Photographer tracks down couple captured in drone photo under Lincoln Park statue
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago photographer who snapped an unexpected picture of a couple in Lincoln Park has been united with the mysterious pair.
Antonie Tissier was flying his drone through the North Side park Thursday when he spotted Emily Hartney and her fiancé Omar Gonzalez taking their engagement photos under the Ulysses Grant memorial near South Pond.
"I went there to take a shot of the park with fall, to see the orange tree and, you know, fall foliage of the park," Tissier said. "I was flying around the big statue in Lincoln Park when I saw them with a ground photographer."
Tissier said the shot was so perfectly set up that he decided to snap a few photos that he could give to the couple, but by the time he landed the drone he said they were gone.
"When I went home I was ready to delete the picture, to be honest," he said. "I was like, 'there is no way I'd be able to find out who they are.'"
Knowing he took a picture the couple would cherish for a lifetime, Tissier decided to send the photo around to a few fellow photographer friends who convinced him to share the picture online in hopes of tracking them down.
"I was kind of in disbelief when I saw it because my brother-in-law was actually the one who saw, you know, that this link was being shared on Facebook," Hartney said.
Gonzalez said they noticed the drone flying around during their photoshoot, but didn't think much of it.
"I still can't believe it," Tissier said. "You can find people in just one or two days, I think, just sharing your picture online, which is one of the best moments of their life."
The couple says they are grateful for Tissier's efforts to find them.
"I'm so glad you didn't delete it," Hartney said.
The couple's wedding is planned for October 2021.
