It was the beginning of April when I met Siobhan and Michael early in the morning in Italian capital. They both came to Italy from quite a distant location: Johannesburg in South Africa. It was a long trip, about 13 000 miles. But it was all worthy, since the result of the trip and engagement in Rome, to my mind is absolutely gorgeous. Let’s see what is the opinion of the couple in the comments below.
The winter is over and the day gets longer and longer. Therefore I offer my couples to arrange and start the shootings as early as possible. Again and again I strongly encourage everyone to discover new cities and even the ones you’ve been to, at dawn. Believe me, you will fall in love with what you see.
Though it was April in Rome, the weather in the morning was cool, so the first sun beams that we saw were very welcome. The street we were going through is called Via dei Fori Imperiali, that means the way to Roman Forum.
Just try to imagine that about 2000 years ago the Emperor was following the same rout we did that day with Siobhan and Michael during this engagement photo shooting.
Follow us, Artur
My fellow readers, you may easily guess the place in the picture below, don’t you? This is the Capitol Hill in Rome, the place that is always overcrowded with lots of people. But I did my best to arrange everything the way it looks in the picture. They were really impressed with the power of the city. For me, emotions and feelings the couple has during any photo shooting I make: engagement, wedding or honeymoon, are the basis.
What I liked about this couple, was the fact, that Michael during our engagement photo shooting in Rome was always holding his beloved hand. That really matters and shows how strong they are linked together. Believe me, I know that!
How to plan engagement?
First of all I always make my couples to study the blog and Facebook page, where I share pictures and information about the places I visit and people I work with. I have no secrets and I’m open to any discussion, because the success of any shooting in Rome or any other destination strongly depends on the relations between people on opposite sides of a camera. So, I need to trust and to be trusted.
With my new friends from South Africa we met the day before and made the planning. Generally they relied on me and didn’t want to have a sightseeing tour, but to enjoy the city and get lovely engagement pictures. That was sweet!
Photography ideas
The picture below is the best example of how I make ideas for shootings. Let us see. There was amazing light in front of us. I asked the couple to go in the light and made several steps back to cover the area. Unfortunately, I saw the traffic sign that was interfering. Trying to make the composition right, I saw a little sticker of the sign and realised, that it was a good idea to have such a picture. “This is A Good Kiss Spot”, says the sticker. And I do believe it.
Siobhan and Michael tried to remember, when as kids they were ringing each other from such phones. Now we all have iPhones and don’t pay much attention to such things.
Step by step we came to Aventine Hill of Rome — a very romantic place for an engagement photo shooting.
We were early birds and could enjoy the place and views alone, since the Hill is listed among 10 must see places of Italian capital and during the day is completely overcrowded.
There are a lot of orange trees there, but it is forbidden to task the fruit, only to gaze.
Trastevere
After several hours spent far from people we decided to get some morning coffee in by beloved Trastevere. This is absolutely amazing district of Italian capital with lots of interesting places and buildings.
Cats are like at home. I have some other pictures with these two little brothers in my Instagram.
There are many lovely family restaurants in Trastevere. I noticed one peculiar feature: when you make a picture in front of a restaurant in Rome, the owner welcomes you and invites to see the inside of the place. For them a photo with a restaurant is a good sing to let ask you in. La Villetta is a very tasty and reasonable place.
But not to miss the time and light we went further to Santa Maria in Trastevere and made final set of engagement pictures from Rome there.
That is all what we had that day! Thank you very much, Siobhan and Michael, for your trust, company and amazing morning we spent together. I was proud to be your photographer during this engagement in Rome. Hope to see you soon in some other European City. Sincerely, Artur
