The Portrait
Experience
New Jersey · Long Island · Brooklyn
Every couple I photograph
takes part.
These are Portrait Experience sessions, a step I build into my wedding photography process. It happens before the wedding, in formal attire, at a location we choose together.
Every photographer guides and directs differently. This is where you find out what mine feels like, unhurried and with no timeline pressing on us, so that on the wedding day nothing about being photographed is new. See how it fits into the full process, or read the dress code guide.
Why every couple does a session
The Portrait Experience is built into the wedding process rather than sold as an add-on, and the reason is practical rather than romantic. On a wedding day, the first time a couple stands in front of a camera should not be the first time they have ever stood in front of this camera. An hour together beforehand removes almost all of the awkwardness people expect to feel.
It also settles a set of small questions that otherwise get answered badly under time pressure — how you two naturally stand, which side of a face catches light better, whether direction lands better as instruction or as conversation. By the wedding, none of that is new.
Where these were taken
Sessions run across New Jersey, Long Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the location is chosen together rather than defaulted to. Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, Sands Point Preserve in Port Washington, Snug Harbor on Staten Island, Brooklyn Bridge Park and DUMBO, Liberty State Park, Central Park and Princeton all appear here.
Several of those require permits with real costs, time limits and seasonal restrictions — Planting Fields caps sessions at ninety minutes, Sands Point opens reservations three weeks ahead, and Brooklyn Bridge Park treats a lit session differently from a handheld one. Knowing those rules in advance is part of the job, and the current figures are all in my photo locations guide.
What to wear
The single biggest lever on how a session looks. Solid rich colours over busy patterns, a tailored fit, and coordinating rather than matching. Full guidance, including what to avoid and how to dress for gardens, estates and waterfronts, is in the dress code guide.
Formal attire is the default here rather than casual, because the session doubles as a rehearsal for the wedding day. That is also why hair and makeup are worth booking if you are planning to use them on the day itself.
How it fits the wedding day
Everything learned in the session carries straight into the wedding — how you are directed, how quickly a setup goes, what a portrait window actually feels like. By the time the day arrives you already know what being photographed by me is like, which means the ten minutes set aside for portraits produce far more than they otherwise would.
The full process, start to finish, is laid out in The Approach, and the wedding work itself is in the wedding gallery.
Where our work
together begins.
Every wedding couple takes part in the Portrait Experience before their wedding day. It is where you learn how I guide and direct, and where I learn how the two of you move together.
Book a Session