You might not know this about me, but I absolutely love photographing at Bethesda Academy. Just kidding, of course you knew that about me! It feels like Bethesda winds up on this blog almost every week! Felicia and Joey were looking for the perfect place for beautiful, whimsical photos – so naturally I pointed them towards Bethesda Academy! With all the beautiful mature oak trees, whispy spanish moss, and rich history, we found some incredible places for their perfect engagement session.

I haven’t shared what I’m shooting with lately, so I thought I’d share a little insight about my kit these days! Right now I’m shooting 100% Leica cameras. I’m shooting on the Leica m240 for some of the portraits, and with specialized lenses (and their adapters). Some of those specialized lenses include the Canon 45 tilt shift, and the Helios 44. That Helios just gives such a unique and interesting bokeh, I try to use it at every session.

On my Leica SL I’m primarily shooting the Leica 24-90mm or the Leica 50mm 1.4 (m mount + adapter). The Leica 50 summilux is what’s bringing out that gorgeous flare. It’s funny I can remember a time when I used to insist on lens hoods to try and reduce lens flare, and now every time I’m shooting I’m running around trying to find ways to maximize the flare! Fun fact about the 50 summilux, it’s entirely manual focus! I was recently talking to another photographer friend about gear and she said having a manual lens would be a nightmare for her. Honestly, I completely agree, I don’t prefer to focus manually. But, there’s just something special about this lens and body combination – it’s really not that hard to focus it!

Really – I could probably geek out about gear for WAY longer than you care to read about. I’ve been kicking around starting a short blog series for my photographer friends, more dedicated to the ‘behind the scenes’ and gear reviews. If you’re a photographer reading this blog, I’d love to know your thoughts! Would a blog post like that interest you? Sort of breaking down the shot and explaining how some of my more elaborate photos were made? Let me know your thoughts!

Anyways, enough about that, let’s just take a quick sneak peek at Felicia and Joey’s engagement session. Be sure to leave them some love in the comments section below!

And don’t forget! If you want to schedule your own engagement session, you can reach out and contact us here!