For these California engagement photos, we all woke up early and caught the sunrise at El Matador. This is my favorite beach in the greater Los Angeles area! El Matador has incredible cliffs and rock formations lining the coast, and in my opinion it looks just like the Amalfi Coast in Italy (aka my favorite place on earth! And one of my bucket list locations to photograph a wedding!).
We got there just in time for the sun to start peeking out above the horizon, and the sky filled with beautiful soft shades of pink and orange! I love sunrise photo sessions because have such beautiful, soft lighting. Plus, these two made it super easy to capture cozy, playful, candid engagement photos.
One way that I make sure to capture candid engagement photos is by keeping my couples moving. I’m always giving my couples actions, movements, and prompts to get them interacting with each other. Rather than stiff poses, by using movements I enable my couples to not only look more natural in the photos but also to have more fun taking them!
Also, I play music on a JBL Clip Bluetooth speaker during engagement photo sessions! This also lightens the mood and makes us have 10x more fun. (Check out my Photography Playlist on Spotify!)
Shannon & AJ will be getting married in May 2021 after postponing their 2020 wedding, and I’m so glad that I got to meet up with them in California for this fun engagement photoshoot. Malibu is their favorite place to be, so we chose to capture their California engagement photos at this location in Malibu.
Their neutral outfits against the sand, the sandy beach, and the rocky cliffs came together so perfectly, and we might have had a little too much fun chasing the waves as they came in and out.
This day reminded me just how special sunrise beach engagement sessions can be! Capturing engagement photos is truly one of my favorite parts of being a photographer. Check out their photos below, and feel free to reach out if you’d like to set up a candid, playful beach photo session of your own!
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