YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A proposal in Yosemite National Park turned into a once-in-a-lifetime moment when lightning struck El Capitan. <\/p>\n
Photographer Erica Houck, based in Sanger, had been working with the couple for months to plan the perfect proposal. <\/p>\n
The groom-to-be, who traveled from Germany, booked Houck about eight months in advance and was determined to go through with the moment, rain or shine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of like gave him a heads up about weather,\u201d Houck said. \u201cI was like, do you want to move it to the morning? I gave him options, but he was very insistent that he’s like, no, I think we’ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201cmoody weather\u201d quickly turned into a full-blown storm.<\/p>\n
The proposal took place at Tunnel View in pouring rain, with thunder echoing through the valley. <\/p>\n
Houck said the conditions only intensified as the shoot went on, bringing heavy rain, lightning, and even hail at one point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know if we both were expecting quite the level it was at,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was pretty much pouring throughout the whole entire time that we were shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the storm, the couple embraced the moment, soaked, laughing, and fully present as the proposal unfolded.<\/p>\n
But the most unforgettable part came later.<\/p>\n
As Houck reviewed the photos afterward, she realized she had captured something extraordinary, a perfectly timed image of lightning striking El Capitan in the distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just like, my jaw dropped,\u201d she said. \u201cI could not believe I captured that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houck explained that the moment happened so quickly, she had no idea she got the shot while photographing.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was really cool that just I happened to have it composed well and in focus at the moment that it happened,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
While she hasn\u2019t yet heard back from the couple about the photo, Houck said moments like this are exactly why she encourages clients to embrace unpredictable conditions.<\/p>\n
“Like I actually always encourage couples to kind of roll with whatever weather we have,” she said. “It can bring the most beautiful shots, like a rainbow will come out or something like that with the lightning being captured.<\/p>\n
The dramatic image, a bolt of lightning cutting across the sky behind one of Yosemite\u2019s most iconic landmarks, has since captured attention online, turning an already emotional proposal into an unforgettable story.<\/p>\n
For Houck, it\u2019s a reminder of why she does what she does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you just never know when you go out into the wilderness what kind of weather will bring, but you just make the best of it,” she said. \u201cI mean, beautiful things can happen from that. Beautiful moments captured.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A proposal in Yosemite National Park turned into a once-in-a-lifetime moment when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-272219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}