And I Do My Little Turn on the Catwalk

Confession time*:

I love having my picture taken.  

Acting like  a supermodel, around age 12 or so // {photo by Potion Dad}

Sure, I went through a phase where I hated having my parents' camera in my face, 

At the beach, age 7 or so // {photo by Potion Dad}

 but for the most part, I've always been good about putting on a show when cameras are around.

We were lining up for a race through the neighborhood; I was more concerned with the camera getting my good side.  Shout out to MOH (the one in the Alabama shirt) and BM BabySis (the lil toddler on the end) // {photo by Potion Mom}

 Maybe it's because I was a dancer from age 3 through high school

That's me standing on the far right, tap class, age 9

 but then again there were times when, even in costume, I didn't have the patience for pictures.

Age 9 again...MOH has more patience than I do in this picture // {photo by Potion Mom}

 Mr Potion, on the other hand, normally reacts like this when there's a camera around:

Ring Banquet at Virginia Tech, 2009 // {personal photo}

Ring Dance at Virginia Tech, 2009, with BM BabySis // {personal photo}

If he even looks at the camera at all! // {personal photo}

 So we had a bit of a challenge on our hands when it came time to talk about engagement photos.

Wait wait wait- engagement photos?  But I haven't talked about booking a photographer yet!

...that's because we haven't booked a photographer yet.  Still.  Yikes.  I'll get to that in a later post.

See, Mr. Potion has this wonderfully talented friend named Emile.  He's one of those guys that's good at everything he tries- and incredibly humble, to boot.  One of those things Emile is good at is photography!  (See where I'm going with this?)

Since Mr. Potion moved up to Leesburg, he's wanted Emile to come visit and see the area.  Almost immediately after we got engaged, Mr. Potion asked Emile if he'd like to spend MLK weekend with him and, if he wouldn't mind, take some pictures of us.  We paid for his airfare (since flying from Louisiana to DC is not cheap), covered his meals all weekend, and showed him a good time at some museums and touristy things in DC, and in return, he took some beautiful pictures of us.

Want to see?

Our first set was taken on the swing set right outside of Mr. Potion's apartment.

This photo and all following courtesy Emile Frey

 To ensure there were no goofy faces (well, not too many, anyway), I told Mr. Potion to just look at me most of the time instead of the camera.  This gave us pictures with natural smiles on both our faces instead of awkwardness or forced facial expressions.

Of course, staring at each other the whole time made it kind of difficult to not just do this:

 
and it also didn't necessarily prevent goofy faces

This is actually one of our favorite pictures from the weekend!

  but at least those goofy faces made me laugh!

We have a ton more photos from the e-shoot weekend...but you'll have to tune in next time to see them!

Do you like having your picture taken?  Does your groom?  How did you get over camera-jitters?

*I sure do like confessions, don't I?  Guess it's 'cause I'm Catholic :D