Sumeet & Aimee's Surprise Proposal at Daigo-ji, Kyoto

Sumeet and Aimee, a couple from London, chose Daigo-ji temple in Kyoto for a surprise proposal one afternoon in June, timed for a quiet stroll through the temple grounds in early summer.

I did not know, walking in that afternoon, that I was about to photograph a proposal rather than a couple's portrait session. That is exactly how Sumeet wanted it: a quiet walk through Daigo-ji, nothing staged for Aimee to notice, everything staged for me to catch.

Daigo-ji sits east of the city, a Shingon Buddhist temple complex old enough that its five-storey pagoda is Kyoto's oldest wooden structure. In June the crowds thin, the maples that draw the fixed hordes in autumn are simply green and full, and the grounds have a hush to them that a scattering of tourist umbrellas cannot quite disturb. It is the kind of place that photographs like it is keeping a secret, which suited Sumeet's plan perfectly.

He had worked it out with Rafael beforehand, choosing the moment, the route, the pretence of an ordinary walk. Aimee had no idea. They moved through the temple grounds the way any couple might on an afternoon in Kyoto, until they did not, and Sumeet asked her the question somewhere among the old buildings and the early summer green.

Her reaction is the moment I keep coming back to. She cried, and did not stop for some time, which is the kind of unguarded response no amount of planning can manufacture and no amount of directing from me could have improved on. My job in that moment was simply to be close enough, and quiet enough, to let it happen in front of the camera rather than in spite of it.

Sumeet, who works as a videographer himself and so has a professional's eye for how these things are usually run, put it simply afterward: the experience was smooth and professional throughout, everything handled to a spectacular standard. Coming from someone who does this work himself, that is not a small compliment, and I was glad Daigo-ji gave us a setting that could carry the moment as well as the planning did.

I photograph across Japan and beyond, as a bilingual, Japan-based photographer with a team split between English and Japanese, and this kind of proposal work (quiet, unscripted, dependent on trust between the couple and the person planning it) is some of my favourite. Daigo-ji did what I always hope a Kyoto temple will do on days like this: it gave two people room to have a real moment, and gave me the light and the stillness to catch it honestly.

Vendor credits‍

• Photography: Sofia Hiramatsu Photography

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If you're dreaming of the same

If you're planning a proposal or elopement of your own in Kyoto, I'd love to hear from you: inquire here. For more on choosing a setting like this one, see our guide to the best places to elope in Japan.