Sometimes you stay dry, and sometimes you get pushed off the dock. The latter was Willow’s situation about ten minutes before the photo was taken. I asked her to look as annoyed as possible while I took the picture (which was probably her actual mood). Her brother, Mako, appeared earlier in this project. The members of this family have some seriously cool names

This is the first photo of this project that I took on Monhegan Island, Maine, where we vacation every summer. The island is fairly small (with a lot of Murdocks), so we all tend to know one another. Kim lives next door to us - here she is walking Izzy and Ollie.

While photographing the people of Monhegan, it was tough to keep the picture focused on the people and not Monhegan itself. But there is a lot of the island in each of its residents, and I think this captures Kim wonderfully

This photo was taken late at night, before boarding the 11:30 boat back to Peaks. Although I took other sharper, more evenly-framed photos of Jenny, this one was my favorite. In terms of capturing a brief, spontaneous moment in time, I think this picture works - and the expression on her face is pure Jenny Richard

I first met Ms. Wakem while standing around a classroom near the end of freshman year (of high school). We both had things to drop off for the teacher, but he was out at the moment. She told me to tell him that (Suna) Wakem was looking for him, and glided off.

I got to know her throughout sophomore year – it turned out she’d known me through our performances at the school talent show, though I think I was backstage and sweating with nervousness while she was on. It occurred to me, during the school year, that Suna has had the most interesting life. She’s a brilliant performer; she knows the coolest people (in- and outside of school); has a wonderfully unique cultural heritage; is herself a secret celebrity; and stands out as one of the most distinctly, memorably offbeat people I know. Her sense of humor is perfectly bizarre; yet she knows (more so than many others), when it’s a good time to be serious and focused. Suna is incredibly smart, incredibly resilient, and incredibly tough – she can get through whatever’s thrown at her and remain positive. It’s a trait of hers that I’ve always admired.

As a friend, Suna is simply one of the best. She is kind and caring, always willing to listen (and she does). She seems to devote as much time as possible to others – even in cases where help isn’t requested, but needed all the same. It’s her sympathy and overall desire to help that makes her stand out as a remarkable individual.

Editing these pictures months (in this case, almost a year) after taking them reminds me that I haven’t seen some of these people for just that long. This is the case with Suna, who I know is still around. And I’m fairly certain of what she’ll be doing in the future. Someday she’s going to be a cult favorite singer/guitarist (she’s too good for mainstream). That is, unless she wants to take her life in another direction and settle down as a hermit in her own private island right off Hawaii. Or in the middle of the Pacific, right by an undiscovered shipwreck and an underwater volcano that shoots geysers of ashy seawater into the sky every twelve hours.

Suna also does the best “Woop woop woop woop woop” since Curly Howard, seventy years ago

I caught Mikhaila (and her twin-in-spirit, Serena Adlerstein) out by One City Center before catching a movie at the Nick. It wasn’t the best day for an outdoor photo - but we made do with what we had. This picture in particular captures Mikhaila’s bright, fun spirit. She’s always energetic, ready and willing to accept any challenges (which could either include a stage performance, a bizarrely heavy load of schoolwork, or both at the same time). And she always does it with a huge smile on her face

Jaime is all kinds of awesome. She’s savvy, smart, and insanely talented (as a writer/singer/artist/German/etc.). And she has one of the most colorful, keen personalities out of anybody I know. We were in the same class in King Middle School - and considering she lived near there, I thought it would be a good place for the shoot. We’re standing in an outdoor shelter we (as a class) built next to King in 8th grade. Her girlfriend, the equally rad Patricia Stoddard, is lurking around somewhere out of frame

I took Jesse’s picture while we were waiting for the boat late one night (Sidney is just out of frame). These two and their mother, Pam (posted earlier), make for one of the most unique, entertaining, and wonderfully cool families living on Peaks. I saw Jesse briefly last week, as I visited the island for a few days - but that was all, and I’ll be missing them throughout my summer in Ithaca!

I first got to know Hoda at the very beginning of middle school, and since then, we’ve seen each other around all the time. Perhaps it’s because we’ve had so many classes together; or because we’ve worked in the same libraries; or because we share the same love for all things coffee. Either way, Hoda’s an incredibly fun person to know. She’s laid-back and hilarious, calm and cool. Hoda rocks

Janet just kind of appeared in my life one day - bouncy, slightly crazy, totally awesome. We acted in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and drama club sketches together, and we’d see each other around a lot. Janet has a completely independent spirit, yet she’s wonderfully friendly and great to have in a team. And it’s surprisingly hard to find more people with the name Janet, which makes her that much more memorable of a person

I first got to know Chelsea through the drama club in middle school. Since then, we’ve seen each other around Portland, most of the time completely randomly (which is fine, because it’s always so fun to see her anytime). This summer, she was working at the Island Inn on Peaks - which I totally didn’t realize until that either that night, or a few days before. This picture was taken at the ferry terminal, after Chelsea had finished work for the day. I liked this photo the most, but the other shots were more full of smiles