Katie Swift
My nephew is graduating high school. Surely I must be getting old. It’s totally worth if it means I get to watch these soft, sweet faces transform into strong, stubbly men. Dustin I’m proud of you, not only because you are a responsible guy, but because you have an incredible soul. You have “good energy.” It’s with great pride...
Anna and Jeremy met in a Band Methods class at Wright State University in January 2013. Jeremy was learning woodwinds and Anna was learning percussion. Anna thought Jeremy was cute and quiet but didn’t think a lot of it because she had a boyfriend at the time. Jeremy thought Anna was the coolest person he had ever met. Three years...
Josh finally took me to Monterey. If you’ve known us a long time, you understand how patient I’ve been. But the wait was worth it and if eleven years of marriage took us to Monterey, I wonder where 22 years will take us? Thanks for taking me to cool places babe…NorCal rules!
Ella Mae turned 10 this year. Ella and her family are those effortless kind of friends- the kind we can go without seeing for months to almost years and still pick up right where we left off. The kind we always invite to our kids birthday parties because it’s an excuse to get together and...
The truth is, I don’t want to take pictures of you and your trendy family in a field somewhere. Not that there’s anything wrong with fashion and fields but it doesn’t say anything about who you are. If anything, your hip, hair blowing in the wind, gracefully gliding through tall grasses family does nothing but...
Luke and Lindsey met in Lindsey’s apartment last May. Luke thought Lindsey was pretty and Lindsey thought Luke was laid back and handsome. Six months later they were engaged. When I asked them one word to describe their relationship they said, complimentary. After our time together, I would agree and would also add the words...
“Don’t worry, none of us really know what we’re doing,” says Carly. Carly’s my photography friend who tells me to trust my gut and screw the man. In the photography business, “the man” is the all the hype; all the stuff I should be doing to be truly successful. Pinterest boards full of articles like 5...
I’m not gonna lie, when a photographer asks me to take their pictures, I feel pretty awesome. Like maybe somebody smells what I’m cooking. Somebody’s snacking what I’m packing. Like maybe they’re itching what I’m scratching…you get the point. Sarah and I found each other in a photographer group on Facebook. She was looking for...
Ian is Jeff and Reggie’s son. He’s an only child in a family full of pastors and pugs. Ian is graduating high school soon and will be going away to college in the fall. Jeff and Reggie, like most parents, want to slow time, even for just a moment. They gave me the honor and their trust to document...
Very soon, my friends and I will load up our minivans with suitcases, sleeping bags and kids. We’ll drive up mountains and down the coastline to a place where moss hangs on trees like jewelry- adorning the old oaks with its spongy southern bling. March trailing behind us exhausted in the wind, we’ll drive out of our boring little...
Recently, I entered a writing contest and didn’t win. I didn’t even place actually. Last week when I opened the thanks for entering… email my first feeling was surprise. (I really thought I had a chance) and then, shame. I thought of all the people I had to tell and I started to feel sick. I...
Today I am thinking about Ed, maybe because it’s Tuesday. It was a Tuesday when I opened that door a few years ago. There was a knock and dogs barking and the police officer who hung his head. My father inlaw was 56 years old when he had a heart attack walking to his car....
Maybe the best way to show the loneliness and shame, the stigma of postpartum depression was to pretend that it didn’t exist.
After New Year’s, we dragged up boxes from the basement. Boxes cramped and overflowing with all the kid’s papers and projects. Sunday school scribbles, glittered ABC’s, macaroni necklaces, wallet sized photos we forgot to hand out. Math quizzes, birthday cards, drawings I labeled and dated before the kids could do it themselves. I’d thrown nothing...
Want to stalk each other and pretend we're good friends? Me too!
