The proposal in the park in the rain

System

amazing-

over 80,000 views-

but then, so are the photos-

DI-Joe

Shay,

this thread is the whole reason why I'm on this site. I found it using StumbleUpon..

I have to say these are some of the most fantastic candids I've ever seen. They literally brought tears of joy to my eyes upon seeing them. I'm quite impressed with your ability to capture such emotion from afar. The timing on all your shots is absolutely fantastic. Great work!!!

Shay Stephens

DI-Joe wrote:

Shay,

this thread is the whole reason why I'm on this site. I found it using StumbleUpon..

I have to say these are some of the most fantastic candids I've ever seen. They literally brought tears of joy to my eyes upon seeing them. I'm quite impressed with your ability to capture such emotion from afar. The timing on all your shots is absolutely fantastic. Great work!!!

Sweet! Glad you found dgrin! It has been the best photography forums for me. And I am really glad to hear that the images moved you emotionally. That also means that photography has a grip on your soul hehehe. That's good, you can use that to infuse your own work and make others cry.

Making people cry is one of my higher goals

One of the ways to achieve that is with careful content editing of the delivered photos so that the gallery of images tells a story and leads the viewer along. If you can do that, the emotion can build to a climax and tears are the release.

Too often, photographers fall into the trap of providing a gallery that emphasizes quantity over story telling quality, and that emotional buildup never happens because the story gets interrupted by unneeded and repetitious images.

Better a small story telling gallery than a bulk warehouse sized gallery of images without a clear story.

b2pix

Wow.. that's fantastic.

soar.

Found the site exactly how the other guy did, StumbleUpon, and those are some nice pictures.

emmalou

Amazing.......it sure moved me! What a wonderful gift for his soon to be bride........

THe storyline was perfect.

Seneca

Man this thread is still alive after 148,000 views. AMazing this has be a record for Dgrin.

But I must admit...probably one of the photo series I have ever seen.

Shay Stephens

Ya, this thread has received a ton of traffic. I even got a call last week from the New York Times wanting to interview me about doing proposal photography. It just so happened that I was doing a proposal shoot over the weekend, so they got to interview the happy couple after the fact and may run a story about it in the paper.

Flyinggina

Shay Stephens wrote:

I even got a call last week from the New York Times wanting to interview me about doing proposal photography. It just so happened that I was doing a proposal shoot over the weekend, so they got to interview the happy couple after the fact and may run a story about it in the paper.

Now that is really neat. I'll bet the NYT does the article -- we need as much upbeat news as we can get these days. I can't wait to read it.



Virginia

Seneca

Shay Stephens wrote:

Ya, this thread has received a ton of traffic. I even got a call last week from the New York Times wanting to interview me about doing proposal photography. It just so happened that I was doing a proposal shoot over the weekend, so they got to interview the happy couple after the fact and may run a story about it in the paper.

Oh my goodness that's wonderful Shay! Wow I bet your business will be booming after that article goes out. :ivar I'm sure you're busy already! Let us know how it turned out.

k2butter

Damn, that brought tears to my eyes! WOW!

~Jan~

Wow, those are just beyond words. AMAZING!!

Antonio Correia

I am glad I saw this thread.
The photos and the idea is really very, very good.

Congratulations Ray.

I am sure you are sorry of the presence of that orange flag back there !

But I think that you can't do anything about it, can you ?

I hope next time, it won't be there

Hussain-Arts

this is one of best series have seen ever wooow just wow

Gordito

Shay; I signed up just to be able to leave a note. I am absolutely stunned by the series. I have just started shooting different things myself so by the end of this life I will not be anywhere close to what you are doing but I am having fun.

It is unbelievable how the pictures speak to me and apparently to others as well. I am sending them to all of my friends and they all LOVE them.

You can be very proud of your achievement. Hopefully the couple will last together and be able to enjoy this wonderful record of how their marriage started.

Thank you for sharing the pix - you've got fans in Slovakia now as well.

Shay Stephens

Gordito wrote:

Shay; I signed up just to be able to leave a note. I am absolutely stunned by the series. I have just started shooting different things myself so by the end of this life I will not be anywhere close to what you are doing but I am having fun.

It is unbelievable how the pictures speak to me and apparently to others as well. I am sending them to all of my friends and they all LOVE them.

You can be very proud of your achievement. Hopefully the couple will last together and be able to enjoy this wonderful record of how their marriage started.

Thank you for sharing the pix - you've got fans in Slovakia now as well.

Thank you so much! it has been great hearing everyones reactions to the photos. And I am glad you signed up. Check out the contest forum too, we have a lot of discussions about art and how to make photos come to life with story and emotion.

moonbliss

Lovely!
Absolutely beautiful work, especially for what looks like such a rainy day!

Shay Stephens wrote:

It broke a record that day, the most rain to fall in Central Park for that day, I think it was 5.5 inches, and it felt like I absorbed most of it.

squarebear

By a spooky coincidence I'd been googling "Romantic places to Propose" an hour before I landed on this page courtesy of www.stumbledupon.com.

The power of these images simply blew me away. I could practically feel the rainfall, and the mounting tension.

I'm absolutely awestruck. Thank you for sharing this.

dmmattix

too late for me

getafix wrote:

hope MY wife does not see these photos

Yeah, I showed them to mine. Her response: Well you didn't do anything like that. After 37 years I should be used to it I guess...

