Amanda Rae Photography Blog » Engagement

Meet {Lisette & John} Hollywood Sign

Amanda — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:23:44 +0000

This is one of my favorite engagement sessions! There are so many pictures I’m just going to get right down to it!

I love this swing in the lobby…I want a big swing in my house now.

Then we headed up into the hills towards the Hollywood Sign.

So Lisette brought along some lollipops and I said ok why don’t you take them out of the wrapper now so we can use them. And as they did, I turned to go back to my camera bag and I come back and each of their lollipops are broken in half. They BOTH broke their lollipops as they were opening them! Seriously, what are the chances of that?! So I was like, let’s rock it…I think it’s so cute that together the two half lollipops make one…it’s symbolism, people!

Mike took the following picture and it’s one of my favorites!

Mike took this one too…I LOVE pictures like this, so warm and cuddly.

Then, we headed down to an old diner called Fred 62.

Check out the slideshow HERE!!!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Michelle & Eric} Santa Barbara

Amanda — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:56:53 +0000

When we first met with Michelle and Erik to discuss their wedding, they already knew exactly where they wanted their engagement session: The Santa Barbara Courthouse and The Santa Barbara Mission. Done and done. I’ve actually never photographed at either location so I was very excited (I LOVE shooting at new locations!) So, Mike and I show up early, as always, to scope the area and as soon as we park at the courthouse we hear very loud music. And as we walk into the courtyard it looks like it is set up for a huge concert and they are doing the sound check. So I’m thinking great, this soundcheck is so loud we won’t be able to talk to them during their entire session! Luckily, they were just doing soundcheck for Easter Sunday service the following morning. By the time Michelle and Erik showed up they were done! But we did have to navigate around the huge setup they had going on without getting it in our pictures. I think we did a pretty good job.

On another note…Michelle gets happiest bride of the year award. I don’t officially hand out awards here at Amanda Rae Photography but if I did she would get that award. Just take a look at these pictures and you’ll see what I mean.

Check out THE SLIDESHOW!!!

Normally if Mike and I get similar shots I’ll just show mine But I noticed a couple of times during this session where we got completely different angles of the same moment and it’s so fun to see how we each interpret that moment! This is my view:

And this is how Mike saw it:

One more time…this is what I saw:

And this is what Mike saw:

That was fun…onto the regular programming…

So, after we were done at the Santa Barbara Courthouse we separated to walk to our own cars to head over to the Mission. As we walked down this side street to get to our car we saw this balloon tunnel. Just sitting there all by itself. We ran back and yelled for Michelle and Erik to come back to play in it a little.

We all played:

Now, The Santa Barbara Mission:

One more of my view/his view. This is mine:

Mike’s view:

These last few pictures were all Mike’s, but I particularly love this shot he got:

One last picture…the dog joined! So cute!

Check out THE SLIDESHOW!!!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Morgan & Matt} Ventura Pier Photography

Amanda — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:25:04 +0000

This past Saturday we had the wonderful pleasure of exploring the Ventura Pier with Morgan and Matt. This coming Saturday we are going to have the wonderful pleasure of photographing their wedding! That’s right. We shot their engagement session exactly one week before their big day.

When Morgan said that she wanted to do her engagement session at the Ventura Pier, I realized that I’ve never photographed there before! We found the most beautiful little swampy area just a little ways down from the pier. I’m sure it was only green and beautiful because of all the rain we’ve gotten recently.

Check out the SLIDESHOW too!

I want this necklace. Like seriously bad.

Don’t forget to check out the SLIDESHOW too!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Angela & Mike}

Amanda — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:30:59 +0000

Angela and Mike have actually been married for several years. They decided to get some nice pictures of the two of them before they leave sunny California and head on a new adventure in Virginia Beach, VA (coincidentally, that is where my Mike is from!). I think it’s such a great idea to keep taking photographs even after you get married. I have a friend who plans to get pictures on their anniversary every year!

When Angela chose her location, I had only ever been there to go hiking not to photograph. I’m so glad we went there because the backdrops were beautiful, and I think it helped that we’ve had so much rain lately.

THE SLIDESHOW <--- click here!

As I was taking this picture. Mike was taking the one beneath it. Can you see why I hired him now??

Don’t forget to check out THE SLIDESHOW!!!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Kristen & Greg}

Amanda — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:03:39 +0000

I am so excited about this session. First of all, Greg is the brother of one of my past grooms, Doug. It’s such an honor to be able to work with their family again! Secondly, this is one of my most favorite sessions ever. We had the most amazing sunlight the whole time and the locations we found were perfect!

Check out THE SLIDESHOW too!

The below are by far my two favorites from this session. So dreammyyyyyyy!

