This is my friend, Jessica. We go way back….to junior high school I think? She lives an amazing life. She has always been the girl who thinks WAY outside the box and has never feared anything. She lived in Pittsburgh with her husband for many years after high school and college, but a few years ago they sold their home and set out on an adventure. They now live in Italy doing all the things that Italian people do. The travel and drink real wine and they make olive oil and ride scooters around villages and she has picked up quite a photography habit. She and her husband, Scott, write the most amazing blog called The Soul of the Heel: An American’s Life in Puglia.
Anyway, this is the second time I have had the opportunity to photograph Jess and her family. She was home for a week to visit and asked if I could find some time to squeeze them in. Of course I could!! I always find it a little nerve-wracking because she is such a talented photographer herself. And this session had the added element of sub-zero temperatures and winds and snow on the ground. I had driven back from Atlantic City to the Milton Public Library to take these portraits and LOOKED like I had been traveling.
But, just as she always does, she made me feel like a rockstar…putting me at ease with one of her huge bear hugs and making me feel a bit silly for ever being nervous. With her she brought some old articles we had co-written for our high school paper and some LOVELY photographs from our high school years together. All in all, the visit was far too brief and a bit too cold, but I am hoping that next time we visit we can spend more time together catching up (in HER home! A girl can dream, can’t she?)
