ali + cody | candid, elevated, elegant night out downtown

…an elegant + chic night out starting at Ali + Cody’s apartment with champagne near the fireplace, kisses outside their Mini Cooper and cocktails at the Ivy Hotel’s bar in Mt. Vernon, Baltimore…

who says engagement photos can’t be sophisticated AND full of personality?

I loved Ali’s vision for these photos: Cody in a fitted black suit with a skinny tie, a strapless tulle dress with pearl accents followed by a strapless, deep plunging white dress with a high side slit, mainly black and white candids, lots of steamy romance…

Ali + Cody, you have my heart and then some!!

xo,
Naomi

keri + joey | a cute, candid engagement atop federal hill at sunset

Down to earth, fun, thoughtful, stylish, kind, warm and genuine… if you were wondering what it’s like to be around Keri and Joey, it’s all of those adjectives and then some! You instantly feel at ease in their presence and like you’ve been friends with them for years.

Despite considering a lot of different locations for their engagement session both in DC and Baltimore, they ultimately ended up at Federal Hill and I’m so glad! This iconic Baltimore hilltop spot has incredible skyline views, a gorgeous grassy park feel with tree-lined paths and perfect golden light as the sun is setting just west of both Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium… it doesn’t get much more quintessential Baltimore than this!

“My favorite thing about Joey is truly that he is the most thoughtful person I know. Not in the over the top I’m going to spoil you way, but more about the small details that others would miss. He listens to everything I say even when I can bet he isn’t listening, he thinks of how something will make me feel and will then find a way to “make it happen”. ~Keri

“It is hard to name just one favorite thing about Keri. The first thing that comes to my mind is how selfless she is. She will go more than out of her way for her friends, family and coworkers. No matter how big or small she is always looking to brighten someone’s day or to help them even if it makes things harder on herself.” ~Joey

These two share a love of laughter, making pizza at home together while hosting friends, playing Triomonos while sipping wine and old-fashioneds and trying new restaurants in their hometown of Alexandria, VA — however, Baltimore holds a special place in their heart since Joey’s family lives nearby and they’re getting married at The Winslow, just a few blocks from Federal Hill!

We were so lucky to have the most incredible golden hour light during our time together and almost no one around in the park. I don’t know how it happened but I do know that Keri and Joey deserved every minute of the perfect radiant glow during their last few weeks as an engaged couple!

Keri + Joey, I can’t wait to document your love story and celebrate your wedding at The Winslow!! I know how excited you are to have all your people together in the same place with you — it’s going to be more memorable than your wildest dreams!

xo,
Naomi

cecily + stephen | candid and fun, urban industrial clipper mill engagement

When your time together starts with laughter like theirs, you know it’s going to be the best.

Cecily + Stephen are adorable, laid-back, loving, thoughtful and always up for having fun… which in my mind is the best recipe for genuine, candid engagement photos that show off both of their personalities! I’ve had the absolute honor of photographing the weddings of some of Cecily’s closest friends and family over the years which makes me even more excited for their wedding day at The Excelsior… if you’re not familiar with it, just picture exposed brick, ivy-covered walls, a chic yet historic industrial vibe and spaces full of natural light. It’s like if Clipper Mill in Baltimore got plopped down in downtown Lancaster, PA.

Can we also just admire their outfits for a sec? Cecily in a terracotta top with ripped jeans and nude sandals and Stephen in a black half-zip sweater, dark jeans and brown boots. I was lowkey obsessed. The perfect attire for trekking through industrial ruins and standing next to textured wood and raw brick walls. ;)

Cecily and Stephen, I CAN. NOT. wait for your wedding this weekend!! It’s been years in the making and I know your 3 pups are excited for their pawrents to finally make it official! :) Here’s to all the celeBraaten!

xo,
Naomi

laura + bryan | an artful engagement at avam with their dog

I met up with Laura and Bryan (and their #urbanrowpup, Marlow!) on a bright January day at the American Visionary Art Museum near the Inner Harbor and Fed Hill park. We chose this location knowing it was still very much winter outside and because of the mosaic facade at AVAM and all the harborfront views, you wouldn’t be able to tell there were no leaves on the trees or flowers in bloom!

