Hot in more ways than one: Warren & Jana engagement session

I hadn’t seen Warren, one of my first cousins, in YEARS. The last that I saw of him, he was young, anti-conversation and very not affectionate.

He joined the Army, served time in Iraq and is now a state trooper for the Nebraska State Highway Patrol. So when I saw him at my wedding in June, my jaw dropped. He no longer is that punk cousin. He’s a man. Or close to it. 🙂

While we were dancing at my wedding, he asked me about shooting his wedding (a great time to talk business, right? haha) Soon after I got back from our honeymoon, we confirmed the details for his BIG day, which will be in November in Aurora, Nebraska. When I mentioned it being hard to squeeze in an engagement session since I won’t be able to make it up that way until October for a wedding I’m shooting in Omaha, he volunteered to drive EIGHT hours (from North Platte, Nebraska) so he and his fiance could get engagement pictures here in Columbia, Mo.

I was pumped. And even more so when I met his fiance, Jana. She is such a doll.

What I really liked about Warren and Jana is that they are so playful together. He’s ornery. She’s sassy. Together they are darling.

We headed to downtown in Columbia, searching for some color. And that we found.

Same wall. Different spin…

Sexy, no?

How can you look at them and not see the love?
One of my faves.

HOTTTTTT!

(oh, speaking of temperature. I should note. It was 112 heat index… and we were all dripping sweat. I kept saying, “You two are troopers!” and then I would laugh…because I didn’t even mean the joke.)

I should note. Warren, like many guys, takes things literally when getting his picture taken. If I said “Be serious”… Jana would drop the smile. But Warren would cast evil Trooper Eyes my way.

If I said, “Do you guys want to lie down in the grass?” Rather than answering yes or no, Warren would drop to the ground and lie there…no mind to the fact that he plopped down in dirt. Jana, on the other hand, knew I wasn’t meaning RIGHT THAT SECOND. haha. There were many instances like this. It kept me laughing.

Here is one…right after he went too serious on me. But I think it works. 🙂

Sigh. Such cuties!

I think the sign knows the way to Warren’s heart.


She looks like a cover girl here. Oh yeah, and Warren is cute, too. 🙂
Ok, so… he being my cousin…and a man of the law… I had to ask his advice on something. There is this LARGE LARGE mound of dirt up the street from where I live. And when I say “mound” it’s more like a hill. Manmade. I drive by it every day…and my heart and eyes have craved using it in a shoot somehow.

So I asked Warren about the legality of using said hill for our canvas… and he said, “Let’s do it!”

I want to thank them both for finally putting my desire to bed!!! 🙂
Here are two I got from that series. There are definitely more…but I randomly picked two.

I’m way below…using my long zoom lens.
Right after this, we went back to my place to change. Me included. We were so soaking wet. My eyes were buring from the sweat dripping into them.

So once we were dry…we headed to a park. And when Warren saw this Bobcat, he said he wanted to get a pic by it. Jana was all for it…for her dad’s sake. Apparently he owns one himself. So Mr. W…this one is for you!

This picture is so calming.
and another fave from that day. The black-eyed Susan was hand-picked by Warren for his bright-eyed Jana.