Kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope is a couple tubes with a faceted glass lens and a handful of different shaped and hued glass bits tumbling around, right? Its a pretty simple thing, but it can make infinite variations of color and pattern. Like actually infinite. Turn the tubes and you'll get a pattern that will never, ever be repeated. The translucent bits will never rest and refract to make the pattern you see just that way ever again, there's just too many combinations. Keep turning, and what you see will slink and fall and dance into the next shape, itself entirely new, entirely unique.

Casey has been my wife for 11 years now, and I can't think of two years that have been quite the same in our relationship. Love changes flavor over time and keeps changing ceaselessly because the two people in love are individually ever changing.

There was the Casey who sang to me on the porch swing when we were dating, her voice softly lilting just above the dark breeze through the oaks. There was the the Aaron who whisked Casey off to London by surprise a few years after we got married (and discovered upon arrival that I didn't pack nearly adequately for Casey which made shopping fun and a necessity). There was the Casey who amazed me by how effortlessly she became the embodiment of gentle nurturing as a mother for our Jude and Violet. There was the Aaron, on a moped, who scarred the wits out of Casey (on the back) while diving through hairpin turns on an island in the Grecian Cyclades (as it turned out, shopping, therapeutic shopping this time, also repaired that mistake).

There have been lows too, lot's of em, and some very low. But when I look at her, I don't think of any of them. I think about how my love for her has never quite felt like this, the way it tastes, the way it feels today. It's always amazing. It's different than it was last year, and it will be different next year.

What will it feel like then? I have no idea. I'll have to wait and see. But one thing I do know,
it'll be great.

Ali (or Pam)

Ali is the kid sister of Shanna, a friend of mine, and so Shanna has me do her senior portraits. I'd hung out with Ali a few times before with Shanna and her husband Pete, and I was mesmerized by how she totally reminds me of Pam, from The Office. The way she walks, the way she laughs, even the jokes she made, totally unassuming, confidence sans any hubris at all, mild without a trace of boring, with a wit that's incisive but relaxed. You know, Pam, I mean Ali.

So it was really fun to get to know Ali a bit, then show her personality off with a collection of pictures. Being a photographer has everything to do with making people feel content and happy to be who they are, and relaxed enough to let me see it. And if you know how to use a camera, well that's good too.

 

Miranda and John

Certain things never go out of style. The Beatles, Cashmere, Tuscany, Audrey Hepburn. They are perennial and ageless because their appeal is more than skin deep. Every generation finds a resonance with classic things, places, and people and make them their own.

John and Miranda's wedding looked amazing two weeks ago. It will look amazing next year and the year after and the the generations that follow, and any that came before it.

And like other timeless things, the appeal came from their depth. John and Miranda are clearly beautiful people, but stop a moment and talk to them, and you'll admire John's assured poise and his quiet, wry wit. At first blush you'll fall in love with the lithe, effortless way that Miranda carries herself, but you'll soon find her warm, effusive, young spirit is what captured John.

You can try to fake depth in a photo, but you'll always fail. John and Miranda have fathoms of depth, and they freely and generously displayed their beautiful relationship before my lens. And for that I am so grateful. 

Leyka and Pedro

"Give this man anything he wants. And if he wants something you don't have, get it for him", says Pedro with a beaming grin on his face to the bartender on my behalf. It's great to be loved.

Pedro and Leyka had overflowing love for everybody on their wedding day, the staff at the Hilton Carillon (Wendy and her people are so good at what they do it's hard not to love 'em), Sara Rivera (their great planner), their guests, their family, and most importantly and oh-so-intensely, for each other.

They didn't hold back a thing. These are people that wear their heart on their sleeve. People who know what they have and can hardly believe how good they got it. People who's love and happiness and warmth and immediacy pours out of their eyes and their laugh.

My favorite kind of people to take pictures of.

Jade Debra Leigh

I've always liked baby showers.

Now, let's be clear here. Not the kind where you're 6 and you are stuck in a your mom's friend's house with a bunch of grown ups you don't know and it smells funny and there are no toys to play with. Not that kind.

The kind of baby shower I like going to are the big, family being loud, chicken and ribs being smoked, hugging old friends, kids tearing around like peter pan's lost boys, belly laughing kind. Which is just the kind I went to yesterday. Our good friends, Caleb and Taryn are having a little girl, Jade. They have family and friends for miles, so it was a lot of fun to be one of those friends just then.