Photo of the Day


A Tux, A Wedding Dress and An Epic Location

June 8, 2017

By Jacqueline Tobin

Photo © Charleton Churchill

This photo, by adventure wedding photographer Charleton Churchill, is such a stunner that we couldn’t help but call attention to it again after it first made the media rounds back in May. Plus, it’s the perfect image to hype our Destination Weddings & Travel issue coming up in July.

In case you missed the back story, this bride and groom are at Mt. Everest Base Camp and this shot was captured, says Churchill, “just after their first look at around 18,000 feet in elevation with 0-degree Fahrenheit. Ashley was putting on her jacket, then taking it off for some photos, and James was really cold, which is why he’s wearing gloves. There are prayer flags on the edge of the mountain, which is why I didn’t Photoshop them out. We had a few Sherpas with us holding our Profoto B2 light so the wind didn’t knock it over.”

To make matters worse, Churchill had food poisoning and wasn’t feeling good at all. “I felt like puking, was totally nauseated and light-headed. It all happened so fast that even the Sherpa guide insisted on taking my backpack full of gear so I didn’t get any worse.”

Making things even more difficult, Churchill adds, was the fact that they had just hiked eight days to the location, “just to get a few images, and then have their wedding ceremony at base camp the following morning. We hiked down and prepared for the hike to base camp, while James got altitude sickness. We almost didn’t make it to base camp and were thinking of flying out in a helicopter in the morning back to Kathmandu to be safe. Fortunately, the Sherpa had us carry oxygen with us, just in case.”

Talk about going the extra mile! Even more amazing is the fact that the last time Churchill tried to fulfill his dream of shooting a Mt. Everest wedding, it was back in 2015 and he and his couple were attempting to get to base camp just as a devastating earthquake (and massive avalanche) hit in Nepal and swept Everest base camp and turned everyone around off the mountain. “After that, I wasn’t sure if I would find another couple to get married on Everest anytime soon,” he admits. “But last year, Ashley, who was following me on Instagram, reached out and said she wanted an adventure wedding and hadn’t chosen a destination, asking for my opinion. They were thinking tropical or someplace enjoyable. I mentioned Mt. Everest base camp, and well…here we are!” Read the rest of the story and see more stunning images from their Mt. Everest trek here.

And don’t forget to check out Rangefinder‘s Summer Issue, coming out in July, to hear more on Churchill’s adventure and the advice he has for other destination wedding photographers.