Monday, December 24, 2007

Surprise!!

Oh my HEAVENS! What an adventure!!!

So yesterday, my brother and I took the 3 hour drive up to Seattle to photograph a surprise proposal on top of the Space Needle.
Chad had it alllll planned out.....My instructions were to walk by (Andrea had no idea what I looked like) and 'drop' a piece of a paper on the ground. He bends down to pick it up and it contained a poem and song that he would then recite/sing to her before getting down on one knee... My brother and I would then be waiting in the wings to start shooting!
easy enough, right?

WRONG!

haha.

We arrive at the space needle 45 min before Chad and Andrea were supposed to be there to scout locations and test lighting. Standing outside, the winds were so strong that we could barely hold our cameras still. THEN they decided to SHUT DOWN the observation deck because of 60mph winds!
OH CRAP... what are we gonna do??!

Chad and Andrea were still at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Seattle so I texted him to stall while I tried to figure something out. I called 411 and got the # of the Hilton Concierge to ask if they had an observation deck on top of the building.
NOPE.

They suggested calling the Hyatt... 411 again....Hyatt Concierge Paul answers and he regrets to inform me that they also do not have an observation deck. After explaining our dilemma, I asked him if he had any ideas of who to call next. He replied that he had an idea but he would have to call in a personal favor.
The phone rings 5 minutes later and Paul has obtained permission for us to use an observation deck on top of a condo tower in downtown Seattle. He gave us address and name of the security guard on duty and we took off.

Once we arrived at the Cristalla we met Ken, the Concierge on duty, and he escorted us to the top. THE VIEW WAS INCREDIBLE!!! Way better than the Space Needle in our opinion. We texted Chad and the new plans were in motion...The only problem was the deck had NO LIGHTS and Chad had asked that we didn't use flash. UH-OH.
Have no fear... Ken TO THE RESCUE AGAIN!
He proceeded to take me down underground to the maintenance shed and we obtained 2 shop lights and extension cords.
He even gave us a vendor card to get up and down the elevators. wow. what a guy.


Anyway, the deck had a fireplace where we decided to set everything up... So I scaled the side of the wall and put one of the lights on top of the overhang.... it lit the fireplace area enough where we could focus and VOILA!

My brother and I stood on the opposite side of the deck with hoods on pretending to be looking at the view... as soon as we heard chad singing we went all ninja style into the bushes and she said YES! :)



we shot a few quick shots afterwards...




I didnt realize how much of a HIGH I get off of creative problem solving... man, that was fun!
Congrats Chad and Andrea! Thanks for the adventure and a great story!

6 comments:

Alex Rodriguez said...

That is freaken awesome.

shaunaustin said...

VERY COOL. Great job!!!!!! Have a GREAT Christmas.

STEVE DePINO said...

all I can say is WOW!

OHANA PHOTOGRAPHERS said...

wow awesome story, but who wouldn't want to help you out :) have a blessed and merry christmas to you and yours!

Shane Melenbacker said...

There are not many people who could pull that off in that amount of time. It does not surprise me that you did!!! Have a great new year!

Anonymous said...

Such a rad story!!! You are amazing! Talk about thinking on your toes!

-Leon

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