Photography: Engagement Shoot by Chloe Lodge Photography

We never got round to an engagement shoot. It would have been rather tricky, given we got married in California, travelling there from the UK, and we were only there three days before the wedding. Still, I would have loved to have had those additional images that would showcase us, just as we were, before we got married. 

That sounds completely crazy because we have about a million breathtaking images from our wedding, along with a stunning wedding video, but I am a little bit obsessed about photographs. More specifically, obsessed with professional photographs that really seem to lift life off the page and captures the emotions and the inflection of life at the point the photographs were taken. 

There is something totally different about photographs that just contain you as a couple. I know that the vibe and the energy and even the relationship between us is completely different when we are captured as a family. We love our kids to death, and we wouldn't be without them, but there also has to be time for us, just us, somewhere in the chaos that is family life. 

I absolutely adore these images from Chloe Lodge Photography, for two reasons. First of all, they showcase a beautiful couple, who are in love and on the brink of exploring the new world of marriage. That, to me, is always so special, because it is the start of such a different chapter. 

Second, they capture some of the essence of the older Dubai. You don't see the glass towers or the sweeping shapes of the Palm, you see the more rustic and relaxed Dubai that isn't always easy to see. 

Chloe Lodge is based in both Dubai and the UK, so if you are in either place and are looking for some beautiful photographs, she is the girl to go to! 

You can see more of Chloe's work on her website, blog and Facebook page. Here is a little piece of Chloe, and her approach to photography: 

Hi, I’m Chloe, I’m a Dubai based photographer who specialises in capturing beauty; honest, raw beauty. The kind we see with our heart and feel with our eyes, whether it’s on the day we marry the love of our life or give birth to our first, second or third born child. I have been an artist since I was a child, painting, sculpting, imagining. As a graduate I studied art history and during these years I began to understand more about light, line, form and composition. It wasn’t until my early thirties that photography became the art form which combined all my passions - people, art and story telling. In 2010 I spent a year in Paris studying for my Masters in Photojournalism and documentary. 

Photography for me is everything. Once you switch the light on, it never runs out of charge. It glows brighter and brighter as you learn more, grow and evolve. People and relationships are my dream subjects. Mother and child, husband and wife, brother and sister, owner and their animal, even one’s own relationship with ourselves or the environment around us. I shoot on-location because I love the texture and brilliance of the world around us. And what better way to remember a particular time in our lives - a house where our child first came home to and learnt to walk in, a city where we find ourselves calling home for a time or the park or beach where happy memories have been made. 

Wedding photography is a love of mine, story telling at it’s most beautiful. When hired by clients to capture their day, as an important addition to their journey we begin with a couple’s shoot. We choose somewhere which has meaning to the individual couple, somewhere that triggers something for them. Michael and Claire met in Dubai and will marry here at the end of January. They had planned a trip to the gold souk to find wedding bands so we were talking about their session we decided an abra trip on the creek. It was the perfect location for their engagement session and the light as the sun set was absolutely gorgeous. I only lightly direct my clients as for me it’s so important to capture authenticity and honesty. I just allow those I capture to have their own mini adventure and that’s what we did.