I am with a lot of others, this site is just phenomenal. I am so glad I saw post somewhere pointing me to the site.

Great job Shay.

Mike

Clickr_Grl

ok.... it made me tear up a bit... ! Great shots Shay and beautiful story! thanks for sharing

Patti

I'm reaching for the kleenex. Absolutely and totally romantic. Your photos capture it perfectly.

Shay Stephens

Thank you so much :-D

I love it when I hear tears are shed, that is the ultimate goal

Emotional response, that is what photography is all about ultimately. It is what makes us want to take the photo in the first place, and what makes us want to look at the photo once it is made.

Thanks again for all the comments

BeamCatcher

Wow!!!!!!
Shay: I am simply put... in AWE!!!! I GENUINELY have NEVER EVER.... seen such AMAZING shots! It takes quite a bit to clog up the old tear canal! -But you managed it! I got my GF in to have a look... scrolled down...slowly as she read the txt and saw each picture. Ahh... then when she realized it was for real... no way!!! It can't be...! That's cut from a fairy tale!!! This makes it "slightly" embarrassing to even CONSIDER loading up any photos. Just wondering... and please don't think it's daft question. This whole series seem so extremely well executed and planned, that I wonder... just HOW far you and the groom took it. Was it planned for a day... or from the weather? A friend of mine is nature photographer and published a few books back home. He always said that a major part of a good shot is the setting, and weather... when no one else really fancy going out, THAT's when you have a good deal/chance to get what no one else gets. Anyhow... fantastic work! Really fantastic! I found this site last night and am enjoying every second in here!!! Thanks! Ivar in Dublin :-)

Shay Stephens

BeamCatcher wrote:

Shay: I am simply put... in AWE!!!! I GENUINELY have NEVER EVER.... seen such AMAZING shots! It takes quite a bit to clog up the old tear canal! -But you managed it! I got my GF in to have a look... scrolled down...slowly as she read the txt and saw each picture. Ahh... then when she realized it was for real... no way!!! It can't be...! That's cut from a fairy tale!!! This makes it "slightly" embarrassing to even CONSIDER loading up any photos. Just wondering... and please don't think it's daft question. This whole series seem so extremely well executed and planned, that I wonder... just HOW far you and the groom took it. Was it planned for a day... or from the weather? A friend of mine is nature photographer and published a few books back home. He always said that a major part of a good shot is the setting, and weather... when no one else really fancy going out, THAT's when you have a good deal/chance to get what no one else gets. Anyhow... fantastic work! Really fantastic! I found this site last night and am enjoying every second in here!!! Thanks! Ivar in Dublin :-)

He flew in from San Diego and the timing was basically down to one day. We kept up with the weather and let him know is was going to be pouring, he said he was going to do it rain or shine, so we said ok, we will be there too. So the weather was a coincidence, but as it turns out, a happy one. It was wet and miserable conditions, but the beaming happiness of the two made it all worthwhile.

I have been working up to being able to shoot in more challenging conditions over the last couple of years, and this shoot was the payoff for me. And it also cemented in my mind that of your friend, that bad weather is a great time to shoot. It really does add that something special to a shot that is hard to come by on a perfect day.

Deadlock

WOW 173, 480 views!!! And long may it continue!

I’ve lurked on and off over the years, but these shots definitely deserve a mention as they are simply stunning.

I totally agree with you about an emotional connection being the heart of an image and this incredibly well crafted series really does play with those emotional heartstrings.

Did you ever get published in the NYT?

Shay Stephens

Deadlock wrote:

Did you ever get published in the NYT?

We are STILL waiting. Apparently these things have to be shot and submitted really quick and then wait, wait, wait, for it to go to press. A bit frustrating, but I will definitely make a post when we have heard any news on it.

Shay Stephens

Shay Stephens wrote:

Ya, this thread has received a ton of traffic. I even got a call last week from the New York Times wanting to interview me about doing proposal photography. It just so happened that I was doing a proposal shoot over the weekend, so they got to interview the happy couple after the fact and may run a story about it in the paper.

The article finally ran in todays (Sep 20th) New York Times. It is in the style section, but I also got a photo on the front page of the paper below the fold! The story follows three couples and the different photographers that shot the photos. So only one of my photos made it, but one is good enough, and my photo was the largest one too

So all in all I am very pleased with the article. I never expected to see my photo on the front page of the paper

urbanaries

Shay Stephens wrote:

The article finally ran in todays (Sep 20th) New York Times. It is in the style section, but I also got a photo on the front page of the paper below the fold! The story follows three couples and the different photographers that shot the photos. So only one of my photos made it, but one is good enough, and my photo was the largest one too

So all in all I am very pleased with the article. I never expected to see my photo on the front page of the paper

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/fashion/20proposal.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=style

way cool!! congrats Shay! how weird though that they didn't use any of the pics from the rainy proposal series! with the NYT, one never knows.

ChatKat

Yay!!
Shay -

WOW!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

You could certainly not buy that kind of coverage at any price. That is SO unbelievebly AWESOME. Talk about one of the best things that can happen to a photographer. Time to raise your prices.




Maybe now you will just get so much proposal work that you will just have to refer it all out to your students (ha ha)

Jeff_Milo

CONGRATULATIONS SHAY!!!!!!! Didn't you just say on Tuesday that they will probably never run it - lol

I think you should add another day to next years Boot Camp to cover the art of stelth proposal photography.


I also want to second Cathy's idea of forwarding the overflow to students