My Viral Proposal Photo

April 14th, 2018.

We had always heard the wildflower super bloom was a sight you had to see in California. Near us, the top of Grass Mountain fills with vibrant orange poppies in the spring, but to see them you really have to earn it. We hiked a few miles up what felt like a 45-degree incline all while carrying heavy 30+ lbs backpacks containing food, gear, lenses and tripods. It was (hot slow &) grueling but incredibly rewarding. At the top we had the mountain completely to ourselves for sunset. I began meticulously setting up the cameras for what Erin thought was another one of my day-to-night landscape photos (Not suspicious at all). I had her stand in the middle to grab focus, and set up an intervalometer so the camera would take consecutive photos every 3 seconds. I took off my hat, put on my button-down, and awkwardly fiddled in my camera bag when she wasn’t looking to grab “the box” and slip it into my back pocket. The cameras were rolling, and I jumped inside the frame so we could take an epic “selfie” together. We did a series of poses, looking at the camera, looking away, etc… My hands were shaking with nervous excitement. Finally, before pushing my luck any further I asked her to turn away and pose as if hiking up the mountain. That was my chance to drop down to a knee, grab the box from my back pocket, and once she turned back around pop the question (with a nervous stutter). Miraculously for me, she missed all the signs and was completely surprised and overjoyed. We soaked in the moment together, completely alone in one of the most epic locations we have ever been to. I then left my camera in the same exact position for the rest of the evening so I could capture the stars and blend them with the sunset shots for this epic 4D proposal photo. I could not have even imagined a better scenario or conclusion. I’m a lucky man =)

Here are some behind the scenes photos before & after the big moment:

The ring is an antique heirloom that’s been in my family over 75 years. I had been holding on to it for over a year just waiting for the perfect moment to give it to Erin. After being together for over 9 years I wasn’t about to do something casual or mundane, it had to be EPIC, and we had to earn it! I finally found that moment, and somehow pulled off this photo without her getting at all suspicious. Oh… and #shesaidyes ?

Proposing to my girlfriend on a flower-covered mountain at sunset. [OC] from pics

I later shared the photo and story on Reddit, and it got quite a lot of attention. It had over 80,000 views and received hundreds of comments from mostly internet strangers. The comments are extremely entertaining to read through, some very nice & meaningful, some a bit negative and some just plain goofy, but all taken with a light-hearted grain of salt. One viewer even photoshopped his own version of the photo with volcanoes in the background. Gotta love the internet!

My Camera, Lens, and Settings:

Canon 5D Mark 4, Canon 16-35mm 2.8L Lens.

Day Settings: 1/1000sec at f/8.0, ISO 400

Night Settings: 30sec at f/4.0, ISO 6400

Blended in Photoshop.

If you’re curious to hear a more in-depth explanation of how I specifically set up this shot and tricked her into posing for it, I eventually plan on making a separate blog post targeted towards my photographer audience. Let me know if that’s something you’d want to read about!