Here’s a bold couple photoshoot at Grand Central as proof that marriage doesn’t stop the romance and adventure given by professional photography.
You’ve seen the engagement stories countless times, both on my blog and across the creative pool of my peers. You know most of them are engagement shoots for couples getting married, taken a few months before their wedding. No surprises there—guys want their couple photoshoot to celebrate their affection and sense of adventure, in addition to getting to know their wedding photographer before the big day. Statistics show that about 70% of married couples include engagement sessions in their packages.
No Loventure for the Married?
Once the wedding is over, life happens. Way too many things start to compete for the family budget. While many married couples still go on honeymoons for that piece of adventure, few find an extra few hundred (eight in my case) to hire someone and artistically document it.
I was fortunate to have worked with some of them, like an Indian married couple flying me to France and Monaco or an interracial couple visiting NYC for Christmas.
Realizing the financial barrier while advocating for the chance of romantic adventure, in 2022, I opened up my annual RomancEd contest for free couple photoshoots for married couples, in addition to the engaged. Curiously, 80% of contestants were married! There is hope!!
Just look at one of the winners, who took me to Jamaica for their mermaid-themed adventure for their 25th anniversary. That’s the romance in action!
On a side note, another married couple took another cool route of celebrating their 25th anniversary: they hired me to make a DIY movie! Not as “romantic”, it involved the whole family of five and developed a hilarious plot of crypto burglars breaking into their house.
Couple Photoshoot at Grand Central
And now, back to my “up for anything” married couple, Ilona and Ran. They live in Israel. Although they had had their engagement shoot in Israel, they planned a honeymoon in NYC and looked for a local couple photographer. Thanks to a kind recommendation by my long-time client Yana, we were in business.
After the usual pre-shoot consultation, I knew they wanted an urban feel with a fashionable flair. As we only had 2 hours, I suggested several strategic spots to pack as much city variety in the shortest time. They went for their couple photoshoot at Grand Central.
We didn’t have much room to schedule around my busy weekends and their travel plans, so we went with a Tuesday. Up until Monday afternoon, the forecast promised rain in the afternoon only, so we started at 9 am. So did the rain.
Luckily, the rain ended quickly, but not until I pressed for a few rainy shots.
Going In
I wasn’t too concerned, as Grand Central interiors could be a backup option for the entire couple photoshoot.
It was sunny again when we left the train station. Rejoiced, we took Park Avenue Viaduct towards Park Ave, where I wanted to end this beautiful couple photoshoot at Grand Central.
No Man’s Land
Suddenly, we found ourselves in a tunnel with no proper pedestrian lane! As I later confirmed, there was a “No pedestrians” sign on the other side of the tunnel but not on ours. The overpass we entered from isn’t really used for foot traffic, although it has a sidewalk in the beginning. I guess because people don’t walk there, no one puts signs, either.
It’s just how the architecture works there—in an unusual twist, Grand Central, along with the MetLife Building and Helmsley Building, were constructed in the middle of Park Avenue, forcing the vehicles to go around them above the street level. That’s where we ended up navigating out of an office building adjacent to Grand Central.
We worked with what was accidentally given to us… Given the mysterious nature of that part of our loventure, I gave these shots a moody touch, still softened at the end.
Dare to Be Photographed
Coming out to the more crowded and active side of the tunnel, we documented the emotions.
It was all back to normal after that. I concluded this couple photoshoot at Grand Central by making a few stops along Park Avenue, going fun and cool, silly and romantic. I was surprised to see Ilona’s “underfur” brightly dyed and so matching the flowers on Park Avenue!
Behind the Scenes
Check out this reel that I posted on my IG and YouTube. Somehow, it got thousands of views, unlike most of my reels… I wonder if my story of this couple photoshoot at Grand Central catches the attention of authorities, and they install a traffic sign on the other end of the tunnel.
