October 26, 2022

Erika+Emmanuel+Felix

You guys remember Erika and Emmanuel. I’m not sure they need an introduction at all despite my two year hiatus. I photographed the incredible Felix a couple of times as well before my break. Last time I photographed him he was a little toddler. This time he was 3 (almost 4) going on 33-34. I pulled into the driveway and he burst out of the house, “Hi, I’m Fe. My mom told me all about you.” I asked him if he remembered the last time I photographed him, which received the response of “Nope! Do you want to see my skeleton?” Amazing. I adore him. He is very polite and hilarious and I know it looks like I stopped him every two seconds and asked him to smile for the camera, but I didn’t – that’s just Fe. He loves cameras and he knows he’s cute. It’s a dangerous combination. He also loves Halloween and showed me many skeletons, tombstones, and also his cat mask. He also showed me his actual cats and his dog and his chickens and his trampoline. During all this he asked if I wanted ice cream and what flavor. I told him vanilla with sprinkles but he said, “No, I think you want chocolate chip” and my order was abruptly changed. He is definitely a gifted young kid who will do incredible things and look insanely fashionable as he does them (just like his parents). Or he’s an alien. At one point he did discuss how “the humans” make chocolate milk… like he himself is not a human but rather separate from the humans… and Emmanuel told me that he does this sometimes. I think this makes me love him even more.

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October 11, 2022

Katherine+Jon+Alex

What an utterly delightful small child Alex is! I already knew that Katherine and Jon were delightful so it didn’t surprise me. Alex, much like his father, loves cars and transportation devices of any type. His vehicle of choice is a sweet blue and orange number by Little Tikes and he’ll beat you in a street race any day of the week. He’s fast. He’s mean. He’ll casually rest his elbow on his permanently rolled down window and look like one cool dude, and you better get out of the way. When he’s not racing people in the streets, he’s offering Cheerios to his parents and then swiftly rescinding the offer and putting them back in his own mouth. When he’s not doing that, you can also find him reading, building towers of blocks and then knocking them over, or hanging out at the local playground where he’ll also race you on the slides, all while being one cool dude still. I am excited for the breadth of knowledge about Rush he’ll have when he’s older. He’s very charming. His parents are very charming. I’m very happy to reunite with them and meet their little street racer.

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September 22, 2022

Jo+Brad+Laurel+Sam

And we’re back!

Hello, dear friends! After a long two-year Covid retirement, I pulled a Stephen King and unretired. I’m so glad to be back in action. And delightfully, the first family I photographed were these fine folks who are near and dear to my heart. I’ve been photographing Laurel and Sam since they were 8 and 6 years old, and now they’re driving to school and have grown into wonderful human beings who are both way taller than me. Laurel loves reading, Stranger Things, and can sing very excellently into a spatula. Sam can solve a Rubik’s cube in less time than it takes me to lace up my Vans and is an excellent cellist who can play all my favorite movie soundtracks by ear. And then there’s Jo who loves Simon, and Simon who loves Jo. Simon (the doggo) turned 4 on the day of the shoot, and celebrated his birthday by eating a string cheese. He begrudgingly wore a party hat for 10 seconds but he side-eyed us the whole time.

And because I couldn’t come out of retirement alone, this is the very first year that Jo and I have successfully convinced Brad to juggle for the camera. We’ve tried before but Brad was resistant to our pleading. Supposedly his juggling days were long over and he was rusty (this was not the case at all). Thankfully, I think we caught him off guard this year and he suddenly found himself outside holding 3 rubber chickens. I was delighted. Jo was delighted. Brad is excellent at juggling. I hope this inspires him to restart his juggling days. And what better way for me to come out of retirement than to photograph someone successfully juggling rubber chickens after begging them to let me photograph them juggling rubber chickens for all these years! I love these guys.

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