Noa and I first met when my fiancé and I were lucky enough to be one of the winning couples for her engagement photography contest earlier this year. We were ecstatic when we found out that we had won. No one but Noa could have captured the look and feel that we were hoping for with our vintage-inspired shoot.
From the beginning we knew that we didn’t want the typical “holding hands on the beach, gazing into each others eyes” engagement photos that a lot of people go for. That is fine and dandy if it’s your thing but it just didn’t represent us. We wanted something a little more edgy, a little more rock n’ roll, something we could look back at 20 years later and see our styles and personalities shine through.
At the time I was completely obsessed with Anna Karina and Godard movies. Our inspiration pictures screamed vintage, French, 60s, noir. We were lucky enough to find a hidden gem in the Park Manor Suites of San Diego that matched our vintage sensibilities. We had such a blast taking photos all morning and we quickly became great friends with Noa.
I have had so many compliments from friends and family members and strangers on our e-session. I love going back and looking at all the fantastic photos that Noa took that day. My favorites are actually the ones where Noa caught us laughing and being goofy with each other. It just wouldn’t have been the same if we hadn’t stayed true to ourselves. No matter what project you are taking on – your e-session, your vows, your décor – remember that the best memories will come from being yourself and not trying to fit into whatever you think you have to be.
~Emilia Jane
This was my dream shoot. I needed an extremely creative and open couple in order to accomplish what I had in mind- something different, vintage-inspired, striking... So I ran a contest on my blog and picked 2 sets of winners: Emilia & Bill clicked with this immediately. As well as Zola & Derick, because I wanted to do another E-session at someone's home and they volunteered theirs (more on this shoot later).
So, two sets of winners- two entirely different shoots. I really wanted to show that we can do things differently, that we don't have to stick to the same formulas we see all over the internet- but at the same time, the concept was inspired by the couple themselves, their personalities, interests, environments etc. Bill is a screenplay writer, and he and Emilia are both into 60's french new wave films. I really loved Emilia's inspiration pics so much. And it made sense to me to shoot this session like as if it were stills from one of those Godard films. Check out Bill & Emilia's entire engagement session on my blog here.
~ Noa (feather love photography)
