Amber and Vicente have been together for 7 years and you can see their connection in every photo. We went to the museum district and I just let these two wreak havoc--the good kind, of course. :-)

Once again, it's always fun to take on the challenge of going to familiar areas and coming up with something new.

Here's a few from a fun Halloween late afternoon and early evening...

And a few after dusk images we made, which I'm always down for....

It's a small world after all and I'm reminded of that all the time. I know Fran from college and met his fiancee, Ranesha, at Patricia and Uzo's wedding last January as she was a bridesmaid in that wedding. A side note, Ranesha actually was the one who wound up with the bouquet after this photo was made.

I'm looking forward to their wedding at Ashton Gardens this November.

We started out at the popular Discovery Green. It's always a challenge to come up with something a little different when an area is so often used in photographs but I think these two were up to the challenge.

Next we went out and about Downtown Houston after the sun set...

Last weekend I flew up to DC to hang out with Kelly and Ethan. Of course, by hanging out I mean taking some cool photos to commemorate their engagement. ;-)

Kudos to Ethan for the great location scouting! The colorful and varied grounds at Dumbarton Oaks provided seemingly endless possibilities for the session. And considering the time of day we were out there, the shade was certainly welcome as well.

They did a great job of being more into each other than my camera and following my "lack of direction" directions. Here is a sample of what we got:

I'll be headed back up to the district in a couple of months to photograph their wedding. I can't wait!

A couple of weeks ago I had the awesome pleasure of being a part of a new beginning for one couple and revisiting with another.

John told me about his plans to propose to Paige at the spot of their first date, a Loews Theatre and I was excited to be asked to document everything.

Now of course a guy hanging around the front of a movie theatre with camera equipment may raise some flags, so I recruited my friends James and Chevonte (whose wedding I'll be photographing next month) to be my decoy subjects and serve as some misdirection for Paige. While waiting for John and Paige to arrive, we chit chat, joked around, talked about the wedding....and made a few images. ;)

Now here are some images from the main event. While I could hear what was being said, I could tell John's tone started to change and Paige covered her face. I was told later she said "No, John, not here." Ha! (she was like this for about 5 minutes)

After the initial shock/surprise wore off, we then proceeded to take a few engagement photos and here are a handful....

I just had to make a small cameo. ;)

Congratulations to both couples! Chevonte and James will be making at least one more appearance on the blog after I photograph their wedding in April!

I just photographed this Becky & Kris' Valentine's Day wedding this weekend and after they told me their plans for their very unique wedding and what they promised to be a huge party of a reception, I was sold! It has been a pleasure getting to know them and can't wait to share those wedding photos with you.

Their engagement photos will have to do in the meantime. ;)

I met up with Sally and Nathan, whose wedding I'll be photographing in a little over a month, at Hermann Park for their engagement session.

Hermann is a popular choice for couples (and photographers, for that matter), but I was very much focused on trying to get some unique images of them enjoying each other's company.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

Looking forward to the big day guys!

I just photographed Diana & Ed's wedding (and reception on a separate day) and while those images are coming soon, I wanted to post a handful from their engagement session in Uptown Park.

The couple are honeymooning in Belize right now and having what I'm sure is a fabulous time.

I have a few days to recoup from roughly two weeks worth of travel between New York and Seattle. I'll be off for the Dallas area again this weekend but in the meantime, I wanted to blog a session that somehow slipped through the cracks.

I photographed Nicole and Tim's engagement session a while back and when we discussed what she wanted out of her session, she mentiioned she wanted an urban setting. After the success of Celine & Justin's session, I felt it was only right to head back downtown to see what else we could come up with.

Here are a few of my favorite images.

Some of you may remember this wall from Angie & Zach's party at the Alden. I couldn't resist recyling it!

We headed to the Magnolia Hotel next. These two will be exchanging their vows here next spring. I'm already looking forward to it!

