This shoot has been on my mind for.. gosh…. a few years now.
Yet, I’m sure you can relate.
Life gets busy and it never happens, so FINALLY we just made it happen.
The Friday before the 4th of July, Cameryn and I went a whole mile from our house to the ocean (I know, I know all the more reason it should have happened sooner!) and captured a few images.
I had so many more ideas, yet I was in vacation mode and forgot to charge my camera battery. (Me shrugging).
This beautiful flag that’s meaning goes beyond just another American flag.
The government sent it to my stem-mom after my dad passed away seven years ago, for his service in the Vietnam war.
He was a 19-year-old mechanic who worked on the helicopters and that’s as much as I know.
I never once heard him talk about it.. I guess as most vets don’t.
I never probed and I wish I would have.
So this is the story I’ve created.
This all American boy who lives for the ocean and skate boarding, gymnastics, surfing, Mexico, Mexican food, all the jokes and all the pranks. Oh I could write a short story about the pranks.
He is as full of love and laughs and wit and is as FUN as they come.
Just a boy standing on the sand honoring an extraordinary, gentle man with a heart of gold, his grandfather, who was as free as the freest of spirits, just like his grandson here.
Take it from me.
Ask your family to tell you stories of their lives, even the hard ones. Better yet, have them sit down with you over a tea, a beer, a glass of wine… whatever is your jam (a draft ale would’ve been my dad’s) and record their words.
Record their story.
