And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that sort of session–you can get some really cute and creative photos of the two of you. But I’ve come to believe that your engagement session can be even more meaningful than some nice photos in a park. It can be a window into your relationship as it is, right now, and a reflection of this unique time in your life. Everything changes so quickly, and we can easily forget what life was like before we were married…before we had kids, etc.

So with that in mind, I’ve been encouraging my couples to get creative with their engagement sessions–thinking of it more as a fun date than just a photography shoot. The possibilities are endless, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know my couples even better through their personalized sessions. Here are five of the best engagement session ideas I’ve photographed in the past year or so. I hope they inspire you in planning your session.

1. Stay home. Seriously, home is where we’re relaxed, where we have everyday conversations. Where we laugh and cry and do mundane things like make breakfast and dinner. One of my favorite places to photograph engagement sessions is in my clients’ homes. Take a look at Lauren and Ian’s Brooklyn home engagement session and Jenn and Ryan’s breakfast-making engagement session.

2. Plan an afternoon or evening date. What do you enjoy doing for dates? Do you visit a favorite restaurant, peruse a local museum, grab a yummy cupcake at a local shop? If you’re going somewhere and doing something you enjoy, your photos are bound to reflect that. Check out Ashley and Matt’s fun visit to an art museum, Erin and Joe’s stop at a favorite restaurant and cupcake shop, and Katie and Brent’s afternoon date where they hit up their favorite locales in Philly.

3. Explore the great outdoors. Maybe you and your fiance have a favorite outside activity. Go explore it together for your session. Check out Katie and Brian’s downhill skiing adventure, Emilie and Max’s pumpkin patch fun, and Kelly and DJ’s amusement park date.

4. Share your passion. Perhaps you met your fiance through a shared interest or passion. See how Caroline and Darius keep a friendly hockey rivalry alive, and see how the theater brought Lindsey and Kyle together.

5. Walk the dog. Many of my couples have dogs, and guess what–when you have a dog, you take them for a walk. Plus, dogs just make everything cuter! Take a look at all these lovely pooches: Natalie and Steve’s handsome boxer, Katie and Allan’s adorable puppy, Abby and Matthew’s sweet basset, Katie and Max’s faithful mutt (I love mutts!), and Elizabeth and Matt’s playful labradoodle.

As you can see, the possibilities for your engagement session are practically endless. So get creative–and be sure to ask me for more tips if you get stuck planning your session.

In 2010, I made a list of 20 goals I wanted to accomplish, which I succeeded with to a certain degree. And while I’m not a big list person, I found the process helpful in motivating me to do more and allowing me to see what I’d accomplished.

I let myself off the hook for 2011, anticipating that it would be a crazy year of big changes–a move to a new city and expecting a baby being just two of the biggest. But this year I’d like to take up the list/goals thing again. Twenty items seems like a good number–enough to keep me busy but not so much that I can’t accomplish it.

So here it goes, my 20 Things for 2012.

1. Have a baby. Heh, yep, I’m throwing myself a soft ball to start this list out. Most blog readers know by now that I’m expecting a baby (and you’re probably sick of hearing about it), and I’m actually due TODAY. But, alas, I’m still pregnant as ever. So having this baby is a very important goal to me. Of course, it should go without saying that once the baby is here–my priorities in terms of my time will certainly change! And since I don’t know exactly what that will look like, I’m holding off an any other baby-related goals.
2. Shoot fewer weddings and more portraits. Yes, in the past most of my business has been oriented towards weddings, which I do love photographing. But long-term, I’d love for there to be a bit more balance between weddings and portraits. Specifically, my goal is to photograph 10 weddings and 20 portraits this year. I’m really excited to see how this works out.
3. Get back into shape by running. Isn’t this every mother’s goal–to get back to her pre-pregnancy body? In order to accomplish this, I’d like to register and train for a 10k or half-marathon in the fall. The specific race is still to be determined…
4. Visit all the Smithsonian museums at least once.
5. Buy a grill and have a cookout for neighbors and friends this summer.
6. Visit the Chesapeake Bay. Ha, do you see a warm weather theme here? I don’t know why, but I really want to visit this body of water. I guess it’s close by and I see so many things about it–I’d like to see what it’s all about.
7. Reserve one day a week to be “internet free.” This means no facebooking, emailing, forum checking, time wasting, etc. This will probably be one of my hardest goals to accomplish, but it’s something that I think will definitely help me be more creative, more happy, and more tuned into the needs of others. Of course, if I need to look something up for an activity (find a restaurant, for example, I’m going to use the internet…but other than that–it’s hands off).
8. Plant and maintain an herb garden. Now that I have a backyard, I’d like to try my hand at a bit of gardening. Hopefully I can avoid killing everything I plant.
9. Photograph some horses. I love horses. In fact, my photography started with my love of horses. But lately, my life has very little to do with horses. And it may sound silly, but I’d really like to get back into photographing horses on the side. So my plan is to visit some local barns and see if I can do some photography there.
10. Read a book a month. This was a goal I had in 2010 and failed to accomplish, but I’d like to try for it again.
11. Find three things that I can improve in my business to make the photography experience even better for my clients.
12. Host a game night for friends. Again, this was a goal in 2010 that I never realized. Sad, huh? I’m going to make it happen this year…even with a new baby.
13. Learn how to cook an Indian dish. I love Indian food. It’s one of my favorite types of food, but I don’t know how to make any authentic dishes. I’d like to learn!
14. Take on two personal photography projects. One of those will hopefully be my horse goal, but I’d like to spend some time photographing something else just for fun that interests me. TBD…
15. Learn how to salsa dance. This isn’t likely going to happen, but one can dream.
16. Set aside specific times for answering emails and editing.
17. Write a short story. This goal sounds ridiculous, but I enjoy writing. If I never give myself a goal to write something, I’ll probably never get around to it. So, no time like the present!
18. Decorate my home for the holidays. I’ve never really decorated my home for any of the holidays. That’s going to change this year.
19. Mop the kitchen floor…more than once. I needed another soft ball goal. This seemed like a nice one.
20. Create photographs that inspire me and my clients. It goes without saying that this is a goal I have every year, but I really want to create more work that I am truly proud of.

