I have photographed a lot of engagement sessions for UNC grad students and that’s how I met Katie and Judson. Although they both went to UNC for grad school, they actually met through Girls on the Run. She was working on the marketing for their 5K race and Judson had volunteered on race day. They had met the night before the race at the volunteer meeting and over the next 2 weeks, they went from not knowing each at all to randomly seeing each other everywhere.
As a photographer, it seems that if you do a terrific job for one couple, then all of their friends that “run” in the same circle want to have that experience as well. They hear about the fun couples shoot and see the images displayed on facebook and at their friends house and they contact me with ideas for their own shoot.
Katie and Judson are also huge UNC fans and we decided that with the recent awesomeness of UNC winning the 2009 Mens Basketball National Championship that we should photograph on Franklin Street. As I drove to meet them at the Old Well on UNC campus the sun went away and the clouds rolled in. We had discussed that this might happen but I assured Katie that an engagement photos session in the rain could be just as fun!
They have a black lab named Mason that managed to sneak his way into a few of the shots as well. Judson has had him for 6 years and, because he’s a true Southern gentleman, named him after the Mason-Dixon line. He always wanted to get a female dog and name her Dixie, but it hasn’t happened yet.
It was off and on rain throughout the shoot and Franklin Street was extremely busy and the all of the “carolina blue” stores were packed with fans eager to snatch up some tar heel merchandise. There were even a few stores that had a waiting line that strecthced out onto Franklin Street since they were too small to hold a certain number of people.
They shared with me the story of how they met 2 years ago and how Judson recently asked Katie to marry him. He was visiting Katie in Cincinnati and they had planned to exchange Christmas gifts. Despite many offers from friends to go out, he was adamant that they stay in and cook dinner. Katie shared with me that he was also strangely decisive about what we made (marinated pork chops, green bean casserole, homemade mac n cheese). After a wonderful dinner, they sat down to exchange gifts and Judson made Katie open her gifts first. They are both big fans of the show “How I Met Your Mother” and he had gotten her seasons 1 and 2. The shows tagline is “a love story in reverse” and in between the dvds Judson had inserted a card that read “I look forward to one day telling our story in reverse, but right now I’m happy to be with you at our beginning.” When she looked up, he had the ring out and proposed. She said “Yes!” of course…
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