Who said you need to be engaged to have your engagement photos captured? Alex has been our intern for almost two years and as a photography major at college, she was completely hooked on our style of photography. She wanted to get married so she could have wedding photos! Once Alex and Michael were more serious about their relationship as they both finished college, they started planning their life together. While they are planning to get engaged in the next few months (we would not want to jinx it though) we decided to surprise Alex and Michael with a pre-engagement session. They were thrilled! Alex had a great idea to style the session in the Great Gatsby style. She raided her grandmother’s attic and even made one of her dresses.
St. Anthony in the Hills located in Avondale, PA seemed like the perfect location with its broken down amusement park and a bonus mowed field. Over all a great experience for all of us. We love to watch Alex and Michael grow as individuals and watch their relationship blossom. We hope to be there to document their big day when it happens.
From Alex and Michael:
For our one year anniversary I knew we wanted to do a fun/ no traditional photo shoot. After some thought I remembered St. Anthoy’s in the hills, a dozen plus acres of outdoor family space, I actually learned to swim in the pool there and remember growing up and spending countless summer hours there. I’ve have always loved old stuff, old cars, old jewelry, and anything vintage inspired, so naturally we picked a great Gatsby theme for the shoot. I just love the genuine glamour of the 20s mixed with the abandoned yet beautiful scenery. St. Anthony’s was the perfect spot because it reminds me of the naturalistic movement in art history, in which nature fights back against man made structures. I am a photographer and was super nervous about being the center of attention, but when you have amazing artists, like Mike Kehr and Jana Banana behind the camera it was obvious from the start that they would and did work hard to make us comfortable. In the end it was an amazing day and way more fun then I could have ever imagined!
I can’t believe how great the photos are, I’ve never been photogenic and it means so much to me to finally have some really awesome photos of the two of us. It’s hard to pick which is my favorite, but I do really love the ones on the tractor and the ones on the picnic bench. I feel like both of these photos capture Michael and I simply enjoying each others company as we naturally do.
Alex said: Michael and I met through a mutual friend and our love for snow and snowboarding. I work in the only ski shop in DE so naturally when Michael came in to shop and visit a co-worker he caught my eye. I knew immediately he was the kind of guy I wanted to marry someday, cute, extremely goofy and understood/ appreciated my sarcasm. I asked him to go coffee, but we ended up at my favorite Mexican restaurant for margaritas (my fav). After we were done eating and drinking we stayed and talked for hours, only then realizing how much we had in common. He’s my best friend and I joke that I want to shrink him and take him everywhere with me.
From Michael: On our one year anniversary the love of my life Alex and I decided to do a Throw back to the 20’s themed photo shoot. The weather was great and Alex looked stunning! We couldn’t have asked for better weather or location to do our shot. Mike and Jana of MK Photography made the experience so wonderful, they made it so easy to be natural in front of the camera. We took so many wonderful photos, so it’s very hard for me to only pick one to be my favorite. But a few of them really stood out to me. We did a jumping photo where we stood atop of a hill and jumped into the air as high as we could. It captured Alex and I having fun and being a little goofy. We also did a photo where we are sitting on a large hay bale, the lighting and camera effect are amazing. The photo truly captured the love and embrace Alex and I feel for one another. The experience is one I will never forget, I look forward to doing another shoot again sometime in the future.
Alex truly means the world to me! She’s my best friend, the love of my life and the reason I have the biggest smile on my face every waking morning! When Alex and I first met I knew right from the get-go she was the one put here for me. I know the saying is “She’s my other half”, but I feel as though Alex is, we have so much fun together and always find a way to enjoy each other. I love to hear her laugh and to see her smile. Her smile makes me sit back and say WOW I can’t wait to marry this girl one day! I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have met Alex and I’m thankful for everything she is, wants to become and the way she loves me!
