Talent

Earlier this week the brilliant, talented, and award-winning photojournalist Emilie Sommer paid a visit to our house to capture a slice of our lives with infant twins. Not because we’re interesting and newsworthy, but because Emilie has been my friend for 27 years and brought her equipment with her when she came to meet the twins. She recounted her visit on her blog and can I just say wow! I had no idea our lives were so photogenic! Go check it out here.

Seriously, Emilie is the best of the best. As she was snapping pictures during her visit, I repeatedly thought to myself that she must have regretted lugging all her camera equipment with her since we were being so dull. I honestly believed that she couldn’t possibly be getting any worthwhile photos. And yet she captured the grind of our daily lives in a lively and compelling way — without ever once suggesting that we alter our activities for the sake of a photo. I always knew she was damn good, but until she took cool photos of our rather mundane activities, I didn’t realize how good. She can make anything look great.

(So if you’re in the Portland (Maine) area, or even if you’re not, and you’re getting married and looking to splurge on the best wedding photos money can buy, look no further. Lucky for you, Emilie retired from following presidential candidates around the country for USA Today and the Washington Post and now brings her tremendous skill to capturing weddings with the same genuine photojournalistic style.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t also note that with the time Emilie wasn’t snapping pictures of us, she was washing bottles, reorganizing the tupperware cabinet, repeatedly pushing the “reset” button on the Fisher Price Cradle Swing so that the white noise wouldn’t abruptly stop (one day I will write Fisher Price a letter to tell them how stupid it is that the white noise is on a mandatory timer), ordering and picking up an amazing sushi spread, making our bed, and telling me to get over it when I kept protesting that she didn’t need to do all that. And when she wasn’t doing all those things, she was giving me pep talks to combat my low moments about the challenges of caring for two babies full time.

Emilie is an amazing person, and I feel so fortunate to be approaching three decades of friendship with her. I am crushed that I have to miss her wedding to the wonderful J in St. John — St. John! — in April, but I know that we’ll make up for it with many other happy times together. We’ve already pledged to drink gin and tonics while our kids play on the beach in Maine one day. I can’t wait.

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