This is a Cherry Blossom Festival, Tidal Basin, Jefferson Memorial engagement session featuring Ella and Coop.

One of the greatest abilities photography has, is to catch tiny moments of time for us to keep forever. It is with images that we are able to relive a feeling or an experience, even if only for just for a few seconds. With each shutter click, it is my photographic mission to observe my couple’s interactions and preserve the priceless ones as photographs.

French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called this, “a decisive moment”, which is the exact moment in which the photographer decides to click the shutter.

“Photography is not like painting,” he told The Washington Post in 1957. “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.”

“That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

When we took these photos at the Tidal Basin, it was the peak cherry blossom festival. There were thousands of visitors from all over the world, all coming to DC for the cherry blossoms. It seemed about half of them were at the tidal basin that morning! Despite the crowded conditions, we were able to find private spots here and there, and produced photographs that excluded the buzzing crowds.

Ella and Coop are a laid back couple with a love for DC culture. They are bright-eyed and full of joy, ready to conquer whatever life hands them. As we moved around the basin towards the Jefferson Memorial, they giggled at each other as I gave them posing cues that are sometimes unavoidably awkward. (Ask any of my couple’s about “popcorn kisses”.) They did a great job focusing on each other, and we were able to grab images of some really precious moments they shared together.

Ella and Cooper, I’m honored to be your wedding photographer. I can’t wait to celebrate your big day together. Congratulations!