since 2014
I’ve photographed Chloe for more reasons than I’ll ever know.
We met for the first time in 2008, when Chloe was a tiny, non-verbal thing, about 6 months old. In the arms of their father, Donald. He sat with us on the couch, laughing to himself. I remember feeling petulant at the presumption I didn’t understand how important Chloe was. I knew immediately. How perfect and alien and holy they were, swaddled in my eight-year-old arms.
As we all grew older, Faith, a few years above me, became busy with school, and I became a welcome, qualified babysitter. In the summer of 2014, I asked their mother if I could help watch Chloe while she worked from home.
This was the real birthplace of our friendship. Hours spent in the backyard on a swing, hands sticky from crafts and popsicles. Each afternoon we felt more like siblings. Conversation and play came easily, Chloe was a real person so much earlier than I remember being.
Ten years later, watching Chloe grow up is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever been a part of.
December 30, 2014
The first time I took photos of Chloe
