I'm pretty sure that you will do it better than the 90% of people who are professionally dedicated to this, seeing the research and effort you are putting on it.

 

This finally happened Sunday morning after them pushing it back a bit and me being out of the area for a couple of weeks.

We got pretty lucky with the weather and NO crowd. Going early paid off - when were leaving about 10 tour buses of people were standing in line! I had called a couple of different people with Mt. Vernon and they told me that they don't really "allow" stuff like this, but if we went in as paying guests and stayed out of people's way we were OK.

Well, as I planned we got there right when they opened and went right to the important places that are unique to the estate, specifically the mansion. Fortunately we stuck to my plan and moved quickly, because after about an hour we were approached by security and asked to stop. They thought we were pros and models ... hardly!

I explained to them who I had called and what they had told me, etc. but the person in charge that day didn't want us to do it. The guards were cool, but didn't have any choice. Since we had immediately gone right for the good stuff, by then I had all the pics we needed to be on the grounds for, and had no problem wrapping it up. We went outside and took a few more shots.

It worked out well, and the couple was very comfortable and natural. Most of the poses that I had blocked out, they were just doing naturally, so it went pretty quick. She had a few great ideas that she wanted to do in addition to what I planned, so whatever they said I just said "let's do it!" I'm really pleased how everything went and turned out, and they were extremely happy... they asked me to do the wedding. Don't know if I'm going to do it yet, but I think I will based on this. They like my style, so all I have to do is what I do. I definitely don't want to get into doing that much, though.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite shots, and the link in my sig is my flickr page. On the right of the page are sets, the most recent of which should be 2 engagement sets (unless you read this after I post more pictures).

I would greatly appreciate some serious criticism. Would you be happy with these if they were for you, overall? What don't you like about them?

 

You had every reason to be nervous, those are shit.

 

That's word for word what my mom said!

 

Oh, man..

Ok, here's my take. They look really sweet together, but I think you need to zoom in on them. Get closer, make it more intimate. I don't know photography terms, but maybe some softer brighter light is in order.

 

Thanks KT, that's what I'm looking to hear. I'm used to shooting things, not really people, so I need to know what people want to see in themselves. I've got a lot more pictures that were very tight and different views, but the dude was almost never smiling or eyes open or anything, despite my pleas So a lot of them just don't work.

As far as the lighting, it was pretty tricky. The days that I had originally planned to shoot were clear and bright, but when we finally did it yesterday it was completely cloudy and dim I may go and edit them a little more and see if I can bring some more out, but they're pretty happy with them. I'm going to be pretty insistent about taking advantage of good weather days in the future. Or move to Vegas... I need to learn better how to deal with bad light, big time.

 

Apart from the first pic I like them…

Yes KT, there needs to be more intimacy but I think it exists.

Close ups to me don’t age well… I feel the “moment” is not only the people present but the weather, the trees and the structures that make up the event. I think your composition is excellent from what you have shared…
Lighting and color is not my style… maybe a little richer and warmer would be more me


my 2c

 

The 3rd and 4th pics are screaming for a warm filter.

I'm with Hani about the aging. Those close up photos, have to be a few, but all like that looks cheesy now and in twenty years time.

 

2, 4, and 5 are my favorites.

They dont look like they are planned, there's a more natural feel to the picture, as oppossed the one where they are walking away from you. There also seems to be a "moment" between them in 2 and 5. I put 4 in there because she will probably like that one, it looks natural (she's laughing at something off camera and he is just enjoying seeing her smile).

 

Hahahahahaha