Madeira
Proposal photographer on Madeira
Every proposal I have photographed here was planned by message weeks ahead. Where I stand. What time we start. What your partner is told beforehand.
This page is what I write back to people who ask. Read it, then send me your dates.
Two ways people do this
As a normal couples session
You book a couples shoot. Your partner thinks it is a photoshoot, comes dressed for it and ready for pictures, and at some point during the session you propose.
They look the way they wanted to look that day. I work in the open, close to you, the same as any other session. Any location works, including small ones and busy ones.
Mike and Amelie did it this way at Praia Formosa. She had no idea until he was down on the knee.
Hidden, from a distance
I take my position before you arrive and stay back with a long lens. The two of you walk in alone. Nobody knows I am there.
The surprise is total. It needs a place with distance and no crowd, so the list of locations gets short.
Sam and Katerina did it this way at Miradouro do Guindaste. I was out on the rocks before they parked.
Both work. Tell me which one you want first, and then we pick the place. The other way round does not work, because the place depends on the version.
The one thing I need from you
Agree on my position beforehand. When you go down on one knee, remember where I am standing and turn so the two of you are side on to me.
If I get your back, or your partner’s, the best frame of the day is gone. It lasts a few seconds and there is no second take.
That is the whole list. Everything else is my job.
One proposal, frame by frame
Jack and Charlotte, Funchal, July. A lawn under the palms in the middle of town, sun straight overhead. The frames are in the order they happened.
Full gallery from that session: Jack and Charlotte in Funchal.
Keeping it a surprise
Nobody has ever guessed because of the place. They guess because of the behaviour.
A photoshoot is the cover story that holds. It explains the booked hour, the good clothes, the drive at an odd time of day, and the man standing there with a camera.
What gives it away: acting strange in the car, checking your pocket, asking again and again if they are excited. Every proposal I watched go slightly wrong went wrong before anyone got out of the vehicle.
Where
Pick the place for privacy, not for the view. The best viewpoints on this island have car parks, and car parks have people in them.
- Miradouro do Guindaste →
Twenty minutes east of Funchal, a three-minute walk down from the road, a straight drop to the Atlantic. Almost never anyone there. This is the one I use for the hidden version.
- Praia Formosa →
A public beach ten minutes from Funchal, so it does not read as a set-up. The volcanic rock at the western end gives enough separation to work with.
- Funchal old town →
Palms, the yellow fort walls, the marina behind. People around at any hour, so this one works as a normal couples session and not as a hidden one.
- Fanal Forest →
Laurel trees, fog between the trunks, no ocean at all. An hour away, and the fog is never guaranteed, so the date needs some slack in it.
When
I start about 90 minutes before sunset. The last hour before the sun goes is when the light does the real work.
Sunset moves a long way across the year here. Around 18:10 in December, just past 21:00 at midsummer. In winter you propose and still eat dinner at a normal hour. In July you eat at eleven.
Overcast is not a problem. Sam and Katerina had flat grey sky at Guindaste and the frames were better for it. Nothing harsh, nothing competing. The middle of a bright day is the one thing worth avoiding.
Price
A proposal costs the same as any other session. No surcharge for the planning, the early arrival or the long lens.
Short
€250
One location
1 hour
25 photos
Classic
€450
One or two locations
Up to 2 hours
50 photos
Book longer than you think you need. The proposal itself takes two minutes. Everything worth photographing happens after it.
No deposit. Your word holds the date, and you pay on the day, cash or bank transfer.
Edited photos come back in 10 days. Express delivery in 24 hours is €80 if you want to send the news home the same evening.
After the yes
The first ten minutes are the best material of the whole session. I stay where I am and keep shooting. No calling out, no directing, no stepping in for a better angle.
People call family, hold the ring up to the light, laugh at nothing. Portraits come after that, and by then neither of you is thinking about the camera.
Worth reading first
- How to plan a proposal on Madeira →
- Mike and Amelie. A surprise at Praia Formosa →
- Sam and Katerina at Miradouro do Guindaste →
Send me your dates
Tell me your dates and which of the two versions you want. I will tell you honestly whether the plan works, and where to move it if it does not.
Plan it on WhatsApp