Late summer, early fall is my favorite time of year to shoot up on the mountain. The mornings are brisk but the days warm up fast and the light hangs a bit longer than those cold rainy months that are fast approaching. I was super stoked to  be able to capture these moments for them before they continued on with their road trip.

This is a very good spot for first time Oregon visitors as it’s easy to access and doesn’t require much hiking at all. I sent a pin and a well detailed google earth map with everything labeled ahead of time so Aaras knew exactly where to go. I pretended to be a photographer out there catching sunset and the proposal went great! So much good emotion in this one!

The hike is 3.5 miles round trip and it’s really pretty easy. Coordinating can be tough because there’s no cell service and you’re on a forest road in the middle of the Gifford – Pinchot National Forest. Well worth it in my mind. I pretended to be photographing the waterfall while Lloyd got down on one knee and successfully proposed. Would love to shoot and elopement out here sometime. It’s such a rad location.

The hike itself was rather crowded and there were quite a few people lingering at the falls. This year has been like that with almost every location in Oregon. Luckily though with the help of photoshop I was able to remove everyone and let Eduardo and his fiance have the place to themselves. There was a giant storm a few days before this shoot that almost put the trail in jeopardy. We were super lucky that it wasn’t closed. Winter time in the northwest definitely brings it’s challenges but I’m also happy to be able to capture awesome couples at my favorite waterfalls. Big congrats.

Latourell Falls is one of the only waterfalls open in the Columbia River Gorge at the moment thanks to last year’s wildfires. Trick is to show up early before all the tourist. Especially at ones like this which are a very quick walk/hike. There were a few people already there that morning so it was pretty easy to blend it pretending to talk photos of the waterfalls. Doug walked out to our preplanned location and dropped to his knee. She said yes! Stoked for these guys and am always happy when I can include some doggos(dogs) in my photos. Here’s to many happy years to those two!

After taking his soon to be bride out for a nice lunch in downtown we met secretly in the bathroom at the rose garden(Can’t make this stuff up folks). It was busy and crowded as always so I found a place out of the way where there weren’t many people and waited for RJ to work his way down there with his soon to be fiance. I pretended to take photos of flowers while I saw him make the move to get down on one knee and that’s when I turned the camera towards them and documented a successful proposal! I was nervous! She said yes though and we did a very short portrait session with them afterwards before he left to take her out to a nice dinner and enjoy the rest of their weekend in Portland.

Once Rachel coaxed Ella to the platform that overlooks the winery I slowly grabbed my camera as not to be noticed and waited for Rachel to get down on one knee. Luckily my nerves were calm because Rachel was gracious enough to buy me a glass of wine while I was waiting haha. Once the moment happened I snapped away finally being able to show myself and got to congratulate both of them on a success surprise proposal. After Ella said yes we were allowed to walk the grounds for a few minutes and take portraits anywhere we wanted with our own personal golf cart they provided. But that wasn’t all. Rachel had hired a helicopter exit to pick them up at Willamette Valley Winery and take them on a wine tour through the valley. All in all it was a fantastic day and I’m so very happy I’ve made two new friends from it. Super excited for their wedding next year. It should have been this year, but was postponed thanks to covid.

I brought my girlfriend with me so I could look less conspicuous in the park. I’m glad I did too because normally the park is quite a popular spot. That morning it was nearly empty. I saw Tony walk up the hill with his then girlfriend towards our agreed upon location. My girlfriend slyly started filming on the iphone so I could text him a video of it right after which I like to do if I have the resources. Once Tony hit the mark he dropped down and proposed. Everything went perfectly and I was even able to remain hidden until the last moment. They’re a lovely couple and I’m super stoked for both of them. What a great Holiday gift.