Surprise Wedding Proposal Photoshoot with Anthony & Divlynn
Anthony and I had some lengthy discussions before his surprise wedding proposal for his girlfriend, Divlynn. He was patient and understanding when I was sharing the possible issues that would affect the picture quality.
At the same time, I was amazed by his effort in planning the special marriage proposal. He even went down to the location to recce it to make sure the lighting at the planned timing was good.
Although the package Anthony had paid for was strictly for the use of natural light, I packed a set of lighting equipment. However, with the news of the abandonment of the original outdoor plan due to the bad weather, I left my light stand and softbox behind.
The biggest dilemma I faced was whether to take a bus or taxi, in which the travelling durations would differ a lot. While it was raining, the prices for private hire vehicles (PHV) surged to almost double the usual prices. I had to leave immediately if I were to choose the bus but at the same time, the prices of the PHV might surge even higher towards dinner time if I didn't grab one soon. It was just a short photoshoot project and it didn't justify spending too much on the transport fee.
Not long after leaving my house, I had a glimpse of an available taxi. However, the structure of the building and the crowd slowed my movement and I couldn't catch up with it. I was second in the queue at the taxi stand. Although I had set off much earlier, it didn't stop me from worrying because I couldn't estimate the travelling duration compared to taking the train. I was lucky that I didn't have to wait for too long for my taxi.
I still managed to turn up around half an hour earlier. It was a long walk to the public toilet and I saw Anthony's set-up on the way. Anthony's friend, Daniel, greeted me with the latest updates. He helped to convey messages to Anthony to reduce the number of messages and the chance of attracting Divlynn's attention.
The couple reached slightly earlier than the planned time and I was glad to be around earlier as well. Anthony had Divlynn blindfolded as he led her gently from the carpark. Along the way, there were people having picnics under the shelter and a couple almost gave me away.
The wedding proposal began shortly. Anthony gave a lengthy speech to win his fiancée over. I had fun snapping endlessly to try to capture the entire moment from different angles. After taking some standard wedding proposal pictures, we went over to the beach to have some casual couple portrait photographs.
Many things went through my mind - the composition, the lighting, the crowds, the lack of time and the couple's styling. Since we didn't have time, I wasn't able to teach them the basics of posing, and instead, I guided them to do it naturally. I was energized when the couple was willing to even remove their footwear to get dirtied by the wet sand.
The sunset was great and I felt it was a big waste to not include it. I sought permission from them to create more spectacular photographs, which I would take around two minutes. I quickly ran over to my bag, took out my speedlite and mounted a reflector on it, and then ran back to the shore area carefully. With the lighting, I was able to show the clear details of the sky while lighting up their faces properly. I was quite disappointed that I didn't have my softbox and light stand with me so that the lighting could be softer and be fired at a much better angle.
We ended the day by taking some photographs with the proposal decoration. Anthony and Divlynn suggested taking a group photograph with me and it was obvious that they were people who would appreciate my extra effort. I stayed on to help to pack up.
Daniel and his wife then gave me a lift to Paya Lebar MRT station to save me time and transportation fees. My girlfriend bought some ice cream to reward me for my hard work.
The entire wedding proposal didn't turn out as planned due to the poor weather, as the decoration couldn't be set up in the open area. The area for the set-up was distracted by some structures while the backlighting reduced the photo quality. Anthony looked at it from a positive angle instead and I was inspired.
Featuring ↬ Anthony & DivlynnHairstylist ↬ -Makeup Artist (MUA) ↬ -
Credits ↬ Daniel & friends
Camera ↬ Canon 6DLens ↬ Canon 24-70mm F2.8L IILighting ↬ Natural light, Godox V1C
Place ↬ Parkland Green, East Coast Park (ECP)Date ↬ Year 2022
Photo Editing type ↬ Basic
💲 Photographer's fee ↬ Prices & packages for Couple photography
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