Today I Got Engaged - a photo on Flickriver

Day 16

I had a great plan. Take Megan somewhere beautiful, do what we normally do (hang out and be awesome), find a good place for a portrait, set up the camera, take a few pictures, and then drop to my knee and propose.

I didn't expect to be a complete nervous wreck. Everything went according to plan, but in my sweaty trepidation, I forgot to make sure the lens was set to auto focus. So, while I captured the moment, it will likely remain forever sharper in our hearts and memories than in ones and zeroes.

I'm pretty sure I actually said the words "Will you marry me", but they might have just been in my head. When I dropped to my knee and started to raise my hand to open the box, I was looking right into Megan's eyes. She looked a little bit confused at first, and then turned beet red in her face, and her eyes teared up. She smiled real big as I opened the box and either asked or thought to ask her to marry me, and then she looked away giggling with shock and joy. That's when this picture snapped. (In my right hand, I'm holding the remote for the camera and pointing it at the camera.) The next time I managed to push the button for the shutter release, can be seen here.

There were a bunch of people in this part of the conservatory, and I have no idea how many of them were paying attention, but I saw a lot of smiles around the room when I snapped out of my daze. One lady came over to us and congratulated us, and took a picture. I think it was just before this that Megan remembered I had asked her a question, and she just looked at me and said "Yes!" and hugged me.

Megan and I remained a little bit goofy for a few minutes, and when I finally went back over to the camera to check the pictures I discovered that the lens was on manual focus and that all of the pictures were out of focus. We talked for a minute about doing it again, but it just wouldn't have been the same. I swapped back to the 35mm lens, and took a few more pictures. My favorite is here.

I did this during an impromptu visit to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I knew how I wanted to pop the question, but I didn't really know where I was going to do it. I brought the ring with me today just in case I saw a spot that seemed worthy. We were in the Potted Plants room of the Conservatory, which was full of orchids that prefer warm and dry conditions, along with lots of leafy green plants, vines, and some other types of exotic flowers. I saw this cool little Zen Garden looking hut thing with a couple of benches in it, and knew that it was the spot.

Taken on: August 16, 2009

Tags:

special moment

blurry

portrait

18-55mm

megan

engagement

conservatory of flowers

d40x

california

nikon

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Sets appears in: • One a Day - August 2009 • The Day I Got Engaged

Camera: Nikon D40X, f/3.5, 1/40 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D40X
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Soft
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.00
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