a family portrait | ray, gus + wolfgang

i wanted to share with you these beautiful photographs from a shoot i did with my dear friends, ray & gus and their amazing little son, wolfgang. ray & gus & i have been dearest of friends since our undergraduate years at the evergreen state college in olympia, washington. ray was one of my "bridesmaids" at our wedding and they have recently welcomed the most precious, wolfgang in to their beautiful family.

i hadn't seen ray & gus since my wedding - pushing 2.5 years [!!!] - nor had the privilege of squeezing wolf. well, this past trip to NYC i was able to be reunited and introduced to wolfgang [which consisted of basically smothering him with kisses, allowing him to drool and tug at my hair and face and smile]. when they arrived at a party in the park that we were attending, i dropped my cameras, and ran straight in the direction of my loved friends. as soon as i saw ray and his son, tears came streaming; it was so amazing to see my dear friend now be carrying a child in his arms - a beautiful child. it was pretty hilarious - when i went to embrace goose - er, gus - before hello she just said, "come on, are you crying, lay?!?!". i wouldn't expect anything less from my honest, hilarious goosey.

to be able to spend such quality time with my old friends and fall in love with their son [and there is proof that he also fell in love with me, just look at all these photographs...], was such a blessing. when you have friends that you've had for so long, friends you've gone through so many things with, when they have a child, it is like your own family. he really feels like my nephew and i will forever look out for him & love him like an auntie. i know you know the feeling of how special it is to have dear friends in your lives, friends you've had forever, and to experience new beautiful things with them [above all, marriages and births]... it is SUCH A FUN RIDE.

so without further ado, here is the HEARTBREAKINGLY gorgeous, blissful, radiant wolfgang and his handsomeashell parents:

ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME?!?!

have you seen a happier family? nope.

photo by ry slash

handsome son of a gun

my sister and wolfgang

i adore this photo of beautiful gus.

you are killing us, wolf!!

three ladies and a baby

father & son 

booshyyyyy

one of my fave pola shots of all time. 

// all photographs taken with my fuji instax & my beloved 35mm camera.