Elton Anderson » weddings. lifestyle. fashion.

This past weekend I went to my hometown of Detroit to visit family but the highlight of my trip (besides my beautiful niece, of course) was my engagement shoot with Ja’Lisa and Jaye. I actually went to high school with this couple but their love didn’t bloom until well after we graduated. Fast forward 9 years later and I’m shooting their engagement pictures. Lucky for me they’re beautiful because the weather was not! The sun didn’t come out the entire weekend and it even snowed during our shoot. I really have to give it up to Ja’Lisa and Jaye… despite the bad weather and bitter cold their pictures came out AMAZING and we laughed the entire time. I am so ready to shoot their wedding in June and I can promise it won’t snow! (I hope )

*note: thanks to Jessica Nabongo for being a great assistant during the shoot!

and then came the snow… whomp, whomp but these two were no Debbie Downers. We grabbed an umbrella and our warmest coats and finished the shoot right around the corner from my house. Please give it up for Ja’Lisa she looks beautiful even when she’s frozen.

This weekend I’m back to my home city of Detroit! Definitely, happy to be back but glad I made it out, lol. This is a two bird, one stone sorta weekend because I get to see my whole family and I get to shoot two amazing engagement sessions. Here’s a few sneaks while I go back to playing with my niece.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Lauryn Williams for over 10 years now and have watched as she’s grown from a fellow teammate on our summer track team – GO CHEETAHS! – into a premier female sprinter and World-Class Olympic athlete. I’ll actually never forget the first time she walked into practice back in the summer of ’96. Although she was shorter than nearly everyone on the team (and still is ) , she was faster than most of the boys (not me of course, I could never let a GIRL beat me). I’ve since hung up my running shoes, but Lauryn kept hers on and ran right into a 100m Dash Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics!

As she gears up for yet another season of meets, she wanted to take a few lifestyle/promotional pictures for the re-launch of her website – *enter me and my camera*! Although Lauryn and I make it a point to hang out at least once a month, I wanted to see what a day in her life was really like. Oh, what a day… I’m actually still sore as I type this. We started out at the gym for physical therapy and stretching, then on to track practice (Yes, I actually ran and yes, I finally got beat by a girl), then home to walk her great dane, Athena, and we finally headed to bible study, so I could pray for my body to heal. My day with Lauryn reaffirmed what I already knew – she is the same down to earth person she’s always been and I’m happy to be her friend and biggest fan.

Here’s a “square story” from Part 1 of our two day shoot. 

To say I had great time with Nicole and Brian would be an understatement – in fact, we had an AMAZING time during their engagement shoot! They were so ready to be guinea pigs for all of my crazy ideas and surprisingly, the shots came out great. These high-school sweethearts have been together for years and its always great to see a young couple so deep in love. I thank both of them for being so much fun and look forward to their wedding in 2010.

Melissa and Shawn are the type of couple that really make you believe in love. Not in the way that I love the brown bread from Outback Steakhouse — but the kind of love that you only see in movies. The kind of love where the chemistry is so strong that you find yourself rooting for them the entire time. This past Saturday was my first time actually meeting Melissa and Shawn but their love story was evident from the second we met. Each time they looked into each other’s eyes it was a genuine moment that you only find when two people are truly meant for each other — I’m just happy I could be there to document it.

They are both teachers from the Orlando area and Shawn said he fell in love when he first saw Melissa in the classroom right next to his. Call it destiny — or maybe persistence — but he proposed a few months and she said “Yes!”. I feel honored that they chose me as their wedding photographer and can’t wait to see sparks fly on their July 4th nuptials.