For Kevin and Bobby’s Craft Beer Engagement Session we designed around their personalities and their interests. Like most people, they were a bit shy and nervous about getting in front of the camera at first. However by designing a session that made them feel like they were out spending time doing things that they do all the time, we created some engagement photos that capture their personality and relationship perfectly.

Craft Beer Engagement Session

The first thing that we connected on was their love of beer. Just like me they love craft beer. But unlike me, they actually spend time making it. They are great home brewers and love going out to try all the great breweries in the San Diego craft beer scene. Since they spend a lot of time in North Park and there are some great breweries in the area it was only natural to go to a brewery and capture them hanging out and drinking some beer.

I wanted to create something different for them besides the standard shots that I typically do. Since they get creative with creating beer, I wanted to get creative with one of their photos and create a fine art piece that captures their love for each other and their love of brewing. I came up with the shot above that features them infused with hops and barley. It was created with an old school all in camera technique without any photoshop.

San Diego Zoo Engagement Session

Another thing that we connected on was the zoo. They are San Diego Zoo members just like me. So it was an easy decision to go hang out there for part of the afternoon. They looked at me like I was silly asking them to get on top of a saber tooth tiger statue. One of them is also afraid of heights and was nervous about getting on the Skyfari. It’s hard to see that in the photo though because they were focused on just being with each other in the moment.

North Park Engagement Session

After the zoo, we returned to North Park to finish up their engagement session. The idea was to capture them hanging around North Park the way they usually do. While they might not hang out in the center divide under the North Park neighborhood sign or run from giant monsters on walls, or embracing for minutes at a time on the corner of 30th and University, they fully committed to having fun with it.

We spent longer than usual on this engagement session but every minute was great. Kevin and Bobby are two absolutely great people and I really enjoy spending time with them getting to know them. I could easily tell how much they care about each other and how important family is to the both of them. How connected they are to their community and how hard working they are. They are also people that love art and music and whiling to share in new experiences. I guess it also helps connecting with them that we have so many things in common like the zoo, art, and beer. Hanging out doesn’t feel like business at all. It feels like I’m just hanging with friends the way I usually would having beers in North Park.