I crouched down, balanced awkwardly on a collection of boulders. Trying to get low enough to see, I was trying to take myself out of the frame – or at least my shadow.
I was struck in the moment by what I was witnessing.
Seeing him up high, perched on a rocky outcrop at the top of the peak, appearing totally at ease, felt RIGHT. Like, he belonged up there, balancing effortlessly in the wind.
The clouds and sunset light played out a symphony of color in the sky, beyond where the breeze ruffled his blond hair and white shirt. A gift, hand-made decades ago by his grandmother for his grandfather.
Looking Back
The first time I photographed him, as a toddler, his dad calmly held him with one hand high above his head. He looked utterly at home. In some ways, he was born to climb.
After a quick “buggy” ride in the family ATV, we stepped into the aspen forest where he grew up, playing. We crunched over fallen yellow leaves. The recent storm had deposited them on the forest floor, photogenically. I heard stories about a childhood lived in the wild, building forts, with time to climb, sit, ponder, and dream.
It gave him the space to cultivate a wide variety of interests, like watercolors, making clothes, geology, history, travel, writing, and mythology.
He doesn’t spend much time here anymore. Ever since he gained hard-won acceptance into the World Class Academy: The Climbing Academy, he spends most of his time traveling the world. His classrooms now are climbing routes in Africa, Europe, and Australia, among other locales.
As we made our way back from our last portrait of the day, I asked him about how seeing so much beauty around the world has impacted his perspective. Did this stunning place where he grew up seem less remarkable? “That’s not how that works,” he assured me. He holds it all in his heart, appreciating the entirety of it.
Flagstaff Family Portrait Photography • Flagstaff Maternity Pregnancy Photographer • Flagstaff Newborn Photographer • Flagstaff Child Photographer • Flagstaff Senior Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Couples Photography
Kristen Dacey Iwai of KDI Photography is a full-time professional portrait photographer based in Flagstaff, Arizona with decades of experience. Making portraits of families, pregnancy, newborns, babies, children, and high school seniors in her downtown studio and on location, she serves clients from Flagstaff, Sedona, Tuba City, Winslow, Payson, Page, Williams, Prescott, Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona
