80’s Engagement Session – Liz + Steve

Ordinarily I go out of my way to not photograph in your every day spots such as the front yard of a suburban home. But in the case of Liz and Steve that’s exactly what we were going for. While I was around in the 1980’s, I certainly was not old enough to be a photographer. In fact I was usually on the receiving end of the lens as many of us were during the childhood years. Aside from the usual photos at birthday parties and family gatherings, I recall being asked to pose in front of pretty trees, fountains, landmarks and many other things that look great on their own, but end up coming out sort of “blah” when you see them as a small 4×6 print. So in the case of Liz and Steve I put together a vision of what an 80’s engagement portrait would look like today.

The location was their home and featured an assortment of props from the iconic pink flamingo and garden gnome to a 1984 Camaro Iroc which Steve holds near and dear to his heart. There was absolutely no problem with having him move the car a little to the left or right since that provided him with the opportunity each time to peel out and burn some rubber. Now in the 80’s it wasn’t traditional to do engagement sessions so I envisioned that once the family found out that a young couple was engaged, it would be the enthusiastic dad photographer that would take the kids out into the yard for a few photos. Fashion shmashion, let’s show off those pink flamingos, the car and the kids new Slip’n Slide!