“Michaela, from start to finish, was intent upon making us feel comfortable and getting photos that felt like captured memories rather than posed moments! We were so nervous going into our engagement shoot having never really been in front of a camera like this. Michaela asked us about activities we enjoy doing together, and the engagement shoot just felt like a date night. Immediately, nerves went away and we just started having fun! Michaela gave us the space to voice any concerns, worries, or insecurities we had and she was intentional about each one of these throughout the entirety of the shoot. Overall, our experience with Michaela was comfortable, so fun, and gave us such special memories that we will be able to keep forever!!!”

– Bella, Bride-to-Be

Picture it with me. You’re newly engaged. As in, your dream engagement ring was tenderly slid on your finger just a few days ago, your iPhone call log is full of all of the giddy Facetimes you’ve made to everyone you can think of with your left hand up in the air as soon as they answer, your cheeks are twinging with (welcome) pain from the smile permanently pasted on your face for 48 hours straight.

Once the initial madness dies down, you beeline to book your engagement session with me, and we dive into my hallmark planning process with the intention of booking the most wholehearted, whimsical photoshoot possible. You tell me ALL of the things about you and your spouse-to-be: everything from how you met to how you two spend your precious quiet time together to that very second when you “knew.” (You know, like you just KNEW that this human wasn’t just any human but your forever human.)  

Because I am who I am– a truly documentary-style photographer intent on capturing what your love actually feels like in all of its carefree, exactly-as-it-is glory– I then set to work planning an adventure engagement session that will result in photographs (and new memories!) that feel entirely authentic to you. 

Here are a few reasons an adventure engagement session with me might be a good fit for you and your love:

1. You aren’t interested in the cookie-cutter engagement poses or stereotypical save the date imagery. 

You want to announce ‘forever and a day’ to the world in a way that feels right. You want to adorn your dining room walls with a gallery of vibrant photos that say, “We’re starting our life together, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about it if we tried.” You want to look at your photographs years from now and feel all of that giddiness and anticipation coursing through your veins, like it was just yesterday. 

An adventure engagement session gives you and your fiancé the opportunity to plan something 100% unique to your story, unlike anything anyone has seen before and unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.

It’s important to me that your session feels less like a photoshoot and more like a core memory made, less like you’re being followed around by a third wheel (she is me!) and more like you’re so entirely lost in the moment with your fiancé that you barely even notice I’m there.

In Hunter’s and Bella’s case with their adventure engagement session in Sanibel Island, Florida, we spent the entire day just running around the sand-swept streets, dodging under the shade of the palms between bike riding in the sunshine. While my shutter was clicking away, I’m pretty sure there were multiple times where Hunter and Bella forgot I even existed because they were so caught up in being together. And that’s exactly how I like it!

2. You want your engagement photos to be incredibly meaningful to your story as a couple.

You deserve to look at your photographs each and every day and feel everything in full. I hope when Hunter and Bella look at their photos years from now, they can still feel the Sanibel sun on their faces and the sand between their toes. I hope Bella can feel nothing but air under her feet as Hunter twirled her around the beach at dusk. I hope Hunter can feel Bella’s eyes on him at all times on the secret bridge. I hope they both feel that forever-kind-of-thing-feeling that they felt coasting down the streets on their baby blue bikes. 

Bella and Hunter opted to bring me to Sanibel Island because that’s where they spent a lot of time together as a young couple. So much of their history lives in Sanibel Island, and by chronicling their story there before getting married in the backyard of their hometown in Clear Lake, Iowa, we imprinted their photographs with so more meaning. We spent time doing things they loved to do anyway, and Sanibel Island is now memorialized in their photographs as the genuine setting of their love story.

3. You want to feel light and at ease during your adventure engagement session.

No one feels entirely carefree in front of a camera, I promise you. Absolutely no one. It doesn’t come naturally to us as humans! 

So much of my process is centered around making sure that you barely even know I’m there. In my adventure engagement planning questionnaire, you’ll have the opportunity to voice any and all insecurities, so that I can speak confidence and truth back to you. Knowing how you feel in front of a camera will also enable me to plan my prompts with even more intention– not making you do anything you don’t want to do, cuing things that actually feel natural to you, not telling you to place your hand or move your arm in a way that you can’t or don’t want to.

Part of what I do well is create a space that feels safe and fun and to help you feel comfortable so that you can surrender to the beauty of the moment, making a new memory with the love of your life.

An adventure engagement session is the perfect fit for you if you’re reading this and nodding your head. It’s for you if the idea of looking through your photo gallery with tears in your eyes sounds desirable. It’s for you if you welcome any opportunity to be silly and playful with your forever human. 

If you think an adventure engagement session is, in fact, for you and trust that we will make magic together, send me an inquiry, and I’ll promptly email you my Adventure Guide so that you can learn more about my process and how we will capture what your love feels like, together.