South Africa…yes…it was definitely while I was in South Africa working on Project Resonate when I first received the email from Vivian and Bryan; an email that flew across two continents, the Atlantic ocean, and countless servers & relays only to edge it’s way to a spot in an ever growing line I like to call the, “million-emails-per-day-I-can’t-respond-to-because-of-my-internet-hates-me line”.

Nonetheless, upon returning to the United States shortly thereafter, I emailed my mystery couple. What happened after, you ask? Simply scroll to watch the story unfold…

(Above) Gnarly reflection from asphalt puddle = love in the lens

(Above) Los Angeles Union Station, how fitting huh?

(Above) The station was packed with quite a few people so I tried to minimize chaos by picking a lens with more background blur.

(Above) Bryan and Viv are Taylor guitar players; good people; I guess we can be friends!

(Above) One of my favorite shots of the day; HUNDREDS of people passed us during this set. It was awesome!

(Above) We really had to rely on the oncoming traffic to achieve the “look” for this final closing shot. The interaction between color, light, and texture drives me nuts! Ahhhhh that is so love!

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Some thoughts from the two lovelies:

…we were looking for something urban and a little edgy, so we all met up in downtown Los Angeles…when we met up with John, we were pretty nervous about posing in front of a camera in public. Both my fiancé and I are camera shy…but pretty much once we started shooting, because John was very assuring and engaging, we didn't feel awkward and out of place anymore.

When we weren't shooting, we chatted together as friends and we both really appreciated the direction and reassurance he gave before, during, and after each "scene", especially since we didn't really know what we were doing.

Aside from making our session comfortable and fun, John's photography skills are amazing. He is able to think like the camera and see things in the perspective of each lens that he uses. It's incredible how creative and imaginative he is, and how he is able to draw out vibrant colors, soft lighting, and unique textures from seemingly dark and ordinary backgrounds.

Both my fiancé and I really feel that finding a good photographer is much more than just his/her ability to take good photos. The connection and relationship that you have with the photographer, his responsiveness, confidence, and shooting philosophy are just as important. We're really glad that we found John, because we feel like we work well with him and that as a result of that, we have great photos!

- Bryan and Vivian