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Grand Canyon Proposal Photographer Tips

I can still remember the first surprise engagement proposal that I was asked to shoot at Grand Canyon. Though I’d been a portrait photographer for many years, this was new to me and it was so thrilling. The first few worked out ok, the Grand Canyon is very busy and in those early days, I chose locations close to El Tovar and hotels that my clients were staying at. As time went on, I realized that in order to get that “wow” shot and have the moment be perfect for the proposer and the fiancée to be, that I needed to change somethings about my approach.

Even though I’ve lived at Grand Canyon National Park since 2009, I have never been interested in landscape photography. I didn’t know anything about it and I quickly realized that what I was doing WAS landscape photography AND portrait photography. What I needed to change was mostly the lighting on the canyon and the people. I started only offering sunset and sunrise photo sessions.

The Grand Canyon is a challenging environment for any visitor, be it hiker or photographer. The challenge with landscape photography, that I hadn’t yet mastered was where the sun comes up and where the sunsets over the canyon. Every season this is different and very often at many points, the sun doesn’t set or rise over the canyon at all. I started to scout the light and living at Grand Canyon, makes this easier for me than many other photographers.

In the winter, getting a sunrise or sunset over the canyon is a true challenge. The rim of the canyon, bends and contours with the canyon geology and you can be in a very popular viewpoint but the sun will be setting behind you and not in front of you or over the canyon. I think my personal an intimate connection with this epic landscape by virtue of the fact that, I live here.

Since the celebration of the National Park Service’s Centennial in 2016, people took to the tag line, “Find your Park” and did! There are over 6 million people who visit Grand Canyon yearly, 90% visit the South Rim and only 10% visit the North Rim. With so many visitors, it’s hard to plan a private moment in the national park, it’s getting harder and harder to help plan and photograph proposals.

My plan is usually the same, I chose a location that gets less visitation than others. I am parked in advance and know the make and model of their car. Once they arrive, I walk past them and to the railed in view area, they follow me (one unknowingly) away from the viewing area and that’s when the magic happens. Afterwards, I step out introduce myself and we take some portraits at the point before moving on to take portraits in other more popular viewpoints at Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Proposal Locations

I take photos year round at the canyon and some of my favorite locations to take portraits are, Lipan Point, Powell Point, Duck on a Rock and Yavapai Point (especially for sunrise). As a photographer, the lighting is harsh and there is almost nowhere to hide until the sun goes down and then I rush around trying to get the best poses in the 7 minutes after the sun has set, in those 7 minutes almost ANY viewpoint at Grand Canyon is outstanding for portraits.

For awe-inspiring Grand Canyon images follow Terri on Instagram and Facebook!

For a full list of proposal ideas click here