Miss T and Buzz’s Engagement Shoot … 9 Months Later!

I am usually the person caught in photos with their eyes scrunched up, mouth in a grimace, looking slightly gormless. I didn’t just want – I needed – an engagement shoot to help me relax in front of the camera, get to know what my photographer was telling me to do, and then to forget he was even there.

Buzz and I first came across our photographer, Justin Hill of Dekuji Photography, at our dear friends Carly and Rowan’s wedding in January 2010. Buzz and I weren’t even contemplating engagement then (well I was but he wasn’t!), but when we saw the photos that Justin had produced for Carly and Rowan, we admired his artistic, modern, natural style so much that we knew we’d go back to him when it was our turn.

Our engagement shoot was held on grey day in the backstreets of Collingwood and Fitzroy. Smith Street plays a large part in our relationship; our first two dates were held there, and Buzz lived a stone’s throw away for quite a while, meaning there was a mandatory breakfast each weekend, often with fuzzy head and bleary eyes, and even though we now live a couple of stones’ throws away, we still end up there most weekends. We love the urban landscape and the history in every alleyway; we love pints in pubs on sweltering summer afternoons and on crisp winter evenings; we love the explosions of street art;  and we adore the Miniature Schnauzer, Toby, who sits outside Horton’s Bookshop welcoming browsers. It’s our home away from home, our ‘hood, and our favourite place to stroll and be together.

We particularly like Justin’s philosophy that he is there to record the day, not to artificially create ‘moments’ to photograph. What we want from our wedding photography is natural, intelligent, documentary-style images with an eye for detail – and that’s what we’ve got in Dekuji.

We enjoyed the shoot a surprising amount, and you can see how silly we are in some pictures, but my favourite pictures are the ones at the end, when we ended up in a bar with a pint and just chatted away – just like us.

Photography by Dekuji Photography

Ms Gingham says: “The more I read about pre wedding shoots the more I think that they’re a necessity. I think back on my own special day, where I specifically told my photographer in our meeting that I didn’t want to spend much time shooting in the park, only to find myself spending the majority of the time where? … in the park … freezing … grumpy … being told to just go with it. To think, I could have found out how difficult our communication would be if I had just had an engagement shoot.”

Miss T says: Organised to the max; fan of all things sparkly and organic; vegan (but no hemp or dreadlocks); proud mama to a Chihuahua princeling and two snooty cats; drinker of beer; and thrilled to her little cotton socks to be marrying the sweet, silly, smart and snuggly Buzz.

Miss T has more fabulous stories to share here.

Read about pre wedding shoots from a photographer’s perspective here.