There’s something to be said for having a friend who understands your life, who you can chat with every day, who just gets it. Being a photographer can in some ways be pretty isolating. Yes, I spend time with families and kids and all that outside, but most of my job is spent in pajamas in front of a computer screen. I’m certainly not complaining, I mean, this IS the life, but it can also be kind of quiet. I have no coworkers to complain about my boss to (me), or go to lunch with, or sound ideas off of. In a way, my friend Alex is that coworker. She’s also a photographer (with the same name!) and our kids are roughly the same ages, and get along fantastically. Every so often she and I get a harebrained photography-related idea, and we’ll trot our kids off to a questionable stream, or a newly discovered field for some well-styled “controlled” fun and light testing. And every other so often, we trot the husbands out too, so we can force some family pictures upon our unwitting spouses. We took turns behind and in front of the camera on a particularly balmy day last week, with hopes of getting our family pictures out of the way before the huge fall photography rush hits us. We tell ourselves it’s easier this way – it’ll be no stress, quick, and painless. In reality, for some reason, it’s much more stress because the kids are too into having fun with each other to want to be IN the pictures, and we’re too comfortable with each other’s families to not bark instructions and frantically put the men to work lugging gear around. But it always ends the same – laughing about it over pizza & beers and planning for our next adventure. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so lucky to have you, friend. <3