Proposal & Portraits · Boston Public Garden
JJ & Payton
"First the yes — then a victory lap through the Public Garden."
JJ had the ring before he had a plan — his first message to me was equal parts excitement and "please tell me you help with the planning part." I do. Over the next couple of weeks we worked it out together: a late-May date, the Public Garden in full spring bloom, a walking route Payton wouldn't question, and a hiding spot she'd pass within feet of without ever noticing. By the day itself, JJ knew where to stand and I knew where to hide, and all those nerves finally had somewhere to go. Payton thought it was a normal afternoon walk right up until JJ stopped and got down on one knee — I was already shooting, and she never spotted me until the yes was out. Then, instead of wrapping up, we kept going. This was a proposal-plus-portraits day, so once the shaking hands settled we did a full celebration walk through the garden: swan boats drifting in the background, willows overhead, the lagoon doing what the lagoon does in May. There's a looseness people only have in the first hour of being engaged, and the Public Garden in spring is the best possible place to photograph it. If you're weighing whether to add a portrait session to your proposal, this gallery is my honest pitch for it: the proposal photos tell the story of the moment, but the portraits are the ones that end up framed on the wall. JJ and Payton walked away with both, from one afternoon, without Payton ever knowing a camera was coming.
