Kitsilano beach park engagement on bikes.
As I mentioned in our preview from this Kitsilano engagement on bikes couple weeks back, Jon and Sheila decided to enjoy themselves on this portrait session. That is sometimes not easy at all for some couples. To get relaxed takes a time. This is the reason why I always recommend a engagement or simply a portrait session with a couple prior to their wedding. This way they can get used to my shooting habits. They do not get scared when a wide angle lens is breathing on their necks and do not runaway when a long paparazzi tele photo lens is pointed at them from the cover. Here they come on their goofy city bikes.
You might be asking how do you capture a couple riding around you in a park so you can create a decent photo story from it? That is actually the story. All three of us wanted to photograph the reality. Jon and Sheila love to go out to parks, love sunshine and riding their bikes so what else did we need? I have simply asked to warm up themselves by doing couple loops in between the park trees. This way they completely forget about me and my cameras. They were enjoying the riding and my shooting was a bonus for them.
To capture some candid and also some coached poses I let them to stay on their bicycles. They were important prop for them and so we created the whole story around it. Some of the shots are tight crops with telephoto lenses but the bikes are still present in them even though if you cannot see them all the way. And kiss on the bikes during the portrait session is priceless moment not to be missed 🙂
If you are thinking that all these images look kind of rustic you are right. I have decided to use a post process technique based on vintage style. I have tried to shoot against the light as much as I could. This way the flare and bleached out colors emphasize the romance of the moment. But even with the direct sunshine these images get a dreamy look so popular for brides. Shooting backlighted scenes is not the easiest photographic technique, but for these kind of situations they seems to work perfect way.
And here comes the twist of the evening. When a regular portrait session would be over we were only in the first half of the session. Sheila and Jon asked me to customize the session for them and come back later that evening for the sunset and night shots. And we did. We had an amazing light to work with and you will be able to see those pictures in the second part of this different engagement shoot.
Thank you guys for a great time at the Kitsilano park. I loved the idea of the bikes from the beginning and you completely nailed it with the sunset shots. Part 2 coming soon.