Surprise engagements often feel to me like a top secret mission, where I have to blend in, while somehow carrying profesional camera gear, and not set off any sort of suspicions. I find myself enjoying the excitement of whats to come, acting all nonchalant to what is happening around me, and being ready to capture the amazing moments that unfold infront of my camera. Collin decided that he would pop the question when their trip took them to the west of Puerto Rico, to Rincón. Part of the logistics consisted in looking at some Google Earth images, and deciding where he should pop the question, and where would I be "hiding", as both of us haven't been to the actual place where the surprise engagement would happen.
As a photographer, I try to control all of the variables I can, have as much information and details about the assignment, so that I may at least fulfill the clients expectations, but the goal is always to exceed them. Surprise engagement pose the challenge of having to be careful of when you communicate with a client, you don't want to spoil the surprise, so every time I got a text from Collin, I'd try to get some more details. We communicated for about a week before the day of the session, getting down all the details including where they would stand, and how they should face each other the moment of the engagement.
Rincón is a town about 2 hours away from my home, so I made sure I got there extra early, do some "recon" of the area, and get in touch with Collin as soon as he sent me a message. I shared some more details and a few phone photos of the place, along with some suggestions for where they should walk, and where he should drop down on his knee to pop the question. When the time finally came, everything went perfect! Collin popped the question, Grace said yes! After the surprise I introduced myself and we proceeded to do the post engagement session.
Here are some photos from session, hope you like them!
-Oli
