Durham engagement shoots are kind of our favorite thing and also we like Abby and Rachel a lot. We made them stand in a bunch of strange places in soggy wooded areas. We threw leaves at them (possibly containing centipedes). We made them do shadow puppet kung fu. We took an elevator downtown that literally had a puddle of pee in the corner of it so we all stood huddled together on the other side to avoid it. We made them sit on the ground of public sidewalks and cuddle. They giggled the entire time presumably because we were making them feel mildly uncomfortable (it’s what we do) and we all talked about television and Durham and our love of the pink penguins outside 21c. We’re shooting their wedding next year at the Haw River Ballroom (one of our favorite local venues!) and even though we may make them stand in more soggy wooded areas, at least we won’t have anymore peed-in elevators to contend with.
Sooo many pups lately! We’ve had a ton of them accompanying us to shoots, but we can’t complain because who doesn’t love fuzzy adorableness? I am a sucker for fluffy dogs and especially Huskies, so when Abby and Rick told us that they were planning on bringing their eight week old Husky pup named Athena, I went to work on devising a plan where we could pretend like we’re posing and photographing the couple, but really just photograph Athena the entire time. Then when Abby and Rick would see the pictures later, they couldn’t even be mad that there weren’t any pictures of them because Athena is so cute.
But it turns out that Abby and Rick were also really cute, and really nice, and the light was SO GOOD on this morning session in Durham that we decided to suck it up and not just photograph Athena, but also photograph her owners as well as her adorrrrrable and very very sweet older brother, Atlas, a Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix. Atlas is ridiculously calm and well behaved for his age (ten months), and also fiercely loyal to his mother. He cried whenever she’d walk around the corner despite many pets and reassurances from us that we weren’t kidnapping her. The pups kept Abby company while Rick was away on deployment, and now they are all very happy to have Rick back home to spend time together hiking and being really, really cute.
Amy and Jon “…are Californians who hail from Los Angeles but we are not snooty and we hate juice fasts.” :) I can’t speak for the juice fasts, but they certainly aren’t snooty and are up for practically anything. They’re happy-go-lucky people who just happen to be really really pretty. Despite moving back to California this month (this time to the San Francisco area), they wanted to have engagement pictures taken in Durham since it means a lot to them. They moved here when Jon decided to attend business school, and together they adopted their first puppy and got engaged. So even though they’re moving back, they’ve come to really love Durham and see it as a big part of their relationship. They wanted nature, tall trees, skylines, American Tobacco views, and urban city backgrounds. So we ran around the Eno! We hopped around downtown! We did all this without anyone contracting poison ivy and only running into only ONE instance of urine around an elevator! :D You can’t ask for a more successful session than that. ;) So with these pictures we bid a fond farewell to Amy and Jon and wish them the best of luck returning to California. Durham will miss you!