So this is what happened at the engagement picture photo shoot. I got there late because I'd been napping, which is what I do on Sunday afternoons after the hard work of going through pounds of New York Times. Hilary and Travis were already with the photographer at the pond behind Clyde Sorensons's house. Here's a plug for Clyde for letting them use his pond. He's a professor of entomology at N.C. State who also sings a booming bass in the choir at the church and may be one of the most unassuming smart persons you'll meet. What Clyde doesn't know about bugs probably isn't worth knowing. The Sorensons live a few houses down from Travis' home.
The photographer was a friend of Travis' family, Bruce McCarthy, who, when he isn't shooting weddings, is a manager at Novo Nordisk, one of the life science companies that have transformed the western side of Johnston County where we live.
The late afternoon sun was burning through the clouds. I'm not just saying that for imagery. It was a beautiful Clayton day, the kind of late October day that makes me love living in this small town. Halloween has decorated Clayton.
The leaves had started to turn, and the breeze was whipping up ripples on the surface of the pond; the ducklings were being supervised by their mother. Murray, the Sorensons' dog, was barking despite Clyde's best basso profoundo efforts to shush him.
Travis had his arm around Hilary. Bruce was giving instructions. "Bend your left leg and keep your right leg straight," he told Hilary. Hilary was showing more teeth than Travis. She had the same expression she has always had for cameras. I can't exactly describe it but you can see it in every shot from 3 to 21. Even with a couple of inches of heels, she came up only halfway up Travis' head. He posed them against the fence, on the gazebo-ish dock that extended into the pond, on a bench, against trees.
We had some fun. Hilary climbed up on Travis' back and they chased after the ducks, hoping to get them in the picture but they wouldn't play. She got Travis in the headlock shot (see earlier Toru Tanaka post). They did the shot where they are walking away from the camera. I mugged with Travis, my head on his shoulder. We pretended for the camera to be playing tug of war with Hilary, me on one arm, Travis yanking at the other.
Whole thing took about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Out of the dozens of shots, you'll see one in the paper, in the weddings and engagements classified section back of Sunday Journal.
