SoCal Engagement Session on Film | Evelyn & Ryan
Are you looking for a SoCal engagement photographer who doesn’t do stiff poses and fake smiles, keep reading. This one’s for you.
Evelyn and Ryan are the kind of couple who make you want to put down your camera and chat with them the whole time about everything. They met me with a welcoming smile and radiating warmth. During their engagement session they hugged each other without a cue from me. They kissed on a cliff with the Pacific rolling in behind them. They held hands walking down a sandy trail lined with wild yellow sunflowers. And it all happened in one of the best little beach towns in Southern California called Encinitas.
Why Encinitas?
Ev and Ryan live in Encinitas, CA. When I asked them about their perfect photoshoot location, they chose their little surf town. It sits about 30 minutes north of San Diego, tucked between the 5 and the ocean. The cliffs cut right into the water. The trails wind through wildflowers in bloom. There’s a golden, dusty, laid-back California quality to the light here that’s hard to fake. We started the session at their place, a cozy spot with a gallery wall full of travel photos, a Folk On poster, and that relaxed, lived-in energy that tells you everything about who they are. From there, we moved outside and found a vintage mint VW bus, parked under a palm tree in warm afternoon light. Then down to the bluffs, where the real magic happened.
Shot on 35mm Film
All of these photos were shot on 35mm film. I took some digitals, but naturally my favorite snaps were made on Kodak Gold. Film does something that digital just can’t replicate. The grain, the warmth, the way skin tones render in natural light. It slows everything down, both for me behind the camera and for them in front of it. There’s no chimping, no showing clients the back of the camera every two minutes. No performance for Instagram reels. You just shoot. And that creates real moments for the couple and for me.
For Evelyn and Ryan, it showed. The close-up kiss shot on the cliffside railing with the ocean behind them looks like a frame from a movie. The silhouette shot of them watching a flock of birds spiral up into a blue sky? That was a gift from the universe. You can’t plan that.
What a SoCal Engagement Session Actually Looks Like
This is what I want couples to understand when they come to me: your session doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. Ev and Ryan’s day had three completely different environments, their home, a roadside moment with the bus, and a dramatic coastal bluff at dusk. The thread connecting it all was just them.
We walked the wildflower trail down to the beach. We shot on the wooden staircase overlooking the surf. We got a wide shot walking barefoot on the wet sand with the sandstone cliffs stretching behind them. And when the light dropped and turned soft and blue, we got the kind of photos that end up framed on walls.
Getting Married in Southern California?
If you’re planning a wedding or elopement in San Diego, Los Angeles, Malibu, Santa Barbara or anywhere along the California coast, this is the kind of work I do. Candid, barefoot if that’s your jam, shot on film when it fits. I’m based in Los Angeles and travel anywhere you want your love story captured. The best sessions happen when people stop trying to look like they’re having fun, and just actually have it. That’s the whole thing.
Reach out if that sounds like you. Let’s make something worth framing.
