Need a Photo Challenge? Try Shooting Your Own Engagement Session

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The idea of standing in front of a camera is terrifying to most photographers, but when it comes to your own engagement and wedding photography, you have no choice, right? Well… maybe not. Toronto-based photographer Navy Nhum recently managed to capture a great engagement session with her sweetheart all by their lonesome.

Nhum’s decision was entirely based on curiosity: she wanted a creative challenge. “What do you do when you’re bored, hate the cold, have a tight timeline, and need a photo challenge?” she asks on her blog. “Shoot your own engagement photos obviously!”

So on a (still kind of cold) day in November, Nhum and her fiancé Devon trekked out to Bruce Peninsula and Nhum took on the challenge.

“I was kind of looking forward to being on the other side of the camera for once and having someone else tell me what to do, but this was super fun and challenging,” writes Nhum. “It was a great exercise in timing, posing, composition and seeing how much suspense I could handle as I watched, in what seemed to be slow motion, kids running by my tripod and $5000 camera setup…”

Fortunately everyone survived, and Nhum captured some great photos to boot. There’s even a slightly cliché but still really cool photo-through-a-viewfinder shot in the mix. If you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t guess most of these were taken remotely.

Here’s a look at all the keepers she got from this “selfie” engagement session:

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“Overall I’d say the shoot was a success!” says Nhum. “I wasn’t concerned about fancy props, intricate lighting and all the things that sometimes overpowers the subject in a photo. All I wanted was at least three good shots and I’m happy with what we got. Even more important was the experience. We had so much fun doing these and spending the day hiking at one of our favourite spots, it made these images that much more special.”

So… are you looking for a new photo challenge? Because this one sounds like it’s equal parts risky and rewarding.

To see more of Nhum’s work, head over to her website or give her a follow on Facebook and Instagram. And if you want to see some of the bloopers from this fun engagement session, keep an eye on Nhum’s blog. Outtakes are going up next week.


Image credits: All photos by Navy Nhum and used with permission.

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