FLAT IRON ENGAGEMENT

After talking about yesterdays photo about how clients stories take us to different places... Let's go back a few years! This is from Leyla and Mike's engagement shoot in New York City! NYC was personal to them but they didn't like the "touristy" side of NYC aka Times Square. They wanted the side streets, the shops and of course the hidden secrets of Central Park where they got engaged.

Today's image was done in front of the Flat Iron Building! We did a lot of prep work to get this shot. We arrived in NYC the day before Leyla and Mike got there to scope out locations. Flat Iron district was a must and Neal wanted them in the center of the street in front of the building. I was the test subject! We had to time out the traffic lights and the flow of people crossing the street to know exactly when to take the shot of Leyla and Mike. It took about 2 hours to time everything out. We even had the NYC cops walk by a few times asking what we were doing.

When Leyla and Mike arrived, we started the shoot at night walking around 5th Avenue taking shots of them in front of the fancy store fronts, City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and headed toward Central Park. Amazing at night!! The next day, we had a private photo shoot at Tiffany's on Fifth Ave! I was in heaven! Leyla was too as she picked out a couple beautiful pieces of jewelry for her wedding. We were literally taking photos behind the scenes in the upstairs offices and private showrooms and on the main showroom floor as they shopped. They even got served champagne while they shopped. Amazing!!!! We then traveled back to Central Park  where they got engaged and then to the Flat Iron.

We told Leyla and Mike exactly what we wanted at the Flat Iron. We mentioned we had it all timed out for them as well. We actually needed to catch a flight right after this location, so we needed it to be perfect in a short amount of time. Mike was so funny. He kept yelling out the timing of everything. We were laughing so hard, we couldn't concentrate. It took about 20 minutes to get the final product. It was everything we could hope for and more.

Now it was time to catch our flight. We stashed our bags in Leyla and Mike's room at the Waldorf Astoria. Little did we know, there was a presidential campaign going on at their hotel and Barrack Obama and Mit Romney were present. Secret Service agents were everywhere and had the place on lockdown. We were freaking out that we would miss our flight. And we needed to get back home for a wedding. Then out of nowhere, a Secret Service Agent saw us struggling with all our gear and escorted us out of the hotel and got us a cab! We made it just in time for flight. We felt so important that a guy who protects the President gave us an escort!

This was a great story with amazing images for Leyla and Mike. They were so down to earth and treated us to late night dinners, breakfasts' at the Waldorf and lunches in the city. They seriously treated us as friends and we couldn't be more grateful for their kindness. We were so excited for them that they made the cover of our recent book "The Art of Engagements".

Leyla & Mike recently welcomed their first child a couple weeks ago. We could not be happier for them. They're going to be the best parents ever. We have one more shoot with them and can't wait to document more memories for them.

-Danielle

NYC Wedding Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

NYC Engagement Photo Location: NYC, Flat Iron building