$25! I was shocked to find out that the arboretum was now charging $25/session or $300 a year to shoot on site. And it wasn't even about the money but they required that photographers register 24 hours in advance. Of course, finding this out about 10 minutes before I meet this wonderful couple for the first time is a far cry from registering 24 hours in advance and paying my dues.

I was introduced to Andrew and Silje through a mutual friend as I was offering a free last minute mini session to finish off a roll of film I had. They happily obliged and we met up at the arboretum. When I met Andrew and Silje for the first time I knew that they were going to be awesome. Silje is Norwegian and Andrew an American. They met in Japan, of all places. They loved God, each other, and from their openness and kindness you knew they loved people. I felt like I've known them for years though I had only met them.

I told them "Sooo...I hadn't notified anyone nor paid my dues so I can't shoot here in good conscious." I offered to take a walk with them to a neighborhood behind the arboretum and they happily agreed hand in hand with one another. And there in the back of a random neighborhood we did their engagement shots.

Using the long end of my 70-200mm lens and shooting at f/2.8, the houses behind didn't make a difference. We sat in the middle of the street and yelled out "Car!" We quickly bolted out of the way and then resumed our positions. It was all great. They were clearly in love and everyone walking by thought it was cute too. At the end of the day the neighbors didn't mind and we got some good pictures out of it. Most importantly, I met an awesome couple (and they offered me chocolate and smoked salmon...automatically among my favorite people). And I learned that good portraits can be shot anywhere.