Golden Gate Bridge Proposal at Sunrise

Brad + Leslie

This Golden Gate Bridge proposal all started a few months ago when Brad contacted me on Facebook. I thought it was just one of the semi-annual catch-ups we have.

A little back story; Brad was my first photography professor at Southern Utah University. On the first day, he told the packed photo 0100 class that this would not be an easy A course and that we should expect to work hard and improve our work over the course of the semester. I think half the class dropped that day and about another half of the remaining students dropped after the first critique. Bradly was always a hardass on critique days but always offered the path to fixing what was wrong with the images. This inspired the hell out of me and always has. Needless to say, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be doing this today.

That’s why when Brad asked me if I would fly to San Fransisco to shoot his proposal and engagements I had to! I was incredibly flattered that he would consider me and I was so excited for him and Leslie. We spent a few weeks hashing out a plan. More like nerding out over Sun position, time of day, and the what lighting would best suit the proposal. We settled on the North East side of the Golden Gate Bridge at Sunrise. We had to keep our communications to a minimum as Leslie was completely in the dark.

The entire premise of the going to the bridge was so Brad could grab a shot of the iconic structure at sunrise with great light. I was already there “photographing” the bridge myself. The light wasn’t quite ideal when we were set to start so Brad improvised a wrong turn and a quick walk out on the boardwalk. He asked me if they stepped down to where we planned he’d take the traditional proposal pose.

Of course, she said YES! Leslie mentioned at breakfast after the session that she was hoping the photographer on the hill would take a few photographs of the proposal. She soon realized that I was in fact there for that exact reason.

Here’s a link to the engagement session at Point Reyes as well.