I’m just so excited to be around these two - they have such a natural connection and are so sweet together, radiating happiness and love!

And here’s how the proposal happened - I love how they both had a hand in planning the proposal trip in their own way for each other!

Laura planned a fall trip to Asheville with very little input from Bryan. About a week before the trip, Bryan said he didn't know any details and wanted to know where we were staying, eating, and what exactly we were doing. Little did Laura know, Bryan was planning the proposal. He even had a new selfie stick shipped to the hotel in preparation for the moment. The day we were leaving, Laura happened to mention to Bryan that he never takes photos - setting Bryan up for the perfect excuse as to why he had a new selfie stick shipped to the hotel. Fast forward to our first full day of the trip, we had plans to go for a hike. After breakfast at a local spot known for their biscuits (where Bryan left the ring in the car...!), we headed to the mountain. Half way through, overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, Bryan set up the new selfie stick to capture some photos. Right then and there he said "I have a very important to question to ask you"...and the rest is history!

Laura and Bryan, you have been so thoughtful, attentive, organized and fun to get to know throughout the wedding planning process, I can not wait to see how your spring wedding comes together at The Loom - the first wedding at this new Baltimore venue! Let’s go and get you two married!!!

xo,
Naomi

katherine + ben | cozy fall cromwell valley park engagement

Katherine commented on Ben's bowtie and that started their first conversation — fast forward a few years to their fast approaching wedding day where Ben will be wearing another bowtie and looking as dapper as ever…

These lovebirds are continually laughing and sharing friendly competition with their favorite pro sports teams AND working out at the gym; “I've never laughed so genuinely in my life and love Ben's jokes (the good ones and the dumb ones). I love the times that Ben and I can spend working out as well as cooking/baking together - he makes life so fun. And - we both love that we often unintentionally end up wearing matching outfits!”

How’d the proposal happen?

“After attending 5+ weddings for friends and family in 2021, we decided we wanted some time away just to ourselves. We booked a trip to Savannah and arrived on a Thursday night. We woke up Friday, grabbed coffee, and walked around the streets of Savannah all morning. After a day of touring, we grabbed drinks at the hotel in the early evening and Ben proposed right on the riverfront.”

Cheers to you, Katherine and Ben! I can’t wait for you to host all of your friends and family for a fun, uniquely Baltimore wedding at the AVAM! And I love how Katherine is excited to “be spun around the dance floor by Ben (even though I'm awful at dancing) because I know we'll be laughing and beaming with smiles the whole time…”

xo,
Naomi

ilana + ben | spring engagement at Rawlings Conservatory

Ilana and Ben chose to celebrate their relationship and newly engaged status in the place where it all officially started, Druid Hill Park! I couldn’t have been more excited for our time together since Ilana actually proposed to Ben here… more on that below…

These two share such a thoughtful, sweet, caring and intellectual chemistry together and inspire me with the way they strive for social justice in so many aspects of their lives.

We had the most lovely weather in Druid Hill Park for their engagement photos and with a ton of spots on our list to explore together, I’m so excited to share these vibrant yet relaxed and effortless, fun, candid moments with you!

Here’s more about the start of their meet-cute:

“We met at a rotating egalitarian, vegetarian, potluck Shabbat dinner in early 2018. The group is called Harbor Minyan and friends from that group are among our closest in Baltimore today! We talked about studying economics and travels to India over Ben's classic bean salad and Ilana's dish-of-the-month (always something different!) Ben made an impression by sharing a video of his Indian dance moves the that first night, and later invited Ilana to a small dinner party he was hosting.”

And the proposal:

“Ben lives for puzzles, so Ilana planned a scavenger hunt for Ben throughout Baltimore, leading to her in Druid Hill Park. She popped the question on a picnic blanket, they popped open champagne provided by a friend, and moments after they finished their glasses, the sky opened up with a major late August rainstorm! They celebrated and shared the news with family and friends during their lake getaway the following week.

