Couples Portraits – Page 3 – Paper Ban Photography

Karina and Misa’s Engagement Portraits in Julian

JULIAN, CALIFORNIA

It’s a beautiful thing when a friendship blossoms into an intimate relationship, which is what happened with the lovely Karina and her beau Misa. From spending a few hours with them while photographing their engagement session, I can say that their relationship is funny, quirky, dorky, and lovable, and it was a real treat to capture the affections they have for each other.

It’s strange to think that at one point in life, Karina and I were once high school classmates and had the same history class together. Or that, through a mutual friend, we ended up attending a Japanese pop concert in Los Angeles together. Or, even stranger, Misa and I went to the same middle school! And soon, years later, I will get the honor of capturing their wedding. I can’t wait!

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Justin and Saba at Long Beach Lighthouse

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA

On a busy weekend day, I met up with Justin and Saba in downtown Long Beach to photograph their engagement session. I have only been to that area once, a long time ago, so when they mentioned they wanted photos with the lighthouse, I was surprised there even was a lighthouse in L.A. county!

Just as if in a movie, Saba, originally from Vancouver but then lived in Orange County, and Justin met briefly in his L.A. apartment building complex elevator, and ended up bumping into each other at a nearby bar, when sparks started to fly. It’s stories like this that makes me believe fate is real.

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Eliotte and Ryan Beach Engagement Portraits

MALIBU, CALIFORNIA

I absolutely love laid-back clients, and Ryan and Eliotte were as laid-back as you can get! These two met when they were in college. Ryan had signed up for a fundraising event in which he and his teammates had to perform a dance, and lo and behold, Eliotte was the dance coordinator. You would think that this story follows as is: Ryan outshined the rest of his teammates and won Eliotte’s hearts through his sly dance moves. Instead, he admitted that he often skipped the lessons and only till the performance day did he and Eliotte actually meet!

It quickly became apparent why these two make a great couple. Throughout the whole session, they could not stop smiling and laughing. Even when I was at the top of the cliff and photographing down at them from afar, I could hear them laughing away, haha.

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Bianca and Alex’s Desert Engagement Portraits

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA

A few of my loves in world are road trips, traveling, the smell of adventure, and photographing in new places. So when my clients agreed to do a desert engagement session, and what’s more, at Joshua Tree National Park, I was super stoked!

Bianca wore this pretty white sundress while Alex had a light blue shirt and nifty suspenders (you can see he wore a red bandana tie in the beginning of the session but was nice enough to take it off and use to pry off cactus balls that pierced itself through my pants and onto my leg. Yeah… it was painful, haha). I had so much fun photographing their session and exploring the park with them. I can’t wait to photograph their wedding this fall!

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Wendy and Wilson’s Secret Garden

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Wendy and I have been emailing back and forth since early this year because she wanted to have additional bridal portraits of her and her husband, on top of their wedding day portraits by another photographer. She envisioned a different backdrop from those of her wedding day, and was eager to be surrounded in a forest setting while wearing her bridal gown.

Normally on a wedding day, bridal portraits only make up at most 45 minutes. Sometimes, when schedules go awry, this part of the day can get as little as 15 minutes. But on that day, Wendy and Wilson got 2 hours, and this meant we could explore and indulge in all that the location had to offer without having to rush through anything.

During the shoot, I had such a blast photographing Wendy and her husband Wilson, who is also interested in photography, for their Los Angeles bridal portraits. I am so happy to have such amazing clients!

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Jen and Jim’s Beach Engagement

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

When I met Jen and Jim for their engagement session, they had just landed in Los Angeles a mere few hours prior. You see, they’re from Sacramento, and the day after their engagement session is actually their wedding day! This is an unusual circumstance to have an engagement session so close to the wedding day, mainly because many couples use these images for their ‘save the date’ or announcement of their wedding.

However, I am so happy we were still able to do Jim and Jen’s engagement session irregardless of dates. One of the reasons is because during this session, it allows the clients and I to get familiarized with each other so that, on the day of the wedding, they are comfortable and relaxed enough with me to let me in their personal space.

Photographing Jen and Jim for this session was a blast. They were so cute together! Because their wedding would be a beach wedding, they wanted their engagement photos to be on the beach as well. In one of the photos, you can see Shutters on the Beach in the background, which is where they’ll be having their reception on their wedding day. You can see Santa Monica Pier in the distance in some of these images as well, and I absolutely love them!

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