Engagement: Helena and Prashant

Helena and Prashant are both doctors. She’s in internal medicine, and he’s in neuroscience. They are so dedicated to their professions that they are enduring a long distance relationship in order to finish their residencies. They are very serious folks doing very serious work for the sake of humanity.

See what I mean? Totally and completely serious.

Helena and I actually have a lot in common. She spent some time in Washington (that’s where she and Prashant met), she’s Polish (I like to call myself Polish-by-association), and we both know what it’s like to endure long distance relationships. We also both know what it is like to have almost no pictures together since you only see each other once every month or so.

While we were wandering around looking for good spots Helena mentioned that these pictures would more than double the supply of shots they have together. I’m more than happy to oblige in the building up of supplies such as this.

I was buzzing with excitement when we stumbled upon the All Good Cafe. These two are coffee lovers (they frequently tease each other about who makes the better pot of coffee) and this just happened to be the perfect spot because the terrace doesn’t have any windows!

I was able to get a bunch of cute shots of them at the coffee shop together without having to deal with any reflections. What a find!

They both did such a great job at pretending like the two of them weren’t having a fake conversation over old gross cups of coffee left behind by previous patrons.

We found this bright blue wall and I attempted to fashion them into a cute pose that didn’t look like they were at the Junior Prom.

All of the sudden Helena was laughing and screaming “I hate being lifted up!”

Does this look like the face of someone who just endured something they hate?

Everyone seems to be enjoying the SOOC shots, so I thought I would start showing you a few more of them per post.

SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera)

After:

I love the way their skin tones contrast with each other.

This is the closest I came to a “ring” shot the whole day (I realized that I haven’t been taking them and I plan on doing so from now on). Helena and Prashant aren’t “officially” engaged yet because they aren’t ready to set a date, but she was wearing a really beautiful silver band with diamonds all around. I loved it!

Isn’t this the coolest garage door you have ever seen?

And isn’t this the coolest jumping picture you have ever seen? Helena warned me that they were famous for their jumping pictures.

These two are thinking of eloping. Don’t you think they should have the kind of wedding that allows a first dance so they can show off these mad skills they have? I’m anti-elopment because usually it means no photographer, and I just can’t bear the thought of a wedding without pictures!

Doctors are just sexy! Look how great these two look when they are running.

I had them posing in this doorway which caused the tenants to come out and discuss whether or not we were on their property. I think if they could have seen what my camera was seeing they would have been a little bit nicer about letting us hang out there. This is some hot stuff!

I believe when we met these two both told me they were “shy” and “not very good at pictures’. If this is what shy people who aren’t very good at taking pictures look like, I’d like to be one please!

SOOC!

Before:

After:

The only changes I made to this one were warming things up and upping the contrast a teensy bit. I can’t really put my finger on why I love it so much!

In case you were wondering, she has a really cute laugh.

As I was taking these pictures I asked Helena “I’ve been expirementing with depth of field photos, where the person in front is in focus and the person in back it blurred, do you like those?”

Her reply was classic: “I like them when I am the one in focus.”

I love each of their reactions to her comment!

That Shot!

This shot makes me think of cotton candy and fluffy clouds and merry-go-rounds. I love the purple in his shirt, the pink of her coat, and the lovely blue of the wall behind them.

I can’t visit Deep Ellum without paying my respects to the flag wall. Apparently Prashant (just like my Polish husband) has become very Americanized during his time in the States. He drives a pick-up truck and everything!

SOOC!

Before:

After:

I definitely went a little out there with the editing on this one. What do you think? It’s a little crazy, but I like it.

At the very end of our session Prashant told me he would do a carthweel. Knowing this would be the only time in my life I took a picture of a neursurgeon doing gymnastics I told him to go for it.

This is the very last shot I took that day, and I think it’s my second favorite from the session. These two are such a perfect mix of professionalism and crazy fun. They didn’t fly in specifically for the shoot, but they are both living in different states (neither of them Texas) and so I’m very grateful to both of them for spending such a huge chunk of their (very limited) time with me.

Whether you have an Indian wedding with 700 people, an American one in a field of wildflower, or a Thursday afternoon affair at the courthouse, you two are going to go far. I know from experience that the day after the wedding, the day when you are finally together forever, is one of the best times you can imagine.

Best,

Jenna