Emotional Beach Proposal at Myrtle Beach State Park

I had another fun couple that hired me for their engagement pictures and a marriage proposal on the beach. This one was a bit different than my last couple of proposals because his girlfriend knew that he was going to propose. This made it a bit easier for me because I didn’t have to try and be sneaky with my pictures of the proposal. I also got to set the position of the couple up a little bit so there wouldn’t be people in the background. We started doing my typical style engagement pictures around the oak trees and sea oats in the State Park in Myrtle Beach. Then he proposed to her near the end of the session before sunset.

I was thinking about how many photographers get caught up in trying to be artistic with their pictures, such as color effects or unusual composition and tilting of the image. Something you learn after a while, just capturing a clear picture of something emotional happening, is much more important than anything else. For example, in one of the pictures below, his ‘about to be fiancée’ starts to cry as he shows her the ring. When I put this one on Facebook, it immediately got a lot of likes, more than most of my pictures that I would consider more artistic. This is a clear, in-focus picture using a high-quality lens that captures the moment. I hope you enjoy the pictures below.