Today we are sharing Molly and Ben’s Maymont and VMFA engagement session that we just took at Maymont park here in Richmond.

We first met Molly in van over video chat a couple of months ago. They were on two separate computers because Ben is in the Navy in Norfolk and Molly is finishing up grad school.

So Richmond was actually a really nice place for their engagement session. Obviously for us because we are based here but it was a good meeting point for them as well. And bonus Molly’s mom lives in Richmond which means that her parents were able to meet us with their dog Lucy at the end of our session.

It was also the first session we were able to shoot with her new camera. We upgraded. If you were interested in the techie stuff Michael and I have always shot using Nikon D750 bodies. The D750 is a great body and we’ve loved it. 

But if you know as you know we are serial over shooters so the quick count on those were really high and it was time to get some thing now. So we tried out the mirrorless with a friend and it was great. So we got one.

The beginning of the session I had to explain to Molly that we’ve tested the mirrorless camera but I still don’t know where all of the buttons are. So if it looks like I don’t know what I’m doing – it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing. Luckily they are so sweet and were super fine with that.

Maymont and VMFA Richmond engagement

So we ended up doing the second half of the session at the VMFA. We chose that because it’s in walking distance of where Molly’s mom lives which made it convenient to be able to meet up with their dog.

In the summer when people want to do a shoot at Maymont we kind of force them to pick two locations. During the summer Maymont closes at 7 PM but the sun isn’t setting until like 8:30 PM right now. Since we love shooting in golden hour during the two hours before sunset.

So instead of shooting earlier in the day and not having the ideal light, we shoot the first half in Maymont, and the second half at another spot. For this session, that was the VMFA. 

It was like a greatest hits of places we take photos in Richmond. 

Michael loves Maymont and I love the VMFA.

You don’t really like the VMFA as much. No I do like it it just felt like we had been shooting there a lot lately. But now we’ve been shooting at Maymont a ton.

But the thing is Maymont is fantastic. We could literally shoot every single Richmond session at Maymont and they could all feel different because there is such a wide variety and so many places to shoot there. 

We honestly don’t even ever go that far from the entrance. Because you don’t have to! 

Molly and Ben are getting married at the heritage museum in Norfolk. We are so excited. We’ve never shot a wedding here before but have done other sessions there and it is so gorgeous.

Can’t wait for that. Besides Molly and Ben are the absolute sweetest. Enjoy a few of our many many favorites from their Maymont and VMFA engagement session.

Congrats you guys!