Yellowstone National Park

it just keeps happening!

My clients keep saying it! “will you marry me?” “please marry me!” “I love you and want to spend my life with you” and many, many other versions of the same proposal in this life we are gifted with. As for me, I dig it! Yellowstone National Park is a wondrous place full of centuries of dynamic life… long before we came along. hah! Here are images from another day in my life of capturing this momentous time in life!

Ty popped the question in front of Yellowstone Falls with a few bystanders taking in the view. I could see that it took a few moments for Emily to fully realize what was transpiring. Then the emotions washed over the place like a wave! Many of the witnesses cheered and a few took time to congratulate Emily and Ty.

PS. I love my job! enjoy the view.

Surprise, surprise!

This surprise proposal was a real SURPRISE!!! I was amazed how this young man went to great lengths to ensure that was the surprise of a lifetime for his companion. He told me that he realized, knowing the keen cognizance of his lady friend and love of his life, that it was going to take some work and other distracting events to pull this off. So he was meticulous in his planning all the while creating some diversions and change of plans, here and there leading up to the big day. The photos tell the story! However, what I couldn’t show in my still images, was just how long she was awash in emotion, joy, tears and blissful uncontrolled laughter!!! FABULOUS! Enjoy!

And also I will note that the rainbow in the spray of Yellowstone Falls was epic!

Proposing in Paradise

I got an email from Michael a couple of months ago and began the process of setting up the photography of his surprise proposal to Sarah in Yellowstone National Park. Little did we know that all the precise planning was going to be ‘awash’, so to speak in the challenges of a disastrous flooding of the Yellowstone River starting in Yellowstone park and continuing south though many towns down river.

Well, it’s quite a story which I’ll make time for later in the week. The bottom line is that Michael and I for the last week, carried on daily secret conversations to bring us all together without blowing the secret. Amazingly, we did it… and yesterday Michael proposed marriage to Sarah on the banks of the mighty and still swollen Yellowstone River.

I posed as a hobbyist photographing birds near a pre-planned location and the rest is history!!! Here’s a beautiful image I grabbed right as the couple was walking by me to the planned spot. Then the real event began!

Congratulations to Sarah and Michael, newly engaged and my new friends! smiles…

Yellowstone Park Surprise Proposals

Once again, hope springs eternal. Hope is real in our world today, regardless of the ebb and flow of the circumstances, karma, politics and human conditions. Love finds a foot hold in the moment. Love… it is our greatest hope.

In Yellowstone, the world around you is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Our first national park is a marvel to behold. Visiting Yellowstone is like stepping into another world. And… to propose marriage to your partner on this hallowed ground is an indescribable experience. I have witnessed and photographed dozen(s) of proposals over the last 3 or 4 years and it inspires me every single time. Here’s a collection of moments from a handful of recent proposals that I had the honor of surreptitiously capturing.

Watch the slideshow below.

Interested? I can help you fulfill this dream and capture the moments in images that you will treasure for a life time. I have scouted out many scenic locations that are easily found and accessible. All couples are welcomed.

Yellowstone Park opens in the middle of May. I’d love to speak with you about your plans and capture your surprise proposal or photograph your engagement or elopement.

Larry

One of my favorite little streams that begs being dipped into!

Yellowstone Park Wedding

Fairy Falls YNP

Yellowstone Park weddings are always an adventure.

Sommer and Ryan brought their families and friends together in Yellowstone National park for an intimate wedding. It was quite the experience! First of all I was held up in traffic by a motorist that went off the road in Yellowstone and traffic was stopped cold for 30 minutes. I always try to account for traffic when I’m meeting clients in the park, but this nearly exceeded my buffer time. I arrived at the trail head parking area, grabbed my gear and headed to the meeting place. There they were all waiting… hmmmm! Fortunately I was only 4 minutes late, so off we went at a good clip up the trail that was 2.4 miles to the falls.

Well it seems that in all the excitement, the junction in the trail that headed to the falls was overlooked and we walked a mile in the wrong direction. Yikes. Fortunately Ryan caught the error and we all turned around and back tracked awhile to redirect up the correct trail toward the falls.

Alas, we reached the this amazing place to find the perfect early evening light. It was absolutely gorgeous. This place took my breath away, as if i wasn’t already breathless from the brisk hike at that altitude! It was a lovely wedding with hearts afire in the joining of these two and their sons and daughters.

Enjoy the view!

And then there was the bubbly!!! cheers!

surprise Yellowstone Park proposal

I got a call from a gentleman named Shawn a few weeks back and he told me that he wanted to give his lady “the most beautiful proposal in the world” during their visit to Yellowstone! So we began the process. Maps, photos, conversations, location decisions, logistics and timing… It takes quite a bit of planning to pull off a secret proposal when the couple and I are coming from different locations near Yellowstone. When you’re in Yellowstone there is very little if any cell service, so everything has to be nailed down in advance, and the you hope and pray we don’t have a “bison traffic jam”, or an auto accident that stops traffic in it’s tracks!

The weather was great and the light was beautiful as I was headed toward the trailhead when I saw Shawn and Felicia just getting out of their vehicle, so I knew everything was a ‘GO’! I took to the mile long trail down to the location and found the viewing platform nearly empty with only a few onlookers. Then the fireworks began!!!

Seeing this huge strong man melt in his shoes as he poured his heart out to his companion was very moving! He INDEED gave her the most beautiful proposal of marriage! Her reaction was so amazing. She just melted closely into him with comfort, joy and acceptance.

After all the celebration we took to the trail and off we went to several other locations for photos with smiles, laughs and tears of joy! YEP, that was my day at the studio. Oh God, I love my job!

Enjoy the view!