Steve & Annika ~ Engagement~

They've waiting seven years to get married. That's right. Seven. Steve & Annika started dating as high school sweethearts and life continued on. She went to college, he went to the Sheriff's Academy, and still their love grew and matured. It wasn't long before everyone in the family was talking... It was obvious from early on that these two are meant for each other.

Steve & Annika will tie the knot this winter, but before it gets too cold, we headed out to do some engagement photos down in beautiful, sunny, 75 degree Long Beach. And in keeping with their unique love story and fun personalities, they chose the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and Shoreline Village for their session. It was AWESOME. But be forewarned. This will be a long post - all those great locations combined with a fantastic and photogenic couple equals one very happy photographer and a whole lot of pictures to post on a blog!

We started at the Aquarium...




I love this one. This was a cute little port hole into a tank. I told Steve & Annika to hop up in it and they didn't even bat an eyelash. :) I love it when I have clients that just trust me.





This shark head was fabulous. It was some kind of air circulation thing and was blowing a lot of air out of the mouth. So Steve decided to model it up with the wind blowing his shirt back... Though it almost looks like he's hoping it won't eat him.


Besides being distracted by the otters (soooo cute) and sea lions and fish, the sea horses always catch my eye. Check out this guy!


Aren't they just adorable?


As the sun started to head down, we headed over to the Queen Mary (you know, the giant sister ship of the Titanic...)


Always love telephone booths.... always.....




This is one of my favorites from the Queen Mary photos... if I can pick a favorite anyway.


The running joke of the day was that I would tell Steve & Annika to "do cute romantic things" when I'd pick up my camera. I love that they just knew exactly what to do with that.


As we headed over to Shoreline Village, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have Steve take a shot with this flag. It just seemed so appropriate for him and his humor. :)


One of my favorite things about Shoreline Village is all the different colors. I think that literally every building is a different bright fun color (bright red, yellow, lime green, purple, blue, pink, etc.). I LOVE when I get to play with some bright color.


I was also really excited when I saw this parasol sitting in the window of a little shop. I used to have a cute parasol from my trip to Thailand a few years back, but I brought it to a wedding (and used it in some amazing shots), but promptly left it in the bride and groom's limo (never to be seen again). When I saw this one, I knew it'd be perfect. AND it's just happened to match my business's theme/colors... double bonus!


It will definitely be showing up in future shoots...






And my absolute favorite from the day....


Steve & Annika - I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did! I had so much fun working with the two of you!

Another engagement shoot and baby updates coming soon!
~B

PS: If anyone knows anything about image hosting for online use, I'd LOVE to pick your brain. I'm really disappointed with how much saturation, vividity and brightness I lose from the actual image to what it looks like posted on my blog. If anyone has any ideas about this and/or advice, PLEASE email me: briennemichelle@gmail.com. Thanks!