Back in July, I got my favourite kind of email - a request from a fellow American (and southerner to boot) asking me if I could a photo shoot while she and her husband were visiting Europe. So last week, I had the pleasure of strolling through an unusually chilly Amsterdam with Abigail and Tim to take photos of them chilling with (but not in) the canals on the second to last day of their Eurotrip. Thanks for finding me, Abigail!
In the lingering fog of my jet lag after returning from a two week North America trip, I caught a couple of trains to Amsterdam to meet up with Katie and her fiancee Max for a photo shoot. They're getting married next year and they were spending the last day of their European vacation (they're both from L.A.) wandering the canals and bridges of the city while I got to know them - Katie found me online, so thanks Google for making this happen. As always, it was lovely getting to use Amsterdam's streets as the backdrop for a shoot with a fun international couple.
If every couple that I get to photograph for the rest of this year is as sweet, loving, friendly and downright photogenic as these two, 2014 will be an excellent year indeed. Stefano hired me to do a photo shoot for him and his fiancee, Chiara, during a trip to Amsterdam for her birthday in the first week of the new year, and we got so lucky - there was light! January in the Netherlands is usually very much the opposite of well lit, but this Saturday morning shoot was just perfect. We started and ended the shoot with coffee, and in between found some beautiful bridges, matching bikes and houses, the Rijksmuseum and the Vondelpark. I had a great time hanging out with these two!
This celebration was a majorly international love fest. Marina is Russian and Abbas is Azerbaijani, and they can call both Moscow and Amsterdam home. They had their wedding in Russia and threw a sweet little dinner party and reception for their best friends from all over the world on a boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. Their guests came from all over Europe, and two of them even flew into the Netherlands from Africa (via London) while we were cruising around - we took a detour to the town of Amstel to meet them, and soak up some of the nice afternoon light. It was really a pleasure for me to get to meet such a great group of people, and to see how happy Marina and Abbas are together - she laughs at his corny jokes, and they jumped on a bicycle built for two in the Vondelpark. There were other surprises in the park - see for yourself!
Marina is a lovely lady, and in spite of the offers of champagne, she made sure her make up was just right before we headed to the park for some portraits.
Suddenly, a wild bachelor party appeared. Toward the end of our photo shoot, we saw a crowd of Dutch guys careening toward us on rented red Mac bikes. As they came to a halt in the sandy soil, their ring leader hoisted Marina into the air and his friends attempted to share their beer with Abbas. The green of the Heineken bottles and the pink of the groom-to-be's curly wig matched Marina's bouquet. It was awesome.
We took a couple of taxis to the Piet Heinkade and passed by some more iconic Amsterdam scenes on the way.
Abbas held the bouquet out the back seat window while we were stopped at an intersection to rally the small convoy of their friends.
We boarded a spiffy boat where Marina, Abbas and their guests ate, drank and were merry (married?) as we wandered under bridges and past windmills throughout the afternoon.
A violinist (Melanie Waite) and a cellist performed classical songs for the guests as we sailed along.
