My lovely Yang

There’s so much I could and would like to say about my best friend, Michelle, who I endearingly call “Yang”, but I’d never be able to finish.

Not only because there’s so much to tell, but also due to the fact that after basically 25+ years of knowing her she still continues to surprise me with her unwavering love.

Y’all, she is the best person I know.

Great, now there are tears in my eyes as I’m typing this.

Those who know her well or even just a little will undeniably agree with me.

One of the many things I love most about her is the love and care she shows to complete strangers.

There’s so much good in her.

And she doesn’t keep it to herself. Not at all.

If you’re fortunate enough to have encountered her…I would not need to tell you how lucky you are because you would just know right away what a beautiful and kind soul she possesses.

And when you’ve known someone since babyhood, things get nostalgic.

Our friendship has seen its ups and downs.

I remember a time when I had very unpleasant feelings towards her around our middle school years.

I confided our problems to someone close to me and that person gave me the advice to just end the friendship. 

But after thinking about it, I decided our friendship was worth fighting for. 

And it makes me feel so incredibly thank you that we both fought for our friendship because it has honestly gotten better and better with age.

So here we were on what felt like a typical day.

[She’s always supporting me and my crazy random ideas]

She’s my absolute favorite person to photograph. Wayyyy before I had this new fancy camera.

We drove around for almost an hour trying to find a good place to start taking photos.

It was just two best friends catching up on life.

Her shoot is how I’d like to “model” my future shoots to come.

Just two friends chatting it up and me capturing the natural beauty in front of me.

So simple and effortless.

Minus the ant-pile I stepped in. It was totally worth it though. Ha.

For those who have always seen Michelle as a “cute girl”, prepare yourselves.

Actually don’t.

You’d be wasting your time.

There’s no way to prepare yourself for this. 

She’s a freakin’ unicorn.

Shot with Portra 800

Those to die for cheekbones.Shot with Fuji400, which is becoming my favorite stock so far. Shot with Portra 160Shot with Ektar 100

I changed these last shots to black and white because the stock and exposure I used made her skin splotchy and there was a little blur. All my fault. Not hers!

I also think the BW makes the photos more powerful and do justice to her expressions. 

I love you so much, Yang.

Thank you for being … you. 

You’ll never understand just how  grateful I am to have you in my life. 

I’m still surprised myself how you make me feel.

Last weekend, Ngoc told me a sweet story about you during your CCD days and it made me choke up with emotion. 

You’re the best.

Never forget. 

Thanks for reading and following  along,

with me

Jules.

Oh and by the way, none of these photos were edited by me.

Processed and scanned with FIND lab.

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