Couples Pottery Session | Victoria Wedding Photographer

The Retreat

While teaching others is a passion of mine, I would lie if I said it wasn’t a ton of work on my end to stay creative and inspired. I’ve been putting my heart and soul into my Retreats the past couple of years and I think it has a huge impact on my strive to be creative and push my own boundaries — all of which is also the goal with my attendees. I have been dreaming up this couples pottery wheel session for YEARS! Finally, I put it to fruition and wanted to share the experience with my June 2019 Inspire[d] Retreat attendees.

Inspiration

Hugely influenced by Patrick Swayze and the movie “Ghost”, I wanted to take this iconic pottery wheel movie scene and create something of my own. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a watch here. So freaking steamy.

Styling

I took some design and style elements from the movie and added some boho flare. Starting with a blank canvas (empty studio with lots of natural light) I created this scene using cheap ikea curtains, dollar store vases that I painfully painted about 100x each, Varagesale stools and raided my house for the finishing touches. I couldn’t get my hands on a pottery wheel that wasn’t bright red or blue, so I got creative with a manual pottery wheel that suited my neutral theme even better than I could imagine. If you’re a potter, just look away and pretend you saw nothing. LOL. The florals were the prettiest little touch, by my amazing friend Natalia from Ingrid Rose Floral Artistry. Check out the bottom of this post for some behind the scenes and time lapse of the setup!

Makeup

I can’t stress enough how much of an impact professional makeup can do. Erin Bradley knocked it out of the park (as she always does), creating a natural look that photographs beautifully and highlights just the right places. I mean, Meghan had flawless skin to begin with, but I’m telling you I did ZERO skin retouching in post. Magic I tell you.

The Couple

I can usually tell in the first few sentences exchanged if I vibe with a couple. Even though I didn’t get a chance to meet Meghan and Connor before photographing them (with 6 other photographers at my side), I just knew they were the perfect couple for this session. As if everything didn’t just fall into place perfectly enough, I kid you not, I found out during our session that their first date was doing pottery together. YEAH RIGHT. GUYS. IT WAS FATE. No matter who I’m photographing, whether it’s for a workshop or a styled shoot, I always always want my images to be meaningful to the couple. This is why I think it is so important to find the right couple to work with so that they are just as much into it and love the photos as much as you. Hence why 99% of the time I use real couples. Authentic love. You can’t fake that shit.

Editing

As with my entire portfolio, I edited these images with my own preset pack (this specifically with Feel Me). They are super versatile and work in most lighting scenarios! I’m biased, but I still love them so much. If you’re wanting to try them out yourself, you can find them here.

Vendors

Workshop: Myrtle and Moss Inspire[d] Retreat
Photography + Styling: Ang McCabe – Myrtle and Moss Photography
Couple: Meghan and Connor
Makeup: Erin Bradley
Florals: Ingrid Rose Floral Artistry