The New Year started off on a high note as I got to meet and photograph Dawn and Troy.  They met years ago while they were each vacationing in the Bahamas and it turned out they lived only a couple of hours away from each other.  Troy proposed on Indian Rocks Beach several months ago and they wanted to have their engagement pictures taken at a beach.

They had flown in on New Year's Eve from Minnesota and were enjoying a weekend get away in Englewood.  After a day at Manasota Beach enjoying the sand and sun they were ready for their engagement session.  

We all met at the Venice Fishing Pier an hour after sunrise to take advantage of the early morning light.  The slight fog had already started to lift and we were left with gorgeous morning light.

I have rarely met a couple who moved together as well as they did.  They laughed and danced with little instruction.  One hour quickly turned into two as we kept finding different locations to shoot at.  We walked along the beach and they posed under the pier.  We then walked on the pier and tried to get the birds to join our photoshoot.  Afterwards we moved up to the palm trees and boardwalk and even ended our session taking pictures in the parking lot at Sharky's.

As they put the finishing touches on their May wedding back home, they will always have amazing memories and photos of their time together here in Florida.

I love couples to start with simple walking photos.  It breaks the ice, gives them space to be themselves, and we usually get some fun, casual photos out of it.  

One advantage of being at the beach at 9 a.m. (even on Saturday morning) was that there were surprisingly few people there.  The other advantage was that although the sun was getting brighter, it was fun to work with it, creating shadows as well as bright spots.  

You can't come to the beach and not get in!  After an hour of walking on the beach, we decided it was time to take some water shots.

Only a handful of people were on the end of the pier fishing which gave us plenty of room to take fun photos.  We kept trying to get the birds to play with us but they weren't interested.

A few more shots sitting quietly on the beach and some fun ones with the grasses and palm trees.  These two never ran out of smiles or poses.

And finally Dawn was the perfect model for a photo that I had been wanting to try at Sharky's using the bright pink building.  Her fun personality fit what I was looking for...a little different type of photo.