August 2026 / Chicago lakefront

A lakefront proposal in Chicago

He asked on the path by the harbor with the whole skyline behind him. She had no idea we were there.

The proposal itself: he is down on one knee on the path, the Chicago skyline and the lake filling the frame behind them

A proposal shoot is the only job on this list where the photographer has to be invisible first and a photographer second. We scouted the spot the week before, worked out where the light would be at the time he wanted, and picked a bench far enough away to shoot long without being read as a wedding photographer standing in a park.

He walked her out along the path. We started shooting before he stopped walking, which is the only way to be sure of having the frame where he goes down, because that part lasts about four seconds and does not happen twice.

Afterwards we spent forty minutes with them on the lakefront while she was still shaking. Those are usually the best frames of the day. Nobody is posing yet because nobody has come back down to earth.

Her hand resting on her chest with the new ring on it, caught the second after yes

Her laughing into his shoulder, her hand on his arm, ring showing

The two of them reaching for each other across the grass with the skyline behind

He lifts her off her feet on the lakefront path, both of them laughing

Holding each other on the breakwater, the Hancock tower over her shoulder

The couple standing together at the railing, the lake flat and gray behind them

Black and white: the two of them on the grass, the city small in the distance

The couple on the pebble path by the water, boats moored out in the harbor

Two hands reaching toward each other, the skyline soft and out of focus between them

Next: A senior session in the sunflowers

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