This one was a long time coming. Jeff and I had been in touch for several months leading up to this big moment. This was great because it gave us time to discuss several options and allow me to recce them in the leadup. Eventually, we settled on Seopjikoji for the beautiful view of the ocean and Seongsan Sunrise Peak and planned out the day.
As with all my proposal sessions, I sent Jeff a detailed guide with photos and directions to the location we’d chosen as well as some tips for making the moment work for the camera as well as for the couple. Timing is essential for catching the best light of day and ensuring that not only the moment itself, but the photographs come out as they should.
When it finally came down to the wire, Jeff was desperately trying to convince Sherly to hurry their walk across to the location. Of course, she had no idea what was about to happen and Jeff couldn’t exactly spoil the surprise. Sherly wanted to take plenty of pictures along the way and Jeff texted me to let me know. “Tell her there’s a beautiful view of the whole island just down here!” I texted back. We had just a few minutes of light left before a patch of clouds would cover the sun and I wanted to make sure that all our planning was fruitful in the end!
I’m not sure how he did it, but Jeff managed to convince Sherly to walk the last 100 metres at just the perfect pace. They arrived and Jeff pulled out the flowers I’d hidden in the long grass. The light was gorgeous and Sherly was absolutely stunned by this sudden turn of events. Everything went exactly to plan and all I had to do was motor off as many frames as I could to capture each of the moments as they unfolded.
Once the moment was over, Jeff introduced me to Sherly. Jeff had booked a nice dinner that evening as a good excuse to get dressed up and also to be on time for the light at Seopjikoji. Knowing this, I set about racing through a few different locations and making as many images of the couple as I could before sending them on their way. Jeff had let me know that they both loved the ocean and one of the things that drew him to Jeju was the volcanic rocks along the coast. So we made good use of those, as well as some of the flowers, and, of course, the beautiful architecture of Glass House Jeju. The sun was well behind the clouds and their dinner reservation was approaching, so I wrapped up the session at a beautiful wall of volcanic rocks.
It was a whirlwind session with a lot of nerves on the parts of Jeff and I. But, it was worth every moment of planning and preparation for the result! Congrats again to Jeff and Sherly and thanks so much for having me be a part of your journey.
