August 19, 2017
Hotel Vitale, The Embarcadero
Charles took Juvina to the top of Hotel Vitale to have his marriage proposal under the night sky. A very dimly lit area at 10PM, the rooftop of Hotel Vitale provided just enough light for me to capture the event without flash (ISO 25,600, 1/125, f1.4 for those photo heads!) to maintain the ambiance of the romantic setting. Charles took Juvina completely by surprise as they had just finished dinner and were seemingly about to head back to their hotel room when he suggested one last look at the Bay Bridge for their last night.
If you have been following along with my blogs, you will notice that I did another marriage proposal this same day for Brian and Aishling in the morning, and also had a wedding reception in the afternoon! 🙂 This was, needless to say, a great way to end the day (and more or less the first time for me to sit down and eat!)
I really enjoy shooting in the evening as it challenges me to see differently, as I now am able to use flash in creative ways, to give images that aren’t so obvious and literal. I am always a fan of showing the setting for a marriage proposal, and the rooftop of Hotel Vitale has an amazing city view of the Embarcadero, so I knew I had to show it off, along with the Bay Bridge of course 🙂
This was a last minute gig, and I was fortunate to be able to squeeze it in between a lot of driving (Napa – San Jose – San Francisco back to back to back), and cap off my third gig that day with one of my favorite things to shoot!