Where to go for your engagement shoot in Buffalo, NY

I already talked about why I'm sometimes scared if clients choose the location for a photo shoot. I mean, I have ended up at a river in a concrete bed right next to the most beautiful mountains in Germany before. And it's hard to say no to the bride and groom on their wedding day. So how do you come up with a location for an engagement session? 

Either somewhere pretty

You can always ask me for recommendations! I love to show my couples new locations where they haven't been or one they wouldn't have thought of. It helps me a lot if you give me an idea of the kind of look you want to go for. Should it just be a nature setting, like a park or a nature resort? Or is city life more important to you and you want to do downtown? Buffalo is also famous for the silos and industrial buildings, these make for an awesome rustic backdrop as well. 

Also important to know: Feel free to choose two locations! I love giving couples two different looks, maybe we start around city hall and go to the outer harbor afterwards? Or you want to go big and shoot at the Niagara Falls because that is where the proposal happened? Not every city has such an incredible and world known waterfall in its backyard. Same with Letchworth State Park, especially in the Indian summer. 

Here are some of my go to locations for shoots:

- Tifft Nature Preserve
- Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve
- Knox Farms State Park (ideal for fall engagement sessions)
- Beaver Island State Park
- around Silo City
- Canal Side and Cobble Stone District
- Main Street and City Hall and surrounding streets. 

Or a location that means something to you

Even better could be if we meet at the location you love to spend your dates at or even where you first met. You love spending your Sunday afternoon at Tipico? Or you couldn't survive for one week without a sandwich from Breadhive? Let's ask them to shoot there. Anything is possible, I have even traveled to NYC for engagement sessions. Katie and Ryan for example actually met at the Transit Drive In Theatre. They both used to work there. So we had access to the site before it opened. Afterwards we went to Grand Island to shoot during sunset. Two perfect spots and a ton of fun, especially shooting with an old German car from their parents as a prob. Enjoy the photos! 

What gear to bring on a road trip as a photographer?

In August 2017 I was traveling with a friend of mine from Europe. We drove together from Chicago to Yellowstone National Park. I had a hard time to decide what to bring - and ended up with lots of gear in my trunk. Why this was a good decision in the end and made for an awesome travel video. Please skip to 2:14 if you just want to see the travel video itself.