Earlier this month, Ben surprised Ilana with a full-on at-home date night for Valentine's Day, with candles, music, dressing up, and take-out from one of our favorite restaurants. Ben suggested Ilana put a record on while Ben poured drinks, and she found a box of chocolates in the record player! Along with the chocolates she found an even more sparkly surprise - a ring!”

5 spots in Druid Hill Park we took Ilana + Ben’s engagement photos

1. their proposal spot, big trees and an intimate feel with a picnic blanket, a surprise chess set for Ben and margaritas

2. Taylor’s Grove (one of my favorite spots!)

3. Alllll the cherry blossoms near the Reservoir

4. Rawlings Conservatory gardens

5. Not location related, but I have to give a huge shoutout to Ilana’s outfits! I loved how romantic, relaxed and stylishly perfect the dress and tulle skirt paired with an off the shoulder lace top were for a garden, park engagement… and her curly hair still leaves me speechless!!!

I can not wait to celebrate with you and your families at Tusculum Farm! It’s going to be an absolutely beautiful June day in such a lush and relaxed garden setting… see you soon, cuties!

xo,
Naomi

holly + josh | a fancy, formal + fun Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower engagement

The sky was bright and blue when we met up at the Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower for Holly + Josh’s formal engagement portraits on a sunny December morning.

I had been looking forward to our time together in this space since we first started talking about their vision for photos… it was my first time being inside this epic industrial, historic and charm-filled Baltimore venue! Seeing how happy they make each other and how perfectly quirky, silly and sweet their love story is, it was so easy to document them in a natural, candid and relaxed way.

5 FUN FACTS ABOUT…

HOLLY + JOSH’S PORTRAITS AT THE BROMO SELTZER CLOCK TOWER + CEREMONY COFFEE IN MT VERNON

1. We brainstormed a few different locations before landing on the Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower and it was THE perfect spot: full of natural light, private, intimate, one of a kind, historic and fun...

2. Holly + Josh made clear to me that they had a vision for what they wanted and it wasn’t the typical engagement session feel. They wanted artsy and different. The art and creativity of the portrait itself was important to them; quality over quantity.

3. The Clock Tower is one of the most unique and photogenic structures in Baltimore (seriously, have you ever seen a location that even comes close to being as memorable as this?!) so I love that they juxtaposed how raw and textured it is with their fancy, formal attire.

4. Sharing a love of coffee, one of their first shared cups together was at IKEA… (browsing there is my idea of a perfect date too!)

5. Since the Clock Tower is not far from Mt. Vernon, we had to end at Ceremony Coffee which provided the perfect contrast with it’s modern design aesthetic.

I love how the story of how they met…

“A mutual friend of ours, Alex, started a monthly dinner party where a group of friends pick a theme and meet at someone's house to cook and eat together. We met at one of those, talked some more at one a few months later, and then had our first ‘I'm not sure if this is a date’ date at Ikea. That date lasted 13 hours and included our first coffee together of much more to come.”

But love even more, their idea of a perfect Friday night:

Holly: “Fancy, delicious, photo-worthy food and wine along with a scenic walk through an unknown city.”

Josh: “What she said, with a side of witty-banter.”

Our #urpcouples are the best.

I can’t wait to have you both back in front of my camera for your wedding next month at Wyndridge Farm in PA!! Your joy and love is contagious - you both light up a room and I can’t wait to document your wedding day; I know it will be full of laughter, emotion and gorgeous style!

xo,
Naomi

10 tips for natural, non-awkward and real engagement photos

Ready to hear something crazy? Engagement sessions aren’t really even about the photos themselves. The photos are a bonus. Yup, I said it.

So what the heck are they for, then?! And how do we get those candid and unposed moments to our engagement photos? Hint: READ ON…

What are engagement photos really for?

