Jose & Tara | Carnival Date Night Session

September 5, 2021

Leave it up to Pinterest to inspire. I saw a couple photos of a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, cotton candy, and instantly wanted to pull of my own date night session at a carnival. I googled when the next county fair was close to me and, lucky me, saw the local fair was just a month away.

I went into this session as I did any other -- with a camera roll of inspiration and a note of posing ideas. Not too much "planning ahead" so I never connected in my head that the local fair would be highly, highly populated. Kids, teens, adults, grandparents, all staring at us or walking right through the shots. Tara and Jose were total troopers as they put up with being photographed in front of an audience. They are coming up on their one year wedding anniversary but I kept joking that if anyone asks or looks at us weird, we will tell them you just got engaged. (You can get away with a lot when you blame it on a proposal/engagement session.)

You know that quote from Harry Potter: "When have any of our plans actually worked?! We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose." That's a little bit how this session felt -- only because I did not plan for the large crowds at the carnival, silly me. Timing was everything for this shoot. I know the photoshop tools to remove people from photos but I am not the type of photographer who spends weeks on the editing end. I use photos as they are, which meant I needed to snap the photos at the exact time the background was cleared. I also needed to keep giving my couple long prompts that would keep them busy for awhile as I waited for those key opportunities of crowds passing in and out of my frame.

I love when my couples start adding in their own ideas. Tara and Jose liked to incorporate food into their date night session. Messy sandwiches, ice cream, and pop corn. Some of the best moments have been created from me asking "so is there anything you want to do or pose like?" Once the couple has gotten used to the idea of being photographed, they usually do start having ideas of their own. If my whole goal is to capture the couple in the uniqueness and "normal" essence, then having them give me their own ideas is the best way to capture who they truly are as a couple. Like when Tara wanted to throw pop corn at Jose's face.

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