Well as Kathy put it, we are no longer dating! She is now my fiancee! I wanted to pull it off as a surprise (like I believe most guys do) so I went to the drawing board.
So here is how it went down:
As most of you know, Kathy comes with me on most of my shoots. She is my primary second shooter! Photography is a big part of our lives (with no help of me) and I wanted to integrate it into our biggest decision yet! So after much deliberation and thinking of how it would best suite us I decided to have a little secret presentation rather than a large one. I had tracked down one of my favourite photographers here in Winnipeg Curtis Moore and presented him with my plan and after a few back and forth emails we had it set.
The proposal:
We had setup a “anniversary” shoot with Curtis and his wife Amanda. I knew Kathy would not recognize him, but I didn’t mention his name prior. We had met up at that Winnipeg Mellenium Library for our pretend shoot. We had some small talk and we embarked on an anniversary shoot for Amanda and Curtis. I wish I could have listened to myself because I was a bumbling idiot but Kathy just thought this was normal, and Amanda and Curtis knew my pressure and thankfully helped support me all along. Curtis laid some ground work from the beginning that he hadn’t used my camera and strap system yet (double wink wink here) and that he would like to try it out eventually.
For 20 or so minutes I photographed Amanda and Curtis trying to play it up. This was amazingly hard as I know what I am about to ask and yet still photographing a fellow photographer whom I greatly respect his work. So my heart was going crazy. Big shout out to Curtis for helping me here with posing because I had trouble breathing little own think about posing! Shortly after, the sun came out and Curtis mentioned that the light was amazing and that he wanted to “try out the cameras”. So he quickly took a few shots getting used to my settings, and helping Kathy feel a little comfortable (as we have NEVER handed over the cameras to one of our couples). As Curtis had lined up the pose and positioning he had us both face away from each other in anticipation for a “reaction shot”. While Kathy had her back to me, I quietly turned around, and got down on one knee. Curtis said “alright Kathy turn around”….
I remember saying a few words which I can’t remember but I do remember saying that I loved her and that I asked her to marry me. She had a puzzled look on her face for the first few seconds as she needed to process what was happening. Shortly after, her hands were over her face, the tears started, and she gave me a knod through the tears! The rest is history!
Kathy and I would like to send a very special thanks to Amanda and Curtis Moore for helping make our day amazing. I couldn’t have done it with anyone else. I also need to send a special thanks to Sarah and Jeff Appelt for helping me pick the best ring with the best customer service and merchandise EVER!
To see the photos please head over to Curtis’ blog: http://moorephotography.ca/blog/2013/11/kathy-aj/
What is next?
As many of you know, that I have been an I.T. consultant by day and photographer by evening and weekend. This is going to change. After 12 years of I.T., I am finally stepping away. I am moving closer to my dream of full time photographer. Come December 2013 I can be found at Appelts Diamonds. I will be helping guys plan their own proposals to meet their own dreams and girls style.
