If you’ve ever been to the Wisconsin State Capitol on a Saturday after the Farmers’ Market, you know it isn’t exactly a quiet place for engagement photos. The building is full of guided tours, families, and people wandering from one beautiful room to the next.
Everywhere you look, someone is walking through the frame, and more than once I knew I’d be relying on editing later to remove people from what otherwise felt like the perfect image. It isn’t exactly the easiest place for two people who have never had professional photos taken before, especially when it feels like the whole world is watching.
Somewhere during the session, Rebecca looked at me and said, “I feel like I look awkward. Like something isn’t right.”
I remember smiling because I wasn’t seeing awkwardness at all.
I was seeing Rebecca do exactly what almost everyone does during the first few minutes in front of a camera. She was thinking about where her hands were, whether she looked natural, whether she was getting it right.
I joked that if anything looked awkward, we were just going to blame Spencer.
Then I told them something I genuinely believe.
Pinterest is great. I love using it as inspiration if that’s something my couples want to do. But I’m never concerned with recreating the photo perfectly. I care about what happens after we try it.
Usually the pose falls apart a little.
Someone laughs.
Someone adjusts their footing.
They bump into each other.
They forget I’m standing there.
That’s when I start taking the photographs I’m actually after. I want to capture the way two people naturally close the space between them, the way they wrap into each other, and the way they move through the world together when nobody is telling them what to do.
About halfway through the session, I started noticing that every now and then Spencer would blow a little raspberry or his tongue would sneak out for a second. Rebecca finally laughed and said, “Your tongue is going to be out in every photo.”
The funny part is, I hadn’t even noticed. I wasn’t watching his face. I was watching hers.
I was watching the way she laughed before she even realized she was laughing. The way she looked at him afterward. The way her shoulders relaxed a little more every time he pulled her out of her head.
He wasn’t trying to be the center of attention. He was trying to make sure she felt safe enough to forget about the camera. I don’t know if it was something he did because he was nervous himself, or if it’s simply part of who he is. Either way, it worked.
There’s something really beautiful about watching a man quietly lead like that. Not by telling someone what to do. Not by taking over.
Simply by knowing her well enough to recognize when she needs to laugh.
After learning how they met, the way they move together makes so much sense. Rebecca’s first interaction with Spencer involved teasing him for wearing sandals in the middle of a Wisconsin winter. What started as a joke between two strangers became the relationship standing in front of me.
We often talk about love in the big moments, but through my lens, I see it more in the small ones. I capture the quiet ways people care for each other. You can actually see it. The safety. The trust. The quiet confidence that comes from knowing the person beside you has your back.
Somewhere along the way, they stopped worrying about the camera altogether. From that point on, Spencer and Rebecca somehow made one of the busiest places in Madison feel like it belonged only to them.
Once they settled into that rhythm together, we simply started exploring.
As much as I loved photographing inside the Capitol, I couldn’t resist the rooftop. Natural light will probably always feel like home to me, and some of my favorite portraits from the day came from those few minutes overlooking the city.
The spiral staircase leading up to the roof had been on my mind from the moment we walked into the building. I knew I wanted to use it somehow, and it ended up giving us one of my favorite candid images from the entire gallery.
Then came the elevator ride back down. We kept sticking an arm out to stop the doors from closing while trying to steal one more kiss. We probably would have looked ridiculous to anyone waiting for the elevator, but the timing came together quickly.
The doors were halfway closed, the light was just right, and for a split second everything lined up exactly the way I’d imagined.
When we finally stepped back outside, I wasn’t ready for the session to end, so I had them play in the revolving doors.
Not pose.
Just play.
They pushed the doors for each other, peeked around the glass, and maybe, if only for a split second, forgot they were having engagement photos taken at all.
Those ended up being some of my favorite images from the day because they weren’t thinking about the camera anymore. They were just enjoying each other.
By the end of the session, they weren’t following poses anymore. They were simply following each other.
Somewhere between the crowded hallways, the rooftop, the spiral staircase, the elevator, and one last trip through the revolving doors, the camera became the least interesting part of the afternoon.
When I look back on this session, I won’t think about the Capitol first.
I’ll remember the way Spencer could make Rebecca laugh before she even realized she needed to.
I’ll remember watching her stop trying to look perfect and simply enjoy being with the man she’s about to marry.
That’s the version of themselves I hope they see every time they look back at these photographs.
