One of the beautiful side benefits of doing the work we do is meeting incredible and kind humans that become less subjects that we photograph and more like family that we love and appreciate. It was nearly a decade ago when we met Sheril for the first time at a photoshoot. To say she radiates beauty and kindness from the inside and out would be doing her a disservice. She has that hard-to-find magnanimous personality that energizes and makes you want to be around her. Ultimately that first encounter led to meeting the rest of her family, including her boys Alex and Braden, who we started having in photoshoots as well (we’ve even managed to convince her husband Marcus to be in a couple shoots through the years. He continues to give me a complex about the size of my arms as they are objectively perfect). Since then, we’ve shared many meals and vacations with them and they’ve treated us better than we deserve, while including us in their own lives. They are genuinely as wonderful of a collective unit as you could possibly find.

Alex was eight years old when we met him for the first time, so seeing him on the precipice of graduating High School is bit mind blowing. I remember Meilani and I chatting with each other after that first shoot and being shocked at just how considerate, respectful, and kind he was at such a young age. Nothing has changed. The level of inner depth, empathy, and willingness to engage and ask questions about others makes me so insanely proud to know him. Seeing a teenager like him get down on my own children’s level and treat them the way he does over the last few years has given me a love and fondness for him that makes my heart warm.

He will no doubt continue to do amazing things through the course his lifetime and we’re looking forward to being around and celebrating in his achievements/greatness 🙂

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