Full disclosure, and because I can’t tell this story fully without this detail: Kirk and Julie are some of my and my husband’s greatest friends. We adore them wholeheartedly. We met through our mutual best friend, Christian, and hit it off immediately. They are both gifted artists, Julie a celebrated sculptor and professor, and Kirk a talented landscape architect. When they first entered into our lives, they had just started their relationship and lived in New England, visiting us often in Brooklyn. Over the years of our friendship, we have camped and explored, helped each other move, attended art openings, celebrated milestones, changed careers…we are all a unit together, along with Christian and his wife Linda. We were thrilled when they permanently landed in New York City and we finally got to spend endless time with them and their dog-child, Patrick.
So, you can imagine our happiness when Kirk confided in Josh and I that he was going to propose to Julie. They had already begun loosely planning a wedding, but kind of shied away from the pressure of a proper engagement. Julie and Kirk march to the beat of their own drum; they knew they were going to get married and the formality of the process wasn’t the biggest concern to them. When Kirk emailed us to let us know that Julie’s ring had arrived, I casually suggested maybe we could plan something to surprise her. Since Julie is a sculptor, it was fitting to go on a day trip up from the city to Storm King. I thought that we could tell her to dress nice so I could snap a photo of them for an eventual save the date. She had no idea what Kirk was planning. We picked them up at their place and drove north together.
As we walked along, I casually took some photos of them together so it wasn’t weird that my camera was out. When Kirk pulled out the ring box I was ready. The surprise came over Julie in a wave; it was beautiful to watch the proposal play out in front of my lens. She was beaming. He was beaming. It was perfect.
We continued our journey through Storm King, Julie telling us about her favorite pieces, absolutely radiant with delight. I posed them near some of the artwork, utilizing the natural beauty of the landscape and the play of the figures cut from steel and earth to frame them. Near Maya Lin’s Storm King Wavefield, I felt particularly inspired, and shot a Brenizer method image (pictured last here) of them composed of over a hundred photos.
Since it was chilly out (Storm King had extended their winter hours on this particular December day) we only accomplished about a third of the park before we were ready to warm up. We headed over to the Newburgh Brewing Company and continued our celebrations there.
What I love about these photos is that you are able to watch the proposal moment unfold, followed by the fun of us hanging out, them posing stoically among one of our favorite places. Everything about this day felt so authentic and beautiful, and I am so lucky that I was able to be a part of it.
Julie’s engagement ring designed by Nir Olivia
Proposal took place at the world renowned Storm King Art Center in Cornwall New York.
Celebration (not pictured) afterward at Newburgh Brewing Company, Newburgh New York.
