INNER PORTRAIT with Kristen Dacey Iwai

I’ve photographed this wonderful family many times but this time was unique. For a personal project to celebrate of Father’s Day, we asked Nick and Luke to come back into the portrait studio and the podcast studio to pay tribute not only to their first real portrait together, but to their father son relationship over time. Wow. We absolutely loved what they had to share.

Mayla was just a toddler when I first met her but she was, as she is today, ready to grab onto life and do ALL the things! She was sweet and smiley and full of energy. So it makes sense that her mother describes her now as someone who “has so many patches on her letterman jacket that she looks like a NASCAR driver.” She is a busy lady. I get the sense that she doesn’t want to waste her time. She w...

In Celebration of Mothers and Love Shaped Over Time More than two decades ago, we made a studio family portrait of Kelly holding her newborn daughter tenderly in her arms. This year, we did a personal project in celebration of Mother’s Day. Kelly and Hannah came back into the portrait studio AND the podcast studio to pay tribute not only to that first real portrait together, but to their relations...

In Celebration of Mothers and Love Shaped Over Time More than two decades ago, we made a studio family portrait of Kelly holding her newborn daughter tenderly in her arms. This year, we did a personal project in celebration of Mother’s Day. Kelly and Hannah came back into the portrait studio AND the podcast studio to pay tribute not only to that first real portrait together, but to their relations...

In our earlier episode, I talked with Alex and Charlie about Addie's senior session. Here in part two, I sat down with Addie herself to have a lighthearted conversation about senior year, sibling differences, piggyback rides, creativity, her advice for enjoying high school, and even a dose or two of ASMR . Hope it makes you smile. To see the portraits and behind the scenes for this session, visit...

For Addie's senior portraits, we did something we'd done at her brother's senior session two years ago. We made sibling portraits at the end. We also laughed until our stomachs hurt, and you can read about why and see the behind the scenes on the episode page on our website. Their dad, Alex, was on hand to help and witnessed the shenanigans for the first session, and their mom, Charlie, at the sec...

After a catastrophic rock climbing accident, my friend and fellow photographer John Burcham’s life was radically changed. We’re incredibly grateful that he survived, but there is a long road of healing ahead as he works to regain his eyesight, strength, and mobility. We sat down to have a conversation about recovery, photography, patience, continuous learning, and surprisingly... crumpets. If you’...

It was 13 years in the making. It all started in 2012 when my dear friend Kristen Dick was diagnosed with cancer. As the mom of 5-year-old and 2-year-old boys, she feared she might leave them motherless. Over lunch one day, I asked her to picture something in the future, when her oldest graduated high school, where everything was OK. I asked her to describe it in detail – something she could visua...