Salt Lake City & Park City, Utah Wedding Photographer-Melissa Kelsey » modern. elegant. real.

Lydia and Jesse are hot. They totally rocked their engagement session in downtown Salt Lake City. We had a little breeze to give Lydia that gorgeous wind-in-the-hair look, they had on great outfits, fabulous shoes, and Lydia and Jesse let their personalities shine through.

There were pigeons flying from one building to another in an area where we were shooting and I imagined a shot of the two of them kissing with pigeons flying over. I told them to “hurry up and kiss!” and I thought I didn’t quite get the shot, so we waited for the pigeons to fly again, and we waited…and waited…and waited. We yelled at the pigeons, trying to spook them, but they weren’t going for it. We were able to recreate the shot after many tries, but it turns out, the first one was the best because it was unstaged. That’s the beauty of photojournalism-capturing authentic moments when they happen. Staged, forced moments don’t tell the same story. I rarely ask for people to restage a moment, especially on the wedding day, but for an engagement session, it’s okay sometimes. I learned my lesson, though! Thanks, Jesse and Lydia, for putting up with all that ridiculous waiting.

Later, we went up to a special spot above the city. It’s a little gem in a neighborhood. It usually has tall grasses, but because it’s winter, they’re all flattened down in pretty wavy patterns. I got some lovely sunset shots of Jesse and Lydia that Lydia and I had been planning for and then, came the sexy part. I had Lydia unbutton Jesse’s shirt and have a little makeout session. Oh, baby! The neighbors across the street were looking out the window wondering what on earth was going on, but as I always say, “anything for the shot!”