Romantic Lake Engagement Session - Ceron and Tyrina

Dec 16

Our first attempt at this romantic lake themed engagement session was a huge fail!

Yes…I am serious. Tyrina, Ceron and I had a consultation about a month back to discuss photographing them around the story of engagement. From our initial talk, everyone was over-hyped about the idea. Actually, it was Tyrina who brought the idea to me.

Here I am thinking, “hmmm, a lake, a boat, flowers, at sunset? This is perfection!”

So we began the creative process. We spoke about the time of day, the boat itself, the type of flowers. Everyone is amped up, especially me and I literally counted down the days until we were able to shoot.

On the day of the photo shoot, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The lake was glassy smooth, not a cloud in the sky and the team was all prepped and ready. The forces that be had other plans, though. When we arrived on set, our boat had challenges getting into the lake due to its design and the depth of the water. Everything seemed to be going wrong, including our boat captain leaving his cell phone ashore, so we had no way to contact him. In summary, the boat was piloted to the wrong end of the lake, the sunset earlier than we thought and the energy of the location, the team and our clients were swallowed up like a good plate of guava duff. Not to mention the swarm of sandflies who had us for dinner!

We were defeated. The shoot was a dud, and we had no authentic images to be proud of.

Something, however, hit me. While we packed up, I walked over to the couple, and I said to them we should reshoot at no cost. The concept was terrific, and as a creative, I didn’t want to give up on it. Tyrina, who was clearly disappointed and upset about the entire ordeal wasn’t sure at that moment, but I told her to think about it and let me know her final decision. Thankfully, after a few hours, she called me to say, “let’s do it.”

Fast forward to a day before the rescheduled shoot, Tyrina called me in excitement, “Scharad!” she says “ ’ve found the perfect lake and the perfect boat!”

After which, she sent me photos and videos via WhatsApp, and I replied with a few exclamations and expletives (well not really), but I did a few backflips in my head after seeing the visuals she sent to me. Utopia Gardens was going to be the PERFECT location!

So we tried again…

My team and I arrived at the location realizing that it’s even more stunning in person. My adrenaline started rushing and the team set up while Kandice Hanna, a super creative floral artist dressed up our tin rowboat. The clients were ready and eager to begin shooting as we worked quickly to set the scene.

I kept things simple using 1 light and a large modifier. The lake was murky and the bottom was muddy and difficult to walk in but we ignored it all, stepping on slippery stones, tying a rope to the boat so it didn’t float away, along with other dangerous elements. We did so much to capture this beautiful couple in this new setting and it worked! The light was perfect, the scene was perfect, my team were amazing at helping me get the shots I wanted and a whole other set of support staff. Here’s what my clients had to say,

“We had a specific vision for our engagement session and Scharad’s energy from our initial consultation added to our excitement. Prior to the shoot, Scharad sent a detailed mood board with the specific shots we would capture. His attention to detail, positive energy and skill make working with him an absolute pleasure. He went above and beyond to execute the vision and totally exceeded our expectations.”

— Tyrina Neely

At the end of the shoot, everyone clapped because we knew what we went through to get to this point. My clients were overjoyed. My team and I felt accomplished and we got all the shots we wanted to capture.