In the Mood for Love: A Wong Kar Wai-Inspired Engagement Session in Boston’s Chinatown

When Anh came to me, she already had a vision: blending the atmosphere of Wong Kar Wai films with one of her and Gabe’s favorite dates, coming from their home in Worcester to Boston’s Chinatown for dim sum and a ballet.

As a Type A person, this naturally meant I immediately watched the majority of Wong Kar Wai’s films.

I could see exactly what drew her to them: the atmosphere, the moodiness, the separation between characters, interesting framing, and a whole lot of color. With that in mind, I explored Chinatown on my own beforehand, pinning locations that could give us the specific scenery and feeling we were after.

Then I met Anh and Gabe outside their favorite dim sum spot, and we got to creating.

And that’s really what it was: creating. We played, bounced ideas off each other, and moved from one location to the next. Along the way, we talked about Gabe’s band and even tossed around the idea of using one of the photographs as an album cover, which made some of the more cinematic images feel especially fitting.

It’s crazy what can make for a good photograph that is completely mundane in everyday life. A door. A corner. A random street with really good lighting. At one point, we stopped at a bright red door, which felt especially fitting given red’s association with good luck in Vietnamese culture.

I’m quite fond of finding interesting locations I haven’t seen people frequent, and I think that’s one of my strengths as a Boston couples photographer. There are so many places in Boston that can become something entirely different when you start looking at them through a camera.

As the sun began to set, I switched over to flash, which gave the photographs a completely different energy. Suddenly, we had these fun, retro-feeling images that felt like another little nod to the Wong Kar Wai inspiration while keeping the session playful and distinctly theirs.

We eventually made our way under the Paramount Theatre before taking everything back to their favorite spot: the opera.

What I loved most about this session was that it still felt like their date. The Wong Kar Wai influence gave us the visual language, Chinatown gave us the color and atmosphere, but Anh and Gabe gave the photographs their personality.

That’s what I love about Boston engagement photography. It doesn’t have to feel like a photoshoot. It can feel like a date, a walk through Chinatown, a favorite meal, or an afternoon spent making something together.

For Anh and Gabe, we just brought a little Wong Kar Wai along for the ride.