At Home Session: Anna & Kade

What can we say about Anna and Kade . . . You know what? Just look at the portraits from their at home engagement session. We’ll wait.

. . .

What did you see? It’s all in there. Ok, so maybe you don’t know what genre of music they listen to, or how they take their coffee, but the important things are there. You know how they hold one another. You know how they love one another. You know how they live and laugh, and why they belong together. Yeah, you know the important things about Anna and Kade.

And THAT is why we LOVE at home engagement sessions.

An at home engagement session is the perfect opportunity to preserve the memories of how you truly are . . . or were. Because these are the types of moments that you will look back on in 20, or 30, or 40 years and think, “That’s how it all began.”

Anna and Kade absolutely rocked their session. Like, fo realz, yo. We would love to tell you that we absolutely teased out every last bit of amazing and awesome that we could find – there was a lot, by the way – but that wouldn’t be 100% accurate. They were so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera, it didn’t take them long to ease into the shoot. Even Beauregard was super chill. (He’s the short one.) In fact calling it a “shoot” is a little misleading. The reality is much closer to: we all just hung out for a bit and two of us had cameras. It really was a dream session.

couple drinking coffee in front of kitchen window during an at home engagement session in Shreveport, Louisiana

Anna and Kade did 3 big things that made their at home engagement session stand out.

1. They followed the light.

We started out in their kitchen which not only had amazing light but turned out to be where they spend most of their time as a couple. It’s also where Anna keeps Beau’s treats, so he was down. The lighting was perfect for the time of day and everything fell into place from there.

long haired woman and man sitting on kitchen floor and playing with their dog

2. They were relaxed.

Sometimes one of the most challenging aspects of having your portraits taken is relaxing. And this is only natural. New things or situations can easily become awkward. It happens. But it doesn’t have to. Your photographer should help you out with this quite a bit, however there are things you can do to help yourself, too. Anna and Kade dressed comfy for their session. This is huge. And it just makes sense. Most of us dress comfy at home. And don’t be afraid to love each other. It is an at home ENGAGEMENT session, after all.

woman sitting on counter next to coffee cups and holding hands with her fiance during an at home engagement session

red haired woman with her arms around her fiance's neck as they laugh

3. They were themselves.

Once they were relaxed they just did what they do normally, lol. It wasn’t any more complicated than that. They made coffee and drank it on the front porch. Beau got scratches and they took him for a walk. There was an impromptu jam session out front. It was just “them.” Whatever it is that you do in your normal life, do that. It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact bonus points if it’s not. They did them, so you do you.

dog with tongue out sitting between his two owners during a walk

Bonus Tip

This one is also a big one, and there is a lot that can be said, but we will keep it short: They trusted their photographers. Before the day of our first session together we had all already begun laying the foundations of a relationship that allows us to communicate emotionally and effectively. And it wasn’t complicated. Anna and Kade took the time to learn about us as photographers and we took the time to learn about Anna and Kade. We even met in person. It’s incredible that such a simple step often gets over looked, but it makes a world of difference. It really does.

loving couple standing in an oak lined street and looking down at their dog who is looking up at them

***Anna and Kade, we loved working with you and we can NOT wait until your wedding this December. It is going to be absolutely amazing and we are like super duper pumped. Thank you for opening up your current and future home to us, it was such a privilege. Give Beau extra lovins from us, too.

barefoot red haired woman laughing and holding her fiance's hands at his waist smiling woman in gray tank top with her arm around her fiance's shoulders and his arm around her waist couple holding each other while laying in the grass and smiling at one another woman's hand with engagement ring resting on top of her fiance's hand and their dog's paw on top of both hands man and woman kneeling on side walk to pet their small black dog in Shreveport, Louisiana black and white dog on leash with owner standing in road man with arm behind his head and long haired fiance holding him laying in the grass man and woman sitting with their guitars on the concrete walkway in front of their two story red brick home woman in gray tank top and engagement ring playing guitar while sitting in a green wrought iron chair couple sitting on the stoop outside their white wooden front door and stoop and holding love letters they have written one another couple sitting on their front stoop smiling at one another and holding love letters they have written red haired woman in gray tank top kissing her fiance's head as he leans toward her sideways