Engagement Session: Eric & Amanda | Condor’s Nest, CA | Analisa Joy Photography | San Diego, CA Photographer

My poor sister, she always has to wait patiently for her pictures. The hardest part about photographing family is that they usually get moved to the bottom of the pile during the busy season. However, I decided to pull an all nighter and finish up Eric and Amanda’s engagement session. If my writing becomes sloppy, it might be because I’m a little delusional. I’ll fix it later… maybe. It’s 8am and my eyes are burning because I haven’t slept in over 24 hours, but it’s worth it because this shoot was awesome!! I know I’m biased, but this officially goes down as my all time favorite engagement session! It’s not just because they had the coolest venue, the cutest outfits, adorable farm animals, and vibrant sunset. They also had the best weather and lighting. A tricky thing to receive during San Diego’s bipolar season of sweater weather vs. beach days. You can have a mixture of the two throughout an entire week. However, we lucked out and the lighting was so great to the point that a good chunk of their photos are not retouched whatsoever!

As most of you know, the beautiful blonde in these photos is my sister. She is the better half of me. She is Godly, compassionate, and she truly has been blessed with a golden heart. She manages being a nurse, a college soccer coach, a daughter, sister, finance, and friend each and every day. She barely sleeps because she is always making sure she is up to par on what she needs to be doing in each category. I was always hard on the guys that she dated because I knew none of them were good enough for her. That was until she told me that she was going on a date with Eric. Eric is Trent’s best friend and we have been close friends since the start of high school. He has always be involved in our lives, but we never thought about him dating Amanda. When he asked her on a date, I told Trent that it made sense. We never had to go through an adjustment period because they have always clicked. Years ago, Amanda gave me mental check list of what she is looking for in a future husband and when I thought about Eric, I realized he was a man who possessed all the qualities that she was looking for. He is hilarious and always on point with his one liners (we are a fan of those who have quick wit). Eric also works hard, he adores my sister, and best of all, he is a great Christian leader. I love his sense of loyalty and the constant romantic effort he puts into their relationship. Life is going to be fun with these two.

Their engagement session took place at one of my favorite venues, Condor’s Nest. It’s a photo dream land! Props EVERYWHERE! Again, because they are family, we did not do things by the book. We were over an hour late and rather then making small talk, I basically bossed them around for 1.5 hours so that we could squeeze in as much as possible. That’s the perk of photographing people you know. You don’t have to worry about offending them and you get to tell them to change their outfits at the speed of light. Most my sessions are delayed because families/seniors/couples take so long in between wardrobe changes. I made them swap outfits like they were in a runway show. We shot in so many places and I am excited to share my favorites with all of you! Enjoy!

In love with those teal doors! Teal is my weakness!

My all time favorite picture of my sister!

Seriously, model couple alert!

Gorgeous hair styling by, Brenna Bidegain.

Makeup by: Makeup by Kandice

I love this shot!

The next series of images are not retouched. Check out that lighting! It was too perfect to alter!
Shot on my Canon 5D mkiii with my Canon 50mm f1.2. The colors are amazing!

The llama photobombed our session. This picture always makes me laugh out loud!

My sister has a country chic obsession. She had to have a big red barn in her photos.

Amanda + Eric = AmERICa.
This shot really does have their name written all over it.

These two are so goofy. It’s hard to get anything done because they keep you distracted with jokes and laughter!

This displays their relationship perfectly. My sister is always getting hurt and Eric is always laughing ~~with~~ at her.
I told them to skip through the hallway and Amanda’s hand skimmed a thorn bush and it started bleeding.
This is a usual occurrence for her so I’m glad we were able to capture it on film.