I'll be posting some images from my trip to Seattle as well as many images from New York very soon.

Christiana & Olu are getting married this October so we got together to shoot their engagement photos at the Sugar Land Town Square. We stepped outside the box and went up and down the commercial district scouting new areas and trying new ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:

They were an awesome couple and I'm looking forward to their wedding this fall.

I just photographed a wedding this past weekend Saturday (and I'll be posting all about it soon), which officially marks the wedding season picking back up for me. With that in mind, I figured I'd start adding some more wedding-related posts to the blog as I continue catching up with older images.

Celine, a friend from middle school, her fiancé Justin and I went on a nearly two-hour long tour through downtown Houston, midtown, and Hotel ZaZa. I'm really excited to show the photos from this session: they have a great sense of humor and are naturals in front of the camera. In addition to being willing to try almost any idea I threw at them, they also had some of their own (including a "dip" shot that continues to stop people in their tracks).

Celine wanted a shot of a dip in the middle of the street, so we waited for the traffic behind them to be halted by a red light. We are right in front of the Magnolia Hotel here.

We rode the light rail train back to the midtown area and continued to take photos. :)

This image was taken by the Contemporary Arts Museum

I love this sequence by the Mecom fountain:

Finally we head to the Hotel ZaZa, which had special significance for them. They celebrated here the night of their engagement.

There's a bit of cool background with this next set of photos. The staff saw we were taking their engagement photos and helped us set the mood by bringing by a complimentary bottle of champagne and some strawberries. How awesome is that?

Keep an eye out tomorrow as I'll post images from the couple's engagement party where they celebrated the occasion with friends.

My friend (and fellow photographer) called me up out of the blue a little under two weeks before the turn of the year and asked me if I'd mind photographing his proposal to his girlfriend.

This is now the second time I've photographed a proposal but it was no less of an honor this time around.

Unlike last time, I didn't have to hide behind any bushes or buildings (ha!) since CJ had the proposal coincide with a birthday dinner he had planned with their friends and family. The thinking, of course, was that she her suspicion wouldn't be raised since this is a typically photographed event.

Before the CJ popped the question, everyone enjoyed a great meal at Benihana:

Crystal and CJ

Some tried their hand with the chopsticks...

...others went the more traditional route

After the food, it was time to pop the question. CJ got some help in announcing his intentions

I love the shot of Crystal's reaction here.

An embrace (and she indeed said yes)

A group hug and prayer

I convinced them to take a few shots in the restaurant just as they were closing (we were the last people inside).

Examining the goods

I am super happy for CJ and Crystal and thank you for trusting me to capture such important memories for you two. I want to wish you too many years of happiness going forward!

You can see the slideshow here:
http://www.collinsmetu.com/cjandcrystal/

Looks like I have some more blogging to catch up on (as usual!)...

I always try to foster a connection between myself and my portrait subjects and that process becomes all the more natural if they already know me. I had been meaning to take some photographs of my good friend (of 15 years) James and his girlfriend Chevonté for a little while now, but due to busy schedules and such we hadn't gotten the chance to make it happen.

Yesterday we were finally able to meet up and get these photos knocked out and to say it didn't even feel like a formal portrait session feels like a huge exaggeration. We spent most of the time just chatting it up and joking around--somehow we got some great photos in the process.

Here are some of my favorites from the evening...

Hmm...maybe some engagement photos could be in their future? ;)

EDIT: James popped the question and these two are now, in fact, engaged! I'm looking forward to photographing their wedding next April! :)

I made the trip up to the DFW area last weekend for Ebere and Femi's engagement session.

I'm glad I got an opportunity to meet them prior to their wedding day--they are a great, easy-going couple so I know we will get along great! They were very open to trying different posing ideas and laughed at all my jokes (even the corny ones!).

The session was very fun and I believe we got some good stuff that represents their relationship and captures their energy.

Ebere and Femi, I'll see you guys on 7/7/07!