gathering | the high desert, ca

This fall, I found myself thousands of miles away from my home in the high desert of California. A dear friend lived there with her family and I was planning to do a session with her family of 5.5. Last minute she decided she wanted to get pictures of her extended family too.

It was a hustle and bustle of getting ready, trading outfits, making food and I was there for it. I sat like the eye of a hurricane and just observed the way they all interacted: spicy, all in, and full of love for one another.

I was a little nervous about the lighting situation. I wasn’t used to it and the sun falls fast in that gold hour. Once the gold was starting I just started shooting away at all the impish faces running around, the baby toes and the proud big brother smiles. I did not stop till the sun went down and had to wait a week to get home to look at them. I really didn’t even know if I had captured it

Oh what magic simply gathering together was. So much richness, it was overwhelming. 4 generations of women, primas and primos with their best friends, a legacy. Photographing across generations is something sacred and deeply moving to me.

Thank you Caldera family for effortlessly sliding in and out of the frame and making magic with me that evening.