Surprise proposals

Surprise Proposal at the B Bar Ranch

Right after Christmas I received an inquiry from a young gentleman that was planning a trip with his girl friend Emily to the gorgeous B Bar Ranch in Tom Miner Basin. The B Bar Ranch has been the favorite vacation place of Emily’s family for nearly 30 years. I spoke to Jose shortly after his first inquiry and we created a master plan for the surprise proposal on the cross country ski area at the ranch.

A few weeks ago I took a drive to the ranch to check out the lay of the land and find the most scenic place for the proposal. I found an overlook where skiers and hikers often stop to take in the magnificent view of the valley below and the peaks that rise upward to the sky. STUNNING! I sent images to Jose for approval and we had ourselves a plan!

I was to pretend to be a magazine photographer on the property making images for an upcoming piece. That’s the best excuse I could come up with! Working with Trina the resident manager, we crafted the ruse.

Yesterday was sunny and cold with just a slight breeze. I hiked in about a mile and set up in my position, shooting a bit and taking in the view while lying in wait of my subjects. Soon they came down the hill to the look out. As they skied by, I made friendly small talk about the moose that I had been watching below (which was true). I think she bought that for about the first 5 minutes and then Jose made his move. It was very, very sweet!

Afterwards, we ran around the ranch a bit making images in places meaningful to Emily. Then sunset found us in a field above Paradise Valley with their dog Myka… soon to be unexpectedly joined by the resident herd of horses for the grand finale images.

At that point the sub freezing temps took their toll… I could no longer feel my fingers and called it a day. A really good day!!!

God knows, I love this job! Enjoy the view.

Cheers to the newly engaged Jose, Emily and Myka!
This is me, loving every minute of this magical day!

December surprise proposal in Paradise Valley

Travis called me last week and inquired about my surprise proposal photography. The funny thing is, I was sitting in my car in Bozeman during a snow storm when I took his call. I was counting down the minutes before I hiked up the hill to lie in wait for my last secret assignment. Fast forward one week to the day and here we go again.

This event was every bit as much of a surprise. Madison’s reaction was priceless… it was ‘shock and awe’ all over again. The location was spectacular with the mountainous backdrop behind the Sage Lodge . Then we hit the road and roamed around the Paradise Valley making images of the moments they will never forget. The evening was complete with a gorgeous sunset on a perch below the peaks at Chico Hot Springs resort!

Cheers to love! Cheers to Travis and Madison!!!

Here’s the way it went down!

Surprise Proposal in Bozeman

Seven weeks ago I received an inquiry from Sid about his plan to propose to his lady friend Marisa in Bozeman. We struck up a conversation about his grand plan and over the weeks we refined it to fit his vision of his big surprise. I suggested a spot that was fairly public so I would have some anonymity among other’s out walking and enjoying Peets Hill. And as fate would have it, the day was snowy and cold and the plan went without a hitch. She was absolutely shocked!!!

Afterwards we went in search of open space and scenery in Paradise Valley. The entire valley was socked in with low lying clouds and then came the snow. It was a glorious day for a marriage proposal!

Enjoy the view!

A large bald eagle did a fly by as we were shooting by the river. ‘auspicious’
All bundled up and ‘engaged’ CONGRATULATIONS TO SID AND MARISA!

Yellowstone Proposal in fall colors

This adventure all started with an inquisitive email about 4 weeks ago. Dustin was exploring the possibilities of proposing to his girl friend in Yellowstone Park in October. This time of year housing and other businesses in the park begin to shut down their services. Dustin and Sarah are in residency in the process of becoming Physician Assistants and spending a period of time in Montana studying and practicing in a nearby clinic. Dustin thought it to be the perfect time to surprise Sarah in our country’s first and most magnificent national park. And… that’s exactly what he did.

Dustin had many insightful questions about how this works and what his options were. Then there came the issue of fitting their schedule into mine and also with respect to the quickly changing weather!

Finally last Thursday we nailed down all the details and the plan was put into action. On Saturday I positioned myself unbeknownst to the bride to be, at one of my favorite and spectacular locations and awaited their arrival at the planned time. The viewing platform had a dozen or so people who had made the trek down the steep trail to see the falls up close and personal! When Dustin and Sarah arrived there were 15 or so people milling around and taking pictures of each other in front of the falls. When Dustin saw his chance he coaxed Sarah toward the rail. When he start talking to her closely, everyone on the platform went quiet and watched intently, and when he proposed folks cheered and clapped shouted encouragements with joy! It was crazy good!!!

So the rest of the story and a witness to their love for each other is right here, captured in these photos.

Dustin, thanks for finding me! It was a pleasure to shoot for you two!

Thanks to Dustin for making this image of me…
IN MY HAPPY PLACE!

Yellowstone Proposal – sweet!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and once again I found myself driving early in the morning into our nations Yellowstone National Park. Hunter and I planned the logistics so as to meet at Artists Point for the proposal and this was the historic day for Hunter and Emilie.

Cruising through Paradise Valley at 5:45 am, the sunrise was radiating pink light over the entire valley. Whoa! I had to stop and grab the visual treat.

In a word… SWEET! I so enjoyed capturing the proposal and running around making adventurous photos with them. Enjoy the view!

Yellowstone Proposal – continued

After getting chased out of Yellowstone National Park by circumstances outside of my control, namely a Bison traffic jam and wildly powerful weather that took an hour out of my photo shoot with this fine couple. Days later we met in the gorgeous Paradise Valley in Montana… I like to call it my backyard studio. Images of joy above the mighty Yellowstone River and on an overlook above the valley with Champagne, giggles, happiness, hugs and kisses! Then just when we thought we were done with the photo shoot the sky exploded and we found a river access that made the perfect place to make some fast images and call it a day! Quite a day indeed!

Nishaad and Alexa, the pleasure was mine… enjoy the view!