When Josh contacted me at the beginning of March, he had a clear idea: he wanted a proposal at Cadaqués in July, but he’d never been there before. He was looking for a photographer in Cadaqués for this job.

Cadaqués is one of the most beautiful fishermen town  (for me) in Costa Brava, Girona. Blue waters, white houses, mountains… a very romantic place, and full of history (Dali’s house is very close, at Port Lligat). If you want more photos and information about Cadaqués, check my post about Cadaqués and Cap de Creus.

But… Where’s the perfect spot for a proposal? Josh had never been there before, and we were months ahead of the date. So, technology comes to help!

First, I’d been there many times and I thought the perfect spot was at this place…

Localización proposal Cadaques

Localización proposal Cadaques

Google Maps is the perfect tool for this kind of things.

And… what about time? Sunset is the perfect time for this, but we have to be careful: the sun comes down behind the mountains and I wanted it a little bit above the mountains. Here, Photopills came to my rescue. It’s an amazing app that has many options for photographers, but one of them let you know where is the sun at every exact minute of the day on a given location.

If you want, you can use Augmented Reality to see where will be the sun when you’re at the place like I did the afternoon of the proposal. Here’s a screenshot of where is the sun and where will it be at different times.

Photopills Augmented Reality

Photopills Augmented Reality

All set. Now, waiting for the time: 19:00. They appear slowly, and… here’s the moment!

As you can see, the proposal is very fast! So, I had to be ready.

First, I made a couple of test shots to my assistant to check for the best exposure. I shoot in Manual mode, and the sun was just in front of me. So I came up with this combination: 3200, f/5.6, ISO 100. The camera: Nikon D500, and the lens, Sigma 24mm Art. As you can see in the next photo, it’s almost everything in focus. The sun was in the perfect spot and some clouds help me to give some drama to the image. The background was perfectly lit. And the sun reflection was in the perfect place, as I already know it because I used Photopills.

Here’s the result!

Check for services and prices here!

The rest was just easy! 5 minutes for the couple to enjoy their moment and a little tour around Cadaqués to immortalize them!

On my bag for this assignment:

Nikon D700 and Nikon D500

24mm Sigma Art, 35 mm Sigma Art, 70-200 from Nikon

One image was sent to Josh one hour after the shooting for his Social Networks. All photos edited in Capture One 11.