A Styled Anniversary Session (on film)

When fashion and lifestyle influencer Caiti sent me an email last summer I did a double take.

While I primarily ignore social media “opportunities”, this one didn’t look like all the rest. Caiti found me through a mutual friend and I discovered that she has three kids under three like I do, so I did what I always do when I’m unsure:  I picked up the phone and called her. Turns out, influencers aren’t so different from you and I. We both had kids screaming in the background, we both didn’t know where the days went. But best of all, we both loved the same kind of photography. Caiti wasn’t looking for any photographer- she was looking for a film photographer. She was looking for images that had motion blur and imperfection. She was looking for highly styled outfits meets a laid back stroll in the city, with drinks afterward, of course. It sounded like the kind of thing I’ve been trying to line up for awhile now, so I said yes. 

After the date was set and childcare was secured, I decided to pack literally every single camera I owned. I must have looked a little ridiculous, with all 8 of them strapped to my shoulders and chest in an organized system that would allow me to switch from 5mm to medium format to Polaroid as seamlessly as possible. 
In that bag was a broken 35mm camera, a Contax T2 that my son had dropped a few years before, but I had been playing with in documenting my home life.  Simply put, the mechanism that moves the film forward was damaged, leading to an unintentional overlapping of frames, like this. 

I also brought my Mamiya medium format camera, and got large format shots like this one (my personal favorite).

Caiti returned to the Same designer who did her wedding dress for this adorable look!

Dress & Accessories: Elizabeth Johns Couture

And no film session is complete without a few Polariods! I found black and white Polaroid film and I was so excited to use it inside the beautiful Blondie, an up and coming restaurant in Manayunk, just outside Philadelphia.

But the best part of this story is how it ends: Our families are now friends! With a birthday party and a night of s'mores under our belts so far, I've gotten to see these two as both the incredible parents AND badass couple that they are.

o, AND James wrote a book! Check Out The Confetti Culture Playbook HERE!