1. Establishing a relationship between the 3 of us so you don’t have a stranger documenting the most intimate (and stressful!) days you’ve ever experienced.

   Why would you want to have the first time you meet the person you’ll spend the most time with on your wedding day other than your partner, be the afternoon of your wedding?

2. Building trust… between the 3 of us but also for your immediate family to see photos we took together, to know my style and work in advance.

   Once they do, they will know they can relax on the wedding day and trust us to work our magic and be creative while also capturing everything important to them, as it happens.

3. Enjoying a lighthearted night out together during the stress of wedding planning.

   An excuse to spend an hour outside together having fun with the person you love the most in this world during one of the most exciting times in your lives? Yeah, it could be a lot worse.

As a wedding photographer who prioritizes real moments, natural expressions and genuine laughter, my goal whenever you’re in front of my camera is to allow you to feel comfortable enough to laugh, cry, smile, kiss, hold hands and embrace the way you would (and do!) when no one’s watching. If there’s anything I hear time and time again, it’s one of these statements:

1. “We’re really awkward.”

2. “My fiance doesn’t like having his/her picture taken.”

3. “We don’t need engagement photos because we already have them / my friend / uncle / sister took them for us right after we got engaged…”

4. “Where should we take them? We don’t live in Baltimore and don’t know any places that would be meaningful to us.”

5. “What should we wear? We’re casual people and it’s not our style to get dressed up.”

I’m excited to share this list of 10 tips with you so that taking engagement photos doesn’t have to be something you dread. Instead, it can and should be fun, memorable and refreshing. If you think of it as just another date night, wouldn’t you jump at the chance to do it?

Without further ado, here are…

10 tips for achieving candid and non-awkWard
engagement photos (in other words, cheesy and overly posed is not my style either)!

Read it, save it and share it… and then read it again right before we meet up. ;)

1. DO YOU. If you take nothing else from this list, stop putting pressure on yourselves to be models or pose a certain way. None of my clients are and NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR HANDS WHEN THEY START! I’ll worry about how you look in front of the camera and give you tips, direction and confidence as needed, as long as you worry about having fun with your boo.

2. Wear what you feel best in and you will automatically feel less awkward. If your groom doesn’t go anywhere without wearing a hat, bring the hat (we’ll take it off for a few, I promise).

3. Put your ‘fancy’ clothes on. I personally feel that we don’t have enough reasons to get dressed up these days (hellooo, people used to get dressed up to ride trains!), but refer to no. 1... fancy can mean whatever you want it to. Maybe it’s just red and cute heels or new and crisp, dark denim!

4. Bring the champagne. Shake it up… magic! I don’t discriminate though and highly encourage all types of liquid courage to be enjoyed! ;)

5. Don’t wear your Fitbit. Take off your ️Apple watch. Give me your keys (but just remind me I have them when we’re done)!

6. Eat a snack before we start but save the meal for after. No one does well with a grumbly belly and dinner at your favorite spot will give you something to look forward to.

7. Choose your location strategically. Think through the places you’re most comfortable in together and the things you like to do in your free time.

8. Weave in your personality and story. Did you meet in college? College campuses are THE MOST photogenic. Do you brew your own beer? Let’s start at your fave brewery. Was your first date at a winery? Bring a bottle of that wine to enjoy. Do you run together? Let’s stroll the trails. Do you own a ️boat? Tell me when and where and I’m there.

9. Don’t bring extras... as in parents/friends. Unless they’re coming to bring home your pup once we’re done with them, I like being your one and only third wheel. Adding others is when it can actually get awkward.

10. Don’t rush the process. I’ve found one hour to be the sweet spot for getting comfortable and used to having a camera near you, having fun and having a bunch of conversations about anything and everything that will allow your wedding photos to be that much more natural and full of real emotion... because that’s the ultimate goal in the end, right?

After reading all of this, 1. you deserve a sweet treat and a glass of wine and 2. I hope you’re looking forward to your engagement session! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll share my thoughts and answers ASAP!