The beautiful Carrie and Jacob have been in front of my lens multiple times already. This time they came for a short baby moon stay in Santa Barbara and it was my absolute pleasure to document another milestone in their lives together and to do a maternity session with them. We took the short hike to Knapp’s Castle. Looking over the vast landscape, basking in the golden moments of the late afternoon light and photographing them in this setting felt like looking into their future and the promise and potential of the new life to be born into their loving family. Carrie is a gifted poet and I want to share her words here with the images that were created together on this day filled with golden moments. Carrie and Jacob, thank you so much for spending time with me and my camera. You two …this is how love looks like.

‘We planted a life in the broken soil of a country divided by Klan rallies and burning cities. Inside the cracked ribcage of the other. Where bodies of color are disposable, violently dismissed and dismantled. Amidst the eerily familiar echoes of a soul crushing intolerance. We planted a life in the hurricane and in the flood—in the unbearable heat of the fire next time.

But we planted him in promise too. Will teach him to swim in hope and with a strength much bigger than this volatile current. His will be the face, the blood of multiple continents. He will answer to a better self, a borderless and boundless love. A love that looks more and more like us everyday.

To the bonds that free us and the golden moments that remind us why we’re here. We can’t wait to embrace you, Papoose.’