Love is in the air.....Proposal!

     Words can't express how I felt when Chris asked me to photograph him proposing to Lauren.  First of all, Anne and I had not had the opportunity to shoot a proposal yet, and were excited to know the couple that would be our first.  Lauren is one of my best friends, and I have known her since kindergarten!  Chris and I conspired for months before the actual proposal date about the details of the shoot, and Lauren was none the wiser.   I have to give credit to Chris for the majority of the planning, he thought out a proposal that all women deserve.  It was personalized and memorable.  The hardest part was trying to figure out a special place that would not signal anything to Lauren.  The place that was chosen was in an arboretum on Long Island.

Chris, Anne, and I made our way to the Arboretum to check it out about a month before the big day, in complete secrecy.  We spent awhile wandering around the arboretum testing out the different locations.  There were many beautiful spots in the gardens and throughout the grounds.  Chris chose, with some help from us, a nice secluded location underneath a tree with pink flowers by a bench (sadly the flowers were gone by the time the big day came but it was still beautiful).  All we had left was to wait until the big day!   I knew Chris was excited for the big day to come, but I did not know how impatient and nervous he would get.  I received text messages everyday from Chris counting down the days,  and of course checking the weather to make sure no rain was coming.  The week before the weather was back and forth and it seemed like it could possibly rain on that day.  All we could do was hope for the weather to hold.

Finally, the day arrived!  We made sure that no one knew that I was even going to be in town with Anne.  I even texted Lauren complaining about how busy it was at the ariport that I work at on Nantucket.  Anne and I went to the arboretum early to assess the location and find our hiding spots...and we may or may not have played around for a bit coming up with ridiculous hiding spots that would never work!  We received some odd looks by passersby, but what did we care?  We were getting ready for an amazing shoot.  Then... my phone vibrates... and its a text from Chris, "We are at the bathrooms." (meaning they were about to start the walk into the area).

  I think I was just as nervous as Chris was because I wanted to make sure we did not miss a second of the proposal.  We sat in wait as they strolled around the arboretum, and then took cover for our covert operation as soon as they got close.  We were holding our breath, and our adrenaline was pumping!  Then we see them coming towards us.  They stop.  He has Lauren take a picture of the tree they are under to distract her, and then he drops down onto his knee!  The shock and excitement is apparent as Lauren starts to shake and her hands go to her face.  Of course she accepts the ring with tears in her eyes and they embrace.

Then after Lauren calms down a bit and grounds herself, she looks around and says, "Who is that over there?"  She found me!  At this point, it didn't really matter, and I was then able to congratulate her right away.  Next, of course, were the obligatory phone calls to family and friends.

After all the phone calls were made, Anne and I asked the newly engaged couple if they were up for a mini engagement shoot so they could have some more photos to commemorate the day.  They said that they would love to, and so we got to have some fun!

Can't wait to shoot the real engagement shoot and to be a part of Lauren and Chris's wedding in October 2013!  We wanted to thank Chris for making us a special part of his big day, we love you both and couldn't be more excited for what's to come.


-Stef

"A photo says, You were happy, and I wanted to catch that.
A photo says, You were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch."
-Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

Costa Rica

 Recently I traveled to Costa Rica and I have to say it was amazing!  I spent 3 days in the mountains of Monte Verde, 3 days in Arenal near the volcano and 3 days by the beaches in Guanacaste.  When you are there you will notice Costa Rica is known for its coffee, which I have to say was very very strong! I was way more interested in the animals, plants and views I would be able to photograph.      " The country is home to over 9000 species of flowering plants, over 600 species of butterflies, more than 200 different mammals as well as prehistoric looking reptiles and boldly colored amphibians." (Bartley, Glenn.photo Itinerary- Making the most of Costa Rica: Nature Photographers Online Magazine, 2010 http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0706/gb0706-1.html)

Fig tree in rainforest

If you are interested in photographing birds, monkeys and beautiful rainforests, Costa Rica is perfect for you!  While vacationing in Costa Rica I felt a main focus on most tours was the birds!!

They have over 875 different species!

Birds

 My advice for shooting here is to definitely bring a long lens! Either if your shooting with a point and shoot or a DSLR, make sure you have a large enough zoom to catch those small animals that hide in the trees.  I would also recommend bringing along a macro lens, which is my favorite, to get those small details. 

Hummingbird nest with eggs (macro lens)

 Remember Costa Rica has a lot of rainforests, so I would recommend bringing a rain cover for your backpack, since you will most likely encounter rain at some point.

Arenal Volcano

Costa Rica has so many different photo opportunities such as mountains, beaches, volcanoes, tropical rainforests, waterfalls and much more.  Plus the sunsets are amazing!! 

Sunset in Monte Verde

I spent 10 days traveling around this beautiful place and just wanted to share some of my photography as well as some tips with all of you. Enjoy!

Stefanie

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”  ~Albert Einstein