Love & Laughter & A Guest Blogger

Some people never cease to amaze me. People who live and love fully. Lee & Gil are those kind of people. I had the absolute pleasure of shooting an engagement session for them. They were fun and flirty, hot and steamy and a blast to work with. It's not always easy being a rock star model on the streets of downtown St Pete but these two pulled it off like pros. This is my favorite shot of the day.

I think this one is hot too.

Of course I think Lee is positively beaming. I believe people could actually feel her happiness from a block away.

(Did you see the heart in the picture above?)

I just love this picture... it pretty much sums up their relationship!

Fast forward to a few days later... Gil sends me a link to his blog which has the most shocking recount of our time together.

Well..... shocking may be taking it a little far...... maybe you should just read it for yourself.

What a Poser - by Gil

I think everyone likes attention. Sure, there are varying degrees of attention one can receive and depending on the amount, the slide on the scale of personal comfort can easily move from reinforcing flattery to hot-under-the-collar uneasiness. So there I found myself last Friday evening, the center of another woman’s attention. She couldn’t take her eyes off of me. Her words were full of both adulation and instruction at the same time. She was telling me what to do, and we were both enjoying every minute of it. Now before you have a ‘WTF?’ moment, I need to divulge that Lee was very aware of what was going on. In fact, she was part of the whole scenario.

*dramatic pause*

To clarify, Lee and I met up with our friend Elise who agreed to shoot our engagement photographs. Elise is a very talented photographer and had a great idea for taking the pictures Lee and I will use to commemorate our engagement.
We met up with Elise in St. Petersburg (Florida, because the flight to Russia would have set up back a bit) and the posing and smiling began. Since Lee and I are very laid back by nature, and our destination wedding will be in the Caribbean, the idea was to dress in sunny and beachy attire and juxtapose us against the urban and hip feel of downtown St. Pete. So there I was in my khakis and sky-blue, Guayabera style shirt leaning up against the red-brick wall outside Café Alma. There was Lee, in her beautiful blue-green dress, posing so elegantly in front of the medieval looking wooden door that serves as the entrance to the Vintage Ultra Lounge. The whole experience was so much fun, and it was the first time Lee and I had ever posed for photos outside a photography studio environment. I will admit there were times when it was a bit embarrassing to be out in public watching others watch us as Elise clicked away with her array of cameras and lenses. It was also a bit tiring. Even though it was early evening in the middle of September, the Florida sun was in full blaze and left us all calling for water breaks and taking refuge in the shade. The evening concluded with a quick wardrobe change and some more relaxed pictures in front of the beautiful Kapok tree at the Museum of Fine Arts. Before we lost all our light, Lee and I threw on some solid t-shirts and ball caps, walked across the street to Soreno Park, and took some pictures to represent our mutual love of college football. Through it all, Elise was so much fun to work with. She was open to the ideas Lee and I had, and was never restrictive in her photo taking. It was all about capturing the fun and the love Lee and I share on a daily basis.

We capped off the evening with dinner at local Mexican restaurant and wonderful conversation with Elise and her husband Kurt. I always make references to how blessed Lee and I are to be surrounded by such loving and giving friends, and last Friday night was no exception. It was a great experience, and I never knew having a woman other than Lee tell me what to do could be so much fun!

Least you think I wrote that here is the link to Gil's blog - http://danacreative.blogspot.com