Dawn Photo

Hot take: your couples don’t need posing. They need direction. 🎬

Okay here’s the thing nobody tells you. The second you say the word “pose,” your couple freezes. Shoulders go up. Hands get weird. They start performing instead of just… being.

But directing? Directing gives them a feeling to lean into instead of a shape to copy.

“Stand here, hands on his shoulder, chin down” = stiff.

“Hold each other like you’ve missed each other all week” = real.

Same couple. Completely different photo. And the wild part is you’re not doing more work. You’re just saying it differently.

This is honestly the whole reason my galleries stopped feeling stiff and started feeling like little movie stills. It’s not the camera. It’s not a “naturally photogenic” couple. It’s the direction.

If you’re a photographer who wants your couples to actually feel something in front of your lens, follow along. This is the stuff I teach all day. 🤍

a sprinkler. a vintage truck. golden hour doing its thing. and a golden retriever who has no idea he’s the main character.

this is the stuff I live for honestly. no stiff posing, no “okay now look here.” just a couple being silly and in love while the light went absolutely perfect.

scroll back to your regularly scheduled chaos now. or don’t. stay here a sec.


Young couple in love laughing and playing with a sprinkler beside a vintage truck in an open field at golden hour, their golden retriever running alongside them, captured by a couples and elopement photographer in a candid, joyful, cinematic moment full of movement and warm light.