Oceanside Engagement Session, Winter Island Park Salem Ma.

Meet Liz and Mike

I’ve taken many types of photographs over the years. But one of my favorites marks an engagement. An engagement session provides a focal point and a keepsake for a save-the-date card, sent to guests ahead of time. It’s featured in a couple’s wedding website, where everyone keeps in touch as the ceremony approaches. And it accompanies a formal engagement announcement in a magazine or newspaper.

Liz and Mike decided to have their outdoor engagement pictures taken at Winter Island Park, overlooking the harbor in Salem, Massachusetts. On a late October afternoon, the light was golden, the autumn leaves red, orange and yellow, and the sea blue.

Just perfect complementary colors for a variety of settings. I incorporated textures and shapes in the composition: their sweaters, the foliage, rock outcroppings, and the coastline. Liz and Mike faced each other on a path.

I used both black and white and color settings and a special backlighting that created a thin halo around their figures. Their faces glowed with love. Its symbolic of the new journey they are on together.

Next, they sat down on a boulder. Then I saw two ships sailing into the background one. One of the ships was the famous Schooner FAME of Salem.

I waited until they had moved closer so both could be seen over Liz and Mike’s shoulders. We enjoyed the session so much that we ended up in gales of laughter.

Liz and Mike will have a destination wedding and will be married at the Jupiter Country Club in Florida. And I’m proud to say that Louise Michaud Photographer will be there. I welcome the opportunity to discuss your own engagement and wedding ideas in my Salem studio.