PHOTO JOURNEY // ALEX & KENDALL // CHICAGO ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHER

We're relatively new to wedding photography, but we've already become well aware of some of the many traditions in wedding photography, such as the engagement sessions. Engagement sessions are kind of a given here in Chicago, and throughout North America. The basic goal is to take pictures of you and your spouse-to-be before the big day.

We're totally into this idea, and we love getting the chance to interact with couples, get to know them, and give them more pictures of each other before they get married.

However, we've done a lot of thinking about it, and we'd like to move a bit past the term 'Engagement Session'. This is more due to necessity than to formalities, as it doesn't really capture what we really do.

Sure, it's fun to go somewhere new and take pictures with your partner, but our best sessions and times have been those we spent with couples who took us to places that meant things to them, and did things that had personal meanings and histories. It's been when we've kept it real, so to speak.

We don't want the cheesy poses in [Insert a park here] anymore. But we do still love the idea of meeting couples and getting to know them before their weddings. We still love photo shoots.

This is why we've decided to move from engagement sessions to something a bit different that captures what we have the most fun with--traveling all over cities, towns, and neighborhoods with couples, discovering what truly makes them unique, and getting to know them and follow them on a deeper, more meaningful level.

We call these sessions "Photo Journeys."

We want to take pictures of you in real life, doing what carries meaning to you. We're conceptualizing Photo Journeys as photography sessions where we join you doing what comes naturally, on a journey into what makes you you. It doesn't really matter what.

If you feel like going to the restaurant where you eat together every week and capturing that, we're game. If you play terrifically bad (or good) tennis, we're there. If you play musical instruments together or work on your car in the evenings, we're up for it.

Whatever you want is good for us, as long as it has meaning. It's your journey.

To kick things off, we'd like to share the time we had a few weeks ago at Millenium Park and downtown Chicago with Alex and Kendall. Their wedding is this summer, and we can't wait.

Alex and Kendall live in Evanston but regularly visit Chicago, and Alex is a veritable expert on the history of the city. We met up at Millenium Park and quickly went into the heart of the city, which included having dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant known as the Billy Goat Tavern and a wondrous haven of ice cream called Ghirardelli.

These weren't places they'd never been to. This was part of the life they lived and we wanted to be a part of it. Alex and Kendall felt comfortable and did what came naturally as we joined them on their journey. This was the epitome of what we felt mattered, even though it wasn't your typical engagement session.

We're interested in taking a journey with you and the things that have meaning for you. We're done taking the standard park 'smile here' pictures.

Photo Journey.