I will give them a suggestion as to where to walk or stand and then I won’t talk to them for a few moments. It’s in those moments that they learn to ignore the camera and concentrate on each other. Those are the moments when the candid works of art happen. Sometimes during an engagement session I’ll give a bit more direction to help understand body position and composition. The whole session is a mixture of candid and posed shots that blend well together as a story.

So, why bother with an engagement session? I photograph weddings because I love to tell people’s story, and the engagement session helps us to understand how to tell it.

Every blog post needs some photos, so here are a few brides and grooms that I will have the honor of photographing their weddings this year. I look forward to being a part of their first day as husband and wife and telling that part of their life story.

Meet my brother and his wife. Together they make a great pair and we had a lot of fun photographing the belly last weekend. We captured some great photos of their entire family that were intimate and sweet, and then we had some fun. These were my favorites from the session because they show my brother’s humor and personality well.