Bethany & Thomas
Colt State Park, Bristol, Rhode Island
August 4th, 2019
There are a number of ways I can tell that I'm working well with a couple and we're having a great engagement shoot. The first is to see the smiles on their face. The second, and perhaps more telling, is how many times I promise them "OK. This is the last photograph."
For Bethany and Thomas, soon-to-be-newlyweds who chose an absolutely jaw-dropping summer evening at Colt State Park earlier this month for their engagement session, I lost track of that number at three.
I couldn't help myself. Not only was this couple amazing but we had what will likely go down as the best sunset of 2019 the night they stepped in front of my camera and if their engagement session is any sort of preview for their upcoming wedding this October, well, I sure can't wait for the fall.
Bethany and Thomas are an absolutely adorable couple and though I met them roughly a year ago, our correspondence since they booked with me has strictly been an occasional email discussing plans for their engagement session.
While not uncommon, it always worries me to go such a long time between seeing a bride and groom and having to work with them as I always worry about our chemistry and getting them to be natural in front of the camera.
Thankfully, I knew five minutes in that that wouldn't be a problem for these two as they had a natural attraction to one another that was impossible to hide even if I tried.
Simply put, these two were the perfect couple and I knew we were in for some fun right away.
Bethany and Thomas chose Colt State Park for their engagement session and I couldn't have been happier. The three of us began their shoot down by the Chapel by the Sea in a little tucked away location that I love to take couples to but it wasn't until we got to the long brown bridge at the entrance of the park that their true personalities really came to the forefront.
I adored these photos of the two of them walking hand by hand and looking at each other. It's such a simple action but it really helps for a bride and groom to ease into the shoot and look like their natural, everyday selves.
If I had to choose, that photo above would probably be my favorite of Bethany and Thomas. Though, as you can probably tell, I loved a lot of these shots.
But something about that photo just seems so timeless.
And that's especially impressive considering just a few minutes, and one outfit change, later we would start to see one of the nicest sunsets I've seen in YEARS.
Seriously. How incredible is the detail in the sky and on the water?
No, that's not photoshop. No, I'm not that good at creating cool effects. It was just a beautiful evening in Rhode Island that I feel so fortunate to have already been out and about with my camera in hand. Talk about good timing.
By the time we started losing the light, I knew we had mere minutes to wrap up Bethany and Thomas' engagement session but I couldn't stop asking them for new poses on the dock at Colt State Park.
And I'm glad too because Thomas himself suggested a pose where he lifted Bethany at this point and it was one of the best shots of the entire afternoon.
That's when you know things are going great: When the couple is still totally into it at the end of the shoot and pitching ideas.
By the time Bethany, Thomas and I called it an afternoon at Colt State Park, I knew two things for sure. First, this couple rocks and are so cute together in photographs. Second? I can. not. wait. for their October wedding day.
If that's not the sign of a great engagement session, I don't know what is so thank you Bethany and Thomas for an incredible afternoon and a lovely time getting to know you a little better than a 1-on-1 meeting in a coffee shop would allow.
I can't wait to capture one of the most special days of your life in a few months and I know that if it's even half as good as your engagement session was, we're truly in for something special.
See you in October!
-PJS
