Film Engagement Session at Home - Lauren & Stephen

In honor of their wedding this weekend in NYC, today I’m sharing Lauren & Stephen’s digital and film engagement session. We started in their beautifully decorated home, spending some quality time adoring on their dog Homer. Steve and Lauren have great style, and I’m still in awe of their overflowing bookshelf and thriving houseplants!

They made their current favorite drink – negronis – and we chased the light through the different spaces of their home. For those who imbibe, I always recommend having a drink to calm the photo shoot nerves. As a bonus, making a drink is a cute activity to photograph! Next, in true Philly fashion, we spent some time hanging on the front stoop. After a quick outfit change, we took a leisurely walk through their Fishtown neighborhood. I used to live and work in the very same neighborhood, and it was a nice trip down memory lane to find some of my favorite walls & murals.

Steve and Lauren are such sweet, kind, cool, stylish souls, and I am over the moon at how these photos came out for them! I shot a mix of natural light digitals, juxtaposed them with film from different cameras, both with clean direct flash, and blurry funky Holga photos. I’ve been loving my Holga camera lately and find that it captures things in such a unique, unpretentious way. Can you believe that it’s a $40 medium format plastic toy camera? There’s a bit of a learning curve to using it, but it consistently produces some of my favorite portraits!

Absolutely cannot wait to photograph their wedding this weekend at the iconic retro TWA Hotel! For now, here’s their at home film engagement session from start to finish!

See more engagement session stories here, and more film engagement sessions and wedding portraits here!