Love & Missouri

- my parents, bus & sandy


Last weekend I flew home to STL for my dad's 60th birthday party. I thought I'd set up a photo studio, and shoot portraits of their friends and our family during the party. Since a good family friend died last fall at age 58, I've been thinking about how to document my family experience better. It doesn't help, of course, that I live in San Francisco, and everyone else is anchored in Missouri.

I wasn't sure how the whole photo studio idea would blow over with the guests. Thankfully, they got into it. Mostly I shot couples, which I guess is to be expected, but it was interesting that so many of these couples kissed in front of the camera. Most of these people I didn't know, or, not very well. They wanted to represent themselves as one, as being affectionate. It makes St. Louis look like a lovely, loving place to be.