I’m going to be vulnerable for a minute or two so bare with me. I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions recently. Why am I doing what I’m doing? I have complete freedom in this world to do whatever the hell I want to so is this it? Does this truly make me happy? Not just content but is what I’m doing make me excited to be alive? Am I being honest with myself? I always fear falling into a rhythm of complacency of settling for a life that’s just…fine. Is it wrong to want to merge this business with my personal life? Why can’t I separate the business side of things and the need to be completely fulfilled from the same thing. Yes, these images are for my couples but there’s such a huge part of me that wants it to be a reflection of myself as well. Showing two people in love but at the same time what’s going on in my own heart. It’s how I see the world and I can’t hide that. How do I merge running a business but at the same time filling the personal satisfaction of creating something that resonates with my core? I’ve found that I’m most excited when couples truly let me in. Photographing the honest true love between two people is what keeps me in this industry. I don’t have a scholarly vocabulary and I wish I had other words besides honest, true, real, intimate. I think they get tossed around a lot trying to describe a style or a mood. I’m not saying I’ve figured anything out other than what I’m drawn to and want to explore more. I want to explore what happens when no ones looking, the actual reason two people can’t be apart from each other. It’s not about the actual wedding or what magical place we travel to shoot, it’s about the reason they’ve made that decision. That they sorted through life and said, no one else but you. It’s so damn beautiful. I want that. It’s what get’s me excited to wake up each day and try harder. I think it could be out of envy, when I see couples who are so on fire together that they make everyone around them want to be a better version of themselves. Couples who are so in tune to each other, that they almost speak a different language. It’s so damn inspiring. It’s what I want most in my life. I want to have what they have. And I want to show them what they have so they’ll never forget how fucking lucky they are. Jazmine and Kyle are those kind of people. So honest and open with each other you can tell they share a magical kind of trust and love that bonds their hearts. I spent an afternoon with them in their home listening to Marty Robbins, drinking champagne, and exploring what connects them both as humans. It was beautiful. These images are to remind them of what they have, remind me of what’s possible and to show the world what I want to shoot more of. [audio:https://philchester.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-im-living.mp3]