Kelly & Adam | Wedding-day portraits | National Gallery of Art | Washington, DC

Kelly and Adam rang me juuuuust as I was about to close my DC books forever, and gave me one last great shot at the National Gallery. I've been shooting portraits in there for years, so it was nice to photo my last intimate wedding-ish there. We ran by some old favorites, played with some stuff in new locations and then jumped outside for some quickie fall-foliage action. Kelly and Adam: © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com This piece was downstairs before renovation, in some crappy light. Now they've got it next to the giant windows in the back. Score! © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.comNational-Gallery-portrait-session-modern-art-6© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com Probably my most requested photo. Who knows if I will ever make it again? *tear* © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com I loved Kelly's swank cream coat so we rocked some fashion-modelly stuff with the reflecty sculpture. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com Congratulations, you guys!

Shiva & Julien | National Mall engagement photos | Washington D.C.

Shiva and Julien are all about compromise. He loves the big city and she wants wide open spaces. So they're doing two sets of engagement photos - one here in D.C. and another back home. We're not much for mountains in this area, but we can rock the big city for sure. The three of us strolled the National Mall in search of architecture, glass and urbanity in all its forms. The Mall, as always, did not disappoint. national-mall-engagement-photographers-6national-mall-engagement-photographers-1 We pretended for just a few minutes that it was super nasty cold out. national-mall-engagement-photographers-3national-mall-engagement-photographers-5national-mall-engagement-photographers-1-2national-mall-engagement-photographers-7national-mall-engagement-photographers-9national-mall-engagement-photographers-10 The never-disappointing light tunnel of happy sparkliness. national-mall-engagement-photographers-11national-mall-engagement-photographers-13 And some of the art is back at the National Gallery! We did a couple moody weird ones. Weird is good. Who doesn't like weird? national-mall-engagement-photographers-14national-mall-engagement-photographers-12 Congratulations you guys!

Dana & Hal | National Mall engagement session

I'm going to let you in on a little secret, blog readers. I'd say a good 80% of the people I photograph tell me they are "not photogenic" or that they are awkward, particularly in front of cameras. Dana and Hal told me that. Yes, seriously, these two. I have to say they straight rocked out the fall colors on the National Mall. National-Mall-engagement-session-3 We met at the carousel on the Mall, where Hal proposed. (awww) National-Mall-engagement-session-1National-Mall-engagement-session-4National-Mall-engagement-session-5National-Mall-engagement-session-6National-Mall-engagement-session-7National-Mall-engagement-session-8 Some day, I'm going to use this darn sculpture to its full effect. It vexes me. So many angles, reflections, shadows... this is definitely my best attempt to date. National-Mall-engagement-session-9 It was crazy windy, so we hopped into the National Gallery for a few indoor photos. I don't know what is up with the National Gallery - they have walled off one of my favorite windows and taken down a number of pieces I used to use all the time. We had to scope out some new spots. National-Mall-engagement-session-10National-Mall-engagement-session-11National-Mall-engagement-session-12 Looking forward to doing it all over again in a few months!