The National Gallery of Australia is not a place you would normally consider to have an engagement session.
But if you wonder outback to the Sculpture Garden. Which is located right on the waters edge of Lake Burley Griffin you’ll be presented with some weird and wonderful sculptures in a leafy green garden.
When Samantha and Rien suggested the NGA for their engagement session.
I was immediately excited because they were two locations within the grounds of the National Gallery of Australia that I had visited many times, but never photographed people there before.
The appeal of combining landscape or buildings of the National Gallery of Australia with an engagement session would be something different.
Generally when people book me for a portrait session. They usually pick locations such as the National Arboretum Canberra or somewhere on Lake Burley Griffin. Which is fine as both locations are key Canberra landmarks if that is what you are after.
National gallery of Australia Engagement session of Samanthan and Rien. At the National Gallery Of Australia, Canberra, 27th August 2016 (Photo by Mike Biboudis / www.BiblinoImages.com.au)
The NGA would be something completely different, and their photos would as different from any of their friends engagement session photos.
The Sculpture Garden has a lot of little pockets, that you can be explored and away from the general public for short periods of time. Which are perfect engagement sessions.
Having the seclusion from the general public is important. It allowed them to build some confidence, and to get rid of any nervousness.
I sensed that both Samantha & Rien, were just a little bit nervous in the beginning. Which is perfectly normal, It’s not every day they have our photos taken by a professional photographer.
As always, when I photograph someone for the first time. I started Samantha and Rien in a secluded part of the National Gallery of Australia.
After showing them some basic poses and offering some advice, It was off to our first location. The Sky Space, a James Turrell installation called Within Without.
It’s here that I gave Samantha & Rien some space and used a long lens, by standing way back giving them some privacy. Which is important to getting natural candid poses, starting their session slowly.
We had the place to ourselves for a good 10 minutes before we had any on lookers.
Having a small group of people looking on, gave them both a taste as to what it would feel like on their wedding day while they had photos. Their summer wedding is scheduled for later this year at the Margaret Whitlam pavilion at the National Arboretum Canberra.
The beautiful natural light that came through into the sky space was gorgeous. This meant that It was just a matter of placing them in to the flattering natural light, allowing me to concentrate on keeping them both relaxed.
20 minutes later it was time to walk around to The Sculpture Garden. On first impression it looks like a dense leafy green garden. Then you start to spot a few key large sculptures, with the rest of the sculptures slightly hidden allowing you to explore and find them at your own pace.
At this point Samantha and Rien were completely comfortable with having their photos taken.
I took advantage of their new found confidence, using the beautiful afternoon light along with mist from the fog sculpture to add mood to their engagement photos.
The combination of golden afternoon sunlight and a good looking couple like Samantha & Rien. Topping it off with a bit of fog to add some mood, made some interesting and special engagement photos to end the session on at the National gallery of Australia.
If you are looking for a Canberra wedding photographer. And you would like to include engagement photos as part of your package.
Biblino Images has affordable packages with engagement photography as standard. Call 0410 691 114 or use the wedding contact page to enquire.