Don’t forget to check out the THE SLIDESHOW!!!!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Alejandro & Kelsey}

Amanda — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:29:08 +0000

You probably noticed in my promo video that there was an INCREDIBLY adorable couple that you’ve never seen before. Well, I was actually taking pictures during that session and I can finally show them all to you! Alejandro is my best friends little brother. I’ve literally known him almost his entire life! So crazy. I met Alejandro’s girlfriend during Erika’s wedding and was instantly smitten. She is the sweetest thing ever. I could have never imagined Alejandro finding someone more perfect for him! Thank you Alejandro and Kelsey for being the best models for my video!!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Giovanna & Robert}

Amanda — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:18:06 +0000

The weather tells me what to do. Living in Southern California we very rarely have bad weather days. While they are more frequent in the winter than any other time of year, they are still few and far between. Every year, my family takes a mini family vacation, and the weekend before Christmas we ventured down to San Diego . I was fully expecting it to be in the 50/60’s all weekend and was prepared to bundle up and bear the cold weather. Much to our delight it was blazing hot and beautiful! We went to Coronado Beach and Balboa Park and had a grand old time! Then on Sunday I shot a wedding and again it was a beautiful day, but got rather chilly into the evening. I completely expected the weather streak to keep on going and give me gorgeous weather for an engagement session on Monday. But alas, my weather luck ran dry. Monday was cold and overcast with showers expected later that night. I stood outside for quite sometime staring at the sky trying to decide what to do. Normally, overcast weather can be fantastic for producing images. The big fluffy clouds blocking the sun create a softbox effect and eliminates any yucky shadows. But this overcast was very dreary and ominous. I finally decided to listen to the weather and do the smart thing and tell my clients (before they go getting too gussied up!) that it just probably wasn’t going to be the best day for a session and it would be in everyone’s best interest to wait until the sun is ready to shine again. The truth is, given any weather predicament we probably could have made it work and maybe even come up with a creative solution to the weather but sometimes you just need to follow your heart and I’m so glad I did.

We ended up having their session on Wednesday morning and it was a little cold, but the sun came out to play and it was beautiful. I normally DO NOT do sessions in the morning because I am not a morning person at all, but Giovanna and Robert were in town from Arizona and were heading home on Wednesday. It was a nice change of pace to try out shooting in the morning, but after this I will be reverting back to my afternoon only shooting schedule.

I know I’ve already written way too much and should just get to the pictures already, but I wanted to share a fun fact about this session…Giovanna is friends with a friend of mine, Heather, and Heather purchased this engagement session as an engagement present to them! I thought it was such a great present!

So Giovanna, Robert, and I headed down to the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art (LACMA). We had such a great time!

Check out the slideshow too!!

How cute is this? Giovanna pointed down at the light poles and said “look…A for Amanda!”

Iris & Erik {Engaged}

Amanda — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:54:32 +0000

This last weekend I met up with Iris and her fiance, Erik for an engagement session at the Topanga State Park in Topanga, CA. I met Iris and her sister a few months ago, but I didn’t get to meet Erik and his daughter until the day of their session. Fortunately for me, Erik is super cool so it wasn’t long till we were all laughing and having a great time! As soon as Iris stepped out of the car, I knew she was going to work the camera and she totally did.

Don’t forget to check out THE SLIDESHOW!!!

A quick outfit change and literally one shutter click of the sun before it went down behind the mountains. And look at those trees!!! Love the trees!

Erik’s daughter joined us for a few pictures and I love this one!

But I also really like this one

I think this one is my favorite from the day:

A little animated .gif to end the post:

THE SLIDESHOW!!!

Also, a serious shout out to Iris’s sister, Roxy. She came along to the shoot and ended up carrying my camera bag the whole time! It was so nice and freeing not carrying that around, thank you!!!

And, to Erika and Iris, I can’t wait for your wedding next year!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Ali & Jeff}

Amanda — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:24:36 +0000

A few weeks ago, a mutual friend introduced me to Ali. I sat in a downtown Ventura Cafe with Ali and her entourage and chatted about her wedding day. I didn’t get to meet Jeff until the day of the engagement session. Now that I’ve had a chance to get to know Ali and her friends and now Ali and her fiance, I am so excited for their wedding day next June on the beach just north of Malibu. Here are some of my favorite pictures of these lovebirds out in Malibu. Enjoy!

Check out the slideshow with bonus images —-> THE SLIDESHOW <----

—-> THE SLIDESHOW <----

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*

Meet {Jen & Matt} Part 2

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:09:37 +0000

Yesterday, I introduced you to Jen and Matt. Today, I introduce you to Jen and Matt at the Viceroy in Santa Monica. I was super excited when Jen mentioned that they were considering doing their engagement session at the Viceroy. I’ve been wanting to check it out, having seen it online a few times, and now I know it’s really cool in real life too! I think the Viceroy was the perfect choice for Jen and Matt, they just look like they belong there.

The slideshow from both days: THE SLIDESHOW!!!!!

I loved these huge yellow chairs, there really BRIGHT!

I was afraid that there was going to be a lot of people there on a Saturday but there was hardly anyone, so we snuck into a cabana for a couple pictures.

Then we went inside, where all the real magic is. The interior designer for the Viceroy is a genius.

This is one of my favorites from the whole day:

I love these little stools…they remind me of XOXO. Cute.

Um…HELLO MODEL!!!

I’m posting this picture because it’s one of my favorites, but also because someone needs to buy me that green dresser!

In case you missed it —> THE SLIDESHOW!!

Thank you guys for allowing me to capture this important time in your lives! I can’t wait to see you again at your wedding at the Alisal Ranch in Solvang!

*Contact me* *View my portfolio*