So here’s to 2012 and all the possibilities!

I’ve selected just one photo from each wedding–just a sampling of some of my favorite moments and portraits from 2011. I can’t wait to see what the new year brings!

Looking back, I honestly did have a lot of fun shooting so many creative and meaningful engagement and family sessions–several of which involved snow and ice and two trips to the Big Apple. I hope you enjoy looking back on these as much as I do. Here they are, in no particular order.

In the meantime, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas (and my sister a happy birthday)!

But, I did promise I’d show photos of the baby nursery, and I finally feel finished with it. So, today I thought I’d share what’s been an on-going project for Jay and me these last couple of months. Before we started it, I knew I didn’t want a “pink, girly” nursery–even though we are expecting a girl. In fact, I agonized over the color choices for several weeks–literally crying and having a breakdown at one moment. I’m blaming that on the hormones. The one thing I did know was that I wanted to incorporate a favorite horse painting into the room. It ended up becoming the inspiration behind the purple color, and with a little help from pinterest and blogs, the rest fell into place.

So here it is, a not-too-girly purple and green nursery with a horses and books theme.

The cute, gray rocking chair is my absolute favorite chair in the whole house. After realizing a lot of standard rockers simply would not fit in the room (or up the stairs!), I found this perfect modern piece from Monte design.

The green dresser/changing table is a DIY project that I’m very proud of Jay for doing. We literally found this old, brown dresser on the side of the road in Pittsburgh a year or so ago and carried it down to our apartment. It sat around in our entryway until we moved here, and then I got the idea to use it as a changing table. With a little elbow grease from Jay–read: sanding, priming, and painting–it matches perfectly with the green accent and is just the right size for the room.

I wanted something to break up the purple in the room, and the wall stenciling idea was a blog find. It actually didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would to paint–just about four hours total. If you’re wondering where I got the stencil, I found it here.

The bookshelves were another blog inspiration. They’re actually IKEA spice racks that I painstakingly spray-painted white. The spray-paint gave a smooth finish, but for time’s sake, I think I would just use paint and a paintbrush if I was doing it again.

Finally, another IKEA find were these hanging soft baskets. I wanted everything to be within hand’s reach for changing the baby, and these fit the bill.

Both of my winning photos happened to come from Katie and Max’s wedding at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.

And if you’re wondering what “fearless” means when it comes to photography–it’s all about being bold, striving for the best of the best photography. For me, that means pushing myself to go beyond the expected and cliche shots that are common in wedding and portrait photography. It’s something I’m continually working at, so it’s wonderful to receive the acclamation from fellow photographers whose work I respect.

Here are the winning images.

But since great engagement photos can be made on any day and in most any weather (I’m thinking a hurricane or tornado might ruin things), we had a fun time exploring some favorite locales of Erin and Joe around DC. Of course, warming up with a glass of wine and ending the session with a tasty cupcake in Georgetown might have helped.

Thanks so much for the great session, guys. I’m so looking forward to your wedding next May!

As you can see, fall is great time for purple to shine. Of course, you can never go wrong with a classic white, and if you’re looking for a lot of color–a bunch of wildflowers is the way to go.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday everyone!