Behind the Session: Engagement Portraits at Rock Creek Park, DC

Some sessions you plan. Some sessions plan themselves.

This was one of the second kind.

When I scouted Rock Creek Park ahead of their session, I found a tree stump so large it stood taller than all three of us. I circled it for a while, not sure if I’d use it. It was massive, almost absurd in scale, the kind of thing that either becomes the centerpiece of a session or the thing you politely shoot around. I filed it away and kept walking.

Then they arrived, and everything else took a back seat.

We started with portraits, just the two of them, then with their dog, who had no interest in following directions and was perfect for it. Easy, warm, exactly the kind of start that loosens people up before they realize they’re being loosened up.

Then we got to the stump.

They scaled it, sat on top facing each other, and without any direction from me, began to read to one another. I don’t know exactly what the notes said. I didn’t need to. The stillness of it was enough, the way they were completely inside their own world while I quietly documented the edges of it. The emotions came. For both of them. And if I’m honest, for me too. I kept the camera moving. I kept shooting. That’s the job.

The portraits we made on that stump after carry something you can feel even in a still image. Something real had just happened there, and the camera knew it.

That’s the thing about sessions built around a moment rather than a shot list. You don’t direct them. You follow them. You stay ready, stay close, and trust that what’s unfolding in front of you is already enough.

It always is.

This is just one of those sessions I will never forget. If you’re a couple in the DMV and want a session built around your story, here’s where that starts →