This year I have several Groom’s that have contacted me about photographing their weddings, and Ryan is one of them. Photography is important to both Ryan & Renae, but Ryan in particular was adamant about selecting the right Photographer for their wedding day. Since they’re living in Buffalo we’d planned to meet in person the next time they were in the area, (Renae is from Cortland, so they’re getting married locally) but Ryan was sick and wasn’t able to join Renae when she and I got together. That meant Saturday was the first time I’d actually met Ryan, but since he spends about as much time on the computer as I do, we’ve exchanged emails, chatted through gmail and followed each-other on Twitter and Facebook in addition to talking on the phone. So I already felt like we were old friends.
Their session had originally been planned for late Saturday afternoon, but there was a good chance it was going to rain, so we were able to reschedule for the morning. I always tell my couple’s the earlier the better when planning sessions because that’s when the light is best, so when I woke up Saturday morning to an overcast day minus the gorgeous sunlight I’d told them about, I just had to laugh. They were good sports about it, and in the end it was a good thing we’d moved the session up because it poured 30 minutes after their session was originally scheduled to begin.
We’d had a few discussions about where to do the session, and they wanted to stay away from the waterfalls and other typical locations. I’d recently driven through the Cornell campus area and thought about how great it would be to do a session there, so when they suggested a more urban setting I asked Ryan to explain what he was picturing when he said “urban”. When I think of urban I picture graffiti and old brick buildings. Ryan was picturing something a little nicer than that, lol, so when I told him about the area around Cornell they were thrilled. We decided to name this session “Upscale Urban.”
Ryan & Renae, Michele and I had a great time hanging out with you on Saturday! Here are my favorites from the session. Talk to you soon!
Isn’t Renae gorgeous?!
The view was amazing. Too bad it was so cloudy that the sky show up white.
It’s so nice to have leaves in the background!
This is one of my favorites.
Yep, sometimes I take pictures of people without their heads. I adored Renae’s shoes, so I thought they needed a picture of their own.
What I wouldn’t give to live here. This place was amazing. Someone had the poor taste to leave their SUV parked right in front, so I composed the picture without it. We’re pretty sure it belongs to a fraternity or sorority. Thanks for letting us “borrow” your amazing house!
It was starting to get really hot by this time.
This is someone’s side lawn.
I really *love* this picture.
I totally want to live in this house, too. It was all I could do not to walk up and peek in the windows. We behaved ourselves and stayed on the steps, though.
Renae gets all the credit for this one. It’s right by that amazing first house and she noticed it on the way back to my car. We took a couple of images and continued walking when she noticed the heart carved into it, so they climbed back into the tree for this shot.
You might notice all of the vertical shots are on a gray canvas this time…I’ve received some feedback from my peers that when I use a colored canvas it takes away from the image itself. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
