Emma & Chris | St. Anthony Main, Stone Arch Bridge | Minneapolis Engagement Photography

Emma and Chris selected Minneapolis iconic locations St. Anthony Main and the Stone Arch Bridge for their July engagement session.  It proved the perfect balance to their winter wedding in Minnetonka.  Emma is a teacher and so she had some time over the summer for wedding planning.  As part of that planning process, she arranging this sweet engagement session.  This couple met here in Minnesota, then lived in Germany both separately and together.  Emma had come back to Minnesota first with Chris moving back right around the time of this session.  So he had to acclimate fast!

The Stone Arch Bridge and St. Anthony Main areas are rich with lovely and varied portrait opportunities, from nature to urban with a great Minneapolis skyline view to boot.  I do engagement sessions during the week so we have a little more privacy (relatively!) compared to busy weekends in popular spots.  These areas are frequented for all types of photo sessions - and for good reason of course!  It was a fun afternoon cruising around from the bridge to near the St. Anthony Main theater, stopping along the way for great locations and light.

While the location is of course important to showcase, I'm also always looking for quality, flattering light along the way.  In the shade, the light is soft and filtered and very complimentary, so that's where we do the classic, "pretty" portraits (and family and wedding party portraits at weddings), while in the sun we can do edgier, more dramatic images.  There are so many variations and combinations to these two basic options.  My general process, though, at any given location is to walk through the area looking for quality light first, and location/background second.  Sometimes - well at least a couple times at each session - a good location trumps light, like when on the Stone Arch Bridge, so I photograph in a style that makes it work and look great.