This Couple’s Session was one of four where I worked with couples in my community to promote a better place for equality in the photo industry. It’s important to be to represent as many backgrounds, cultures, races, genders, people, that I possibly can. I feel like not only is it important to show diversity in photography but it’s an important thing to me. And in my life, I want to be inclusive. I want to share what I do with all kinds of people regardless of who or where they come from.

I reached out to some friends and acquaintances to help me better show the BIPOC community in CO. Part of this photo approach included me asking each couple to share a story/experience/perspective of their choosing. The purpose is to just share experiences so that we can all become even more aware of the struggles for equality in our own communities.

This is so valuable to me, to stretch my knowledge. To become more informed and accepting and empathetic. That to me is what will create growth. And my goal is for that perspective to help promote more change and growth and acceptance to those around me.

I felt like this was something I needed to do and truly wanted to do. Share more BIPOC LOVE and stories. We need to value what others have been through in order to grow and influence each other. Thank you Chezaree and Craig for sharing this with me. I appreciate these two so much. The vulnerability it takes to share things that have affected us and made us stronger is something I respect fully.

“What we want to share:

Craig and I have been together for 7 years. I grew up in Colorado and Craig in Louisiana. For me, (being bi-racial) I’ve never thought twice about there being an issue dating someone of any race. For Craig, he grew up in a different culture. For him, he had to be cautious and take precautions before he could even make a post on social media that we were together. He had to make sure that the people in his life understood that race was not a factor for him. As our relationship grew, we experienced the awful looks and stares as if we weren’t meant to be. We experienced the fear of vacationing and traveling to certain places as biracial couples are not openly accepted. We’ve had to have difficult conversations about where the most appropriate place is to raise a child as we want our son to feel accepted and not made fun of or viewed as less than because the color of his skin differs from his mothers. Craig and I take time to understand the difference in our cultures. We aren’t afraid to recognize that there is privilege, we aren’t afraid to discuss this hardships of the black community and our black relatives, we will always stand united and we will raise our son to love all people and to be kind always. For all of the hate in the world, our love will always shine through as this is the color of our love.”