A few weekends ago I traveled to San Jose to document the beautiful women behind Imago Fitness and finally met Joanne in real life. We’ve been internet friends for a couple of years, but become close after she inspired me to finally believe in myself enough to embark on my own fitness journey. Joanne + her husband Jonathan happen to be phenomenal photographers, and the kind of people who steal themselves quietly into your life, slowly filling the cracks you didn’t know existed, and then burst out, effervescent and overflowing with joy. They are kind and beautiful and generous and a million other adjectives that feel trite when I roll them around in my mouth, feeling their weight on my tongue. These are the kind of people for whom words are simply not enough.

While I was staying with them, Joanne mentioned that weekend mornings have become a sort of ritual for them right now. The girls rise early, tiptoe up to their parent’s bedroom and curl into bed with Joanne and Jon, and the four of them snuggle, bodies pressed against each other and bellies filled with laughter and love and that sweet ache of fleeting bliss. Eventually these girls will grow, and be too big to share sunday mornings pillow fighting and snuggling with mom and dad. So when Joanne asked if I would capture this time for them and make images of their incredible family, I was honored and humbled and couldn’t imagine a better way to wrap up my trip. This is the kind of story I live to tell. Thank you, Adobo family, for inviting me – for trusting me – to tell it for you.