TTLKurtis wrote:
Dude why aren't you having then -do stuff- like a date then? I'm the same way I hate posey engagements. My favorites are one I shot in a couples home and one I shot at the carnival. No posing at all.
+1 on the carnival shoot. I did one of those last year, and it was a blast for everyone. Had a little trouble with the ferris wheel because the guy running it wanted to put all of us in the same seat. He finally obliged.
Personally I love engagement sessions because I get the creative freedom to pose them however and wherever I want without time constraints and get plenty of freedom to do all the little ideas that pop into my head, but I can definitely see why some photographers dislike them. Plus, they can be really really awkward at first....
I do think that once they see the results it gets them more comfortable with the camera on the wedding day, because they know the pictures will turn out awesome like the engagement pictures so they act more natural and less "deer in the headlights-y"
Regarding whether there is a point to engagement sessions, I don't feel like a person needs to absolutely be in love with the idea of taking a couple's photos before the wedding to be behind the idea of doing a session for a couple. I like engagement sessions for two reasons. The first is that people hire us to do them and want us to do them (we do e-sessions for maybe a third of our wedding couples, and we don't push them on them in any way). The second reason is that I believe in couples having their photos taken in an emotional way several times in their relationship, not just on their wedding day. Lately we have been photographing couples who have been married for quite some time. They love being together just to spend time with each other, and they love knowing they are going to have meaningful photos from the experience. And they pay us too
The only photos I have with my lady are on an iPhone in the worst possible light. I don't think esessions are pointless.
That doesnt mean I like shooting them though. .
The kind of esession I want to shoot would require me spending an entire day without posing with the couple. I also wouldnt want to know their plans. I would just follow them. Making breakfast. Getting ready for the day together. And then whatever transpires. From waking up through evening. And it would cost $7000.
canerino wrote:
i think this is my problem. i actually had this response written yesterday but didnt finish the thought. i dont see the point of them for the couple. no disrespect intended for anyone who had them done. but i couldnt imagine getting one. and i think that really weighs into my general dislike for shooting them.
I don't even offer them because:
a. I don't believe in them.
b. Brits are mostly quite a conservative lot and the concept isn't very appealing to most of my clients.
I'll do them for an additional fee if someone specifically requests them, but I've never lost business from not offering them. On the flip side I've been considered doing more of them as I feel like they'd be a good training ground for my wedding day creative portraits.
Come On! 
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