Do you want a Spider-Man style kiss on a cannon? Call an adventure photographer from escape

Standing near the shelf of a magnificent canyon in the state park of the horse Dead Horse of Utah in the hours before sunset, my fiancee Gia and I looked into each other while we read our votes. But our officiant was not in sight.

This is because he was running around the rocks, looking for the perfect angle to capture the moment with his camera. We hired Aimée Flynn as our photographer, but she also became our officiant. She was also our location scan, wedding planner and even our tourist guide. In the brief walk to our place of the ceremony, he told us about the flora and fauna of the park and how “Thelma and Louise” was filmed in a place where we stopped.

For Flynn, everything is part of his work as a leak adventure photographer. Those who pursue this style of specialized wedding photography renounce events of the old school for unique adventures, guiding couples through the most intimate ceremonies in the most spectacular environments of nature. Flynn, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, photographed a couple hugged in a Spider-Man style kiss while climbing on the pure rock face in Moab and another under the moonlight at Yosemite's glacier point after a night walk at night in total isolation.

Aimée Flynn does everything possible, and heights, to get the shot.

(Photo of Aimée Flynn)

Elopement Adventure Photography was born seriously 10 years ago, pioneer for Maddie MaeA wedding photographer who had disappointed traditional weddings. “There was a lot of discontent of the people who felt pressure to do things they did not want, such as the launch of the League or who had relatives trying to do the event about them,” Mae recalls. “Eighty percent seemed that they just wanted me to end.”

There were already photographers taking couples in beautiful outdoor environments, but “I didn't see anyone to offer a full -day experience treated with the same importance as a great wedding,” says Mae.

Mae changed the game: his escape adventures took people where they would like to go, giving them permission to have any type of ceremony they want. When he shot his first leak in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, he transformed. All the traditional details of the wedding were eliminated: there was no place, no decoration, or crowd that distracts, nor a strict timeline. Only two people who commit to their lives with each other in nature, which she calls “the most sacred of the sanctuaries.”

“It was the first time I had seen a couple in which they were completely present in their eyes,” says Mae. “It was the purest way of a wedding.”

Other photographers followed the steps of MAE, especially after he began leading workshops in escape adventures; The other three photographers I interviewed for this piece, Flynn, TACRAC EDWARDS and Karen AgurtoEveryone took their courses.

Karen Agurto photographed a couple in the lava tube in the Mojave National Reserve in the Mojave desert.

The escape adventures remained a “very niche” field to the Covid-19 pandemic, says Flynn. “People couldn't have their great weddings, but still wanted to marry.” (MAE received 284 consultations only in May 2020).

Photographers emphasize that their work implies much more than taking beautiful photos. “These couples are rejecting the predetermined template, which opens this world of possibilities,” says Mae. “But then they wonder: 'Where are we going, what do we do, how can we do this?' The leakage photographers are creators of experience. “

Traci Edwards captured a leak in Yosemite National Park.

Maddie Mae photographed a couple who made Kayak and said her votes in a Alaska glacier.

To begin with, photographers double as travel planners. Sometimes, Agurto, based in Orange County and completely shoots in California, says he has some general recommendations, without Death Valley in the summer or Big Sur during the season of landslides, for example, but each couple is different. Some have clear visions for their adventure, while others are more open. Edwards, similarly, has seen all kinds of applications, from a couple that would go anywhere in the desert under a night sky (Joshua Tree chose) to someone who wanted to be photographed on a specific 11 -mile walk in Washington. She encourages couples to choose a place that “matches their relationship.” During the fugging sources, her husband Bill takes photos through drone and video shoots.

(Mae, which is in a different step in terms of prices and clientele, has photographed sources in more than 20 countries, even in the dolomites in Italy, the deserts in Namibia and the glaciers in Iceland. She says that at this time of her career, customers often give her free rein).

My fiancee and I knew we wanted to marry in a beautiful place in a new place for both of us, and we found Flynn after searching online. We had originally planned for Canyonlands instead of Dead Horse Point, not by the little romantic name but because we had never heard of him. But Flynn explained that the National Park had more restrictions and less privacy, while Dead Horse offered equally monumental views.

She educated us about the pros and cons of the dawn sprouts versus the sunset (we chose the sunset), the recommended stylists and the makeup artists for GIA, made suggestions of restaurants and encourage my idea of a trip in kayak in the Colorado River the day after our wedding as a good contrast with our walks in Canyonlands and arches the two days before the ceremony. (Apart from fast: we find accommodation on our own. If you go to Moab, definitely go to Red Moon Lodge, which presents cozy rooms that open to majestic views, a garden, a pond and an outdoor space where one of the co -owners, Danny, teaches yoga classes).

Aimee Flynn left his former career as a therapist and

Flynn says that communication is crucial, which keeps quiet couples if things go wrong. The photographers incorporate a flexible time in their schedule, so if the bad weather is coming, they can change the ceremony time in a few hours or even one day.

Another need is a bag of emergency provisions, in case they have to save the day. Agurto's bag includes hair lacquer, curidas and tylenol; Flynn's has safety pins, blankets, clear umbrella and eyelashes (“when people are walking, their eyelashes can be undone”); And Edwards says that the snacks are a critical article (she witnessed an almost fainted person in a remote area), just like a sewing kit (“I have sewn several brides in their dresses after a zipper broke or a sleeve torn on the road,” he says).

Above all, photographers prioritize the creation of emotional connections both or capture epic images. “With AI, you could pretend these photos, but people who hire Floja adventure photographers want the full experience,” says Flynn.

Maddie Mae has photographed couples on the seven continents.

At the time of the ceremony, Agurto, who used to teach Yoga, begins his partners asking them to close their eyes and do a breathing exercise. “I want to calm them and get them at the time,” she says. (We adopted that idea and helped us savor the experience). The photographers also make sure to give couples as much privacy as necessary, for that is the zoom lenses, Flynn points out, while Agurto adds that he offers the headphones during the votes.

After exchanging votes and rings, Gia and I drank Prosecco, ate brownies and danced to the “house of my soul” by Langhorne Slim, while Flynn continued shooting (taking a break just to share some bubble), sometimes asking for specific poses, but mostly let us be.

And although the ceremony is obviously the emotional centerpiece, the day does not end there. For us, the rest of the night was almost so memorable, a mixture of amazing beauty and careless fun. Flynn took us to different points for more photos while the sun was putting on. Then he brought flashlights so that we pose in the moonlight. Flynn's infectious enthusiasm made us feel cinema models or stars in a photo shoot. (Improving that feeling was the way people reacted when they saw us walk with outfit and formal wedding boots).

Later, we conducted the Arches National Park, with Flynn enjoying so much of his work that went far beyond the four -hour window for which we had hired her.

The night ended with Gia and I standing under the arch of the North Window, illuminated by the moon almost full, with a sky full of stars behind us. He was as romantic and as visually impressive as it sounds. Because Flynn does his job so well, we could relax completely at the time, trusting that we would have our memories and exquisite photos to preserve this day forever.

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