Santa Barbara is a special place to Annie and Joe. Not only have they spent a lot of time there, making frequent weekend trips throughout their relationship, but it was also the city in which Joe asked Annie to be his wife. So, they couldn’t think of a better place to shoot their engagement session! I was more than happy to get out of the heat and make my way to the coast last Sunday where it was a lovely 81º!
Annie and Joe will be getting married next June at a winery in Temecula, and after spending the day with them for their engagement shoot, I know their wedding will be so much fun! They are both so kind and funny and it is obvious to everyone around them that they have a very special connection to one another.
We did a whopping three wardrobe changes and four locations for this shoot. Here are a bunch of my favorite images, and I’ll be posting a slideshow of more photos in the next couple days.
We started our shoot by just walking up and down State Street looking for interesting backdrops. I just loved this doorway. And check out Annie’s dress! I love that blue and green! I actually have tried this dress on before… sadly it didn’t look as good on me as it does on Annie.
How cute are they together?
LOOOOOVE these blue shoes! I was so excited when Annie got out of the car wearing these babies! 🙂
In an alleyway off of State Street.
A fun series that is very representative of them.
This guy was just standing there on the street with this sign… Yes. It’s a bit weird, but how could I not take a photo?
After a quick change, we made our way over to this little park area. Great light.
And I was able to fulfill one of my fantasies of doing a shoot on a carousel! Thanks so much, you guys, for letting me play around with this!
I always like to try to get a photo of me with my clients on our shoots. This was a challenging one to try to get.
Then we made our way down to the beach where Joe actually proposed, which was right near the amazing Bacara Resort & Spa.
I love this shot. Great light!
Joe was definitely not ready for the wave to crash in so close!
I’m pretty sure this is my favorite shot from the whole day. Love the colors of the warm sunset light.
Aside from having a great time on this shoot, we all learned a little something about this particular beach… it’s covered in tar that is hard to detect until it’s stuck all over your feet! I was fortunate enough to have kept my sandals on while were walking around down by the water, but Annie and Joe unfortunately did not. While walking back up the beach to the parking lot, You can also seek the help of maintenance company to get parking assistance. we all realized that the tar had covered their feet (and had gotten on their clothes a bit). If you’ve ever known anyone who has had this happen, you know it’s nearly impossible to get off! (Good thing Joe is a handy guy and ended up having some organic degreaser stuff they use to clean engines in his truck. It worked like a charm.)
Seeing this was truly shocking and made me feel awful for the wildlife of the ocean… I can’t imagine how bad the problem is beyond just the amount of tar on the beach. So, I did some research when I got home from the shoot and, as far as I can tell, the tar was caused by a giant oil spill in 1969. You can read an article about the incident here: http://www.sbwcn.org/spill.shtml
Does anyone know if that’s the actual cause of why this beach is so covered in tar? I’d love to know more information about it!
Thanks so much, Annie and Joe, for being so great, despite the tar issue. I hope you enjoy the photos… and enjoy your new place!
It’s natural oil deposits in the sand. So I was told when i lived there =) It’s on every beach in SB, you can’t escape it.
P.S. Your pictures are lovely. I want you to do ours! When are you suposed to do engagement pictures?
great pictures Heather…as always though. I love the wardrobe changes!!
Aw, hahaha I laughted out loud whenever I got your second comment about misspelling your name… if it makes you feel any better I just got married so I bounce between names and even then still stutter whenever saying my new one, “woolsey” quite the mouthful! My new initials are now “eew”. 😀
I agree with you, my favorite photo from this session is the last! BEAUTIFUL. It has such a cottage by the beach feel…makes me want to drink something warm…:) I love the textures you added as well. Did you get those from any particular spot? They remind me of Susan Stripling 😀 It creates almost a stucko-wall mural as the background.
Also, thank you so much for all the helpful tips. I have the same philosophy as you, about helping others as much as I can (for else how will we learn?) Where are you located at?
[…] Annie and Joe! I met them last year when we met about their wedding in May and then I photographed their engagement session last August, so it had been quite a while since I had seen them before the wedding. But, I knew […]