brad smith photography

Here’s the third of three engagement sessions that I photographed this holiday week. Amanda and Dan found me through Amanda’s sister, Tracy, whose wedding I will be photographing next month at the New Haven Lawn Club.

I met Amanda and Dan at Harkness State Park in CT and we quickly found some gorgeous public gardens, old stone buildings, rolling greens, and a little slice of ocean front. It had a lot to offer in the way of beautiful backdrops to shoot against. We ended right at sunset on the beach and were treated to some amazing colors!

Thanks for coming out to shoot for a bit, Amanda and Dan! I’m looking forward to seeing you next month, then for your own wedding next May!

It was a week full of engagement sessions! I met Ryan and Eric the day before our session, and since they were only in town for a short time for the Fourth of July holiday, they wanted to do an engagement session before the headed back out to the Midwest where they both live and work. Ryan and Eric are getting married next year at the Misquamicut Country Club in Westerly. We spent some time strolling around the Watch Hill area, hitting the lighthouse, the shoreline, the carousel, the Ocean House, and points between. It was a great evening!

Ryan and Eric, thanks for taking the time out of your busy holiday weekend to walk around with me for a bit!

I spent some time last week with Jesse and Ben at Goddard Park in Warwick. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of photographing her aunt Sarah’s wedding in Barrington, RI. Jesse and Ben are getting married this August down in Narragansett. We had a beautiful summer evening to work with, and I think we took some great images. Goddard Park offers so many different shooting locations within its’ gates. It’s really a fantastic spot to photograph. I’m really looking forward to Jesse & Ben’s wedding later this summer at the Kinney Bungalow. They are a ton of fun – and I think it’s going to be a great day.

Below: My favorite!

I spent a little time the other day out and about in Providence with a friend and fellow wedding photographer, Mike. I photographed him and his lovely fiance, April on a beautiful afternoon last week. We started in Roger Williams Park then travelled up to India Point in Providence to take some sunset shots. I had a great time – it’s both fun and nerve-wracking photographing another photographer.

These are a few of my favorites from the evening. Thanks, Mike and April!

Below: My favorite of the day!

Below: A second favorite!

What a fun couple to work with! I’m already looking forward to Kim and Nate’s 2012 wedding! As much as they say that they’re not, Kim and Nate are both very photogenic; I had no trouble capturing some great moments between the two of them. I traveled up to Hampton Beach, NH for their engagement shoot a few days ago, and we were treated to beautiful late-afternoon light. Having never been to Hampton Beach, it was fun for me to explore the beach, boardwalk, and honky-tonk store fronts that the town has to offer. We roamed the streets and found some gorgeous light, then returned back to Kim’s grandparents home for some sunset images.

Thanks for showing me around Hampton Beach, guys! Enjoy these images – I had a lot of fun making them.

The Spring is such a great time to shoot your engagement session. The grass looks great, the trees are flowering, and the temperatures are generally reasonable. Last week, I met Ashley and Kyle at The University of Rhode Island for a fun engagement session, where we walked all around campus and took advantage of all the great backdrops it has to offer. Later, we drove down to a little beach hidden away in Narragansett.

Spending the time that I did with Ashley and Kyle just reinforces the fact that their wedding this July is going to be a ton of fun! They’re a fun loving couple, and I’m really looking forward to being a part of their big day in a few months.

So it was windy, cold, dark, and threatening to rain at any moment.  Who says that isn’t perfect weather for an engagement shoot?  After seeing how these turned out, not I. Mother Nature was set on ruining the day, but Erin and Dan made the best of the early spring weather. They made a great choice in picking Purgatory Chasm as the setting for their engagement shoot. The contrast of the light green against the steel grey sky and rocks was perfect to frame the couple in.

I had a great time exploring the rocks and woods with them! Here are a few images that I liked!

I traveled up to Boston for my last engagement session of the year. I met Tracy and Chris at the Boston Common on a very windy day-before-thanksgiving. I had such a fun time walking around the park, as well as exploring some of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. We found such cool places to duck out of the wind and cold. That area provides some amazing backdrops for pictures! Here’s just a few of my favorites from the afternoon.

We’ll end this post with a few funny ones. We were shooting in an tiny alley in Beacon Hill and found this tiny door. We thought it’d be fun to cram them right in there and take an offbeat picture.

Secondly, on our last shot of the day, we tried something a little different. I tried to get a few ‘zoolander’ poses out of Tracy and Chris. It seems, however, that they couldn’t both keep a straight face at the same time. Here, Chris is cracking up, while Tracy rocks the model pose.

Thanks for being such good sports, guys! Looking forward to next summer!

Brianne and John are getting married on Cape Cod next spring and we recently spent some time wandering Newport for their engagement session. It was the third time we rescheduled due to rain – I’m glad we finally got to do the session. They were a lot of fun – and i’m really looking forward to their wedding next year. I love the Cape in the spring! Thanks Brianne and John!