10/09/2026
I heard a saying once: the key to a happy life is a small rearview mirror and a wide-open windshield. And as a parent, I spend a lot of time looking through both windows, both figuratively and literally.
But the hill I’ll die on is that the key to a happy life is finding joy in the middle.
I read a headline recently about a life lost on the highway as a car sped the wrong way, headed north in the southbound lane. And immediately my heart flipped, imagining the future days when my boys will be handed keys and freedom. The windshield holds so much possibility, but also the fear of what lies ahead.
And a photo memory pushed its way onto my screen yesterday: the image of my eldest with arms wide open, running towards me while his bat wings flapped in the October wind. I close my eyes and can almost feel the moment just after the photo, when he wrapped his tiny arms across my middle. That was 11 years ago, and in my memory, the world felt safe.
So much of photography is about the windshield and the rearview mirror. It promises to preserve what we’ve loved and give us something beautiful to look forward to. But I’m more interested in creating space for you to find joy in the middle, in the now.
Whether we’re spending time together documenting your family, in the messy middle between soccer games and unfinished science projects, or creating portraits of the person you’ve become while you’ve been busy building a life, I want us to enjoy the experience of being there.
To laugh. To notice things. To forget, even briefly, about what’s coming next or what we wish we could go back to.
Because I don’t want to spend my whole life looking forward to something, only to look back one day and realize I missed the best parts while they were happening.
