Love weathers the storm

June is such an unpredictable month when it comes to the weather. Britney & Jamaal's hybrid Engagement/Family session was scheduled for 4 o'clock pm on June 17th. Early in the day it was sunny but around 3:30 prior to setup the rain came. The location they chose was the beautiful Buckingham Fountain. Prior to the session I got soaked in the rain. Literally SOAKED! It was bad but I had a job to do! :)

I refused to allow this to ruin the session. So when we met up I immediately began to direct them once the rain slowed down. The rain worked in our favor because since Buckingham Fountain is a huge tourist attraction in Chicago many people ran to take cover. This gave me the advantage to frame certain shots to make it seem as if these two were the only ones there. It was as if they had the entire city to themselves.

Their daughter Kenadie was at the shoot also and we incorporated her into some of the shots. Not only did I refuse to let the weather ruin my mood or the shoot but THEY refused as well! All three of them had such a rich spirit & positive attitude that at one point I seriously forgot I was soaked and the rain didn't even matter anymore. That's real love. And as a professional photographer it makes my job a lot more easier when clients understand that you can't control everything and may as well make the best of it while you are there!

The session lasted a little over an hour and I used bare flash off camera. Since the sky was so dark I didn't want to use soft light. The hard light made them stand out even more from the background, So much so that the background looked like a backdrop from a postcard. In addition to this I used a deep depth of field to bring out clarity in the clouds behind them. All of this worked together and gave me the look I was going for. Britney, Kenadie, and Jamaal were a fun family to work with and I can't wait to shoot their wedding in August!