At the start of every engagement session there is always a little awkwardness. I mean most people have never had professional photos taken of them and of course they are most likely meeting my goofy ass for the first time in person. So yeah it can totally be a little weird for some people to act like their genuine selves, and I get that, but as a photographer my goal is to document people being their natural selves. I like the moments in between, candidness and authenticity. What I don’t like are a bunch of lame ass dip kisses, overly posed people and basically photos that look and feel staged. Therefore, it is damn important that I connect with people, and one of the tools I use to make that connection is booze. Booze is terrific because it basically makes everything better. This is why when Alicia and Sam cruised to Old Town Temecula to meet up with me I advised them we hit up Blackbird Tavern as the rendezvous spot. I actually shot an engagement session in Old Town Temecula earlier this year and loved the central location of Blackbird Tavern so it totally made sense for logistic purposes, but let’s also not forget the spot had ice cold beers armed and ready for consumption.
Once Alicia and Sam rolled out to Blackbird we drank some beers and snapped some photos at the bar to get warmed up before cruising through Old Town Temecula. Alicia rocked this AMAZING Free People floral dress that screamed photograph me! So that’s what we did. We kicked ass in Old Town for about an hour before heading out to Mount Palomar in wine country Temecula. Honestly, it was weirdly cold for Temecula in April but these two held tough. Sam and Alicia were awesome because they didn’t bitch and complain about how freezing it was, unlike me who took every free moment to cry like a little girl that I was chilly. And as the father of a sweet little lady I knew all about crying little girls. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my daily life and how my daughter Vienna will occasionally have a tantrum if we leave the park too early so I will let you enjoy the Temecula wine country engagement photos of Alicia and Sam. Cheers to Alicia and Sam!
