Proposal ~ Yussef & Angela {Santa Fe Wedding Photography}

For me as a photographer, this story started in October 2009 when Yussef contacted me to take family portraits of himself with his two adorable sons. He was a single dad. From our session, I could see that he was a good father. So patient and kind with his boys (and what cuties! Just look at them).

Then last fall, exactly two years later, he contacted me again to see if I was available for a family portrait session. This time, it was for his girlfriend Angela. 

A single mom. 

Angela hired me to take portraits of herself, with her sweet kids, for their Christmas card.

Yussef tagged along and it was wonderful to see him after two years.

Yussef called soon after Angela's session wanting to book another session for just the two of them. He told me that he wanted to surprise her and propose during the session! Eeeeep! My first ever proposal. We had a great time figuring our the logistics, like planning where I was going to stand. He decided to propose in front of St. Francis Cathedral. I scoped it out before and decided it would be best if I was across the street in the parking garage window. 

We told Angela that I was simply moving to the parking garage to get a different angle. Once I was positioned in the window and had my camera settings ready, I signaled Yussef and he dropped to one knee. It was truly beautiful to witness his proposal. I felt like I had been given the only exclusive seat to a private performance. What an honor! It was so sweet, I could hardly stand it. Then we went on to take more photographs around downtown Santa Fe.

The happy engaged couple. 

I asked them to stand this way. However, it's not usually the actual pose I'm looking for, it's what happens naturally when two people, who love each other, come together. I never know how it's going to go. Sometimes I see gut-busting laughter, sometimes I see desire ~ rawr, sometimes I see calm and sometimes I see protection & comfort like right here in this photograph. Thanks Yussef and Angela for having me capture such a special moment in your lives!