I love photographing repeat clients. Eddy and Nicci were married five years ago, and I shot their ‘secret mission’ wedding (parts I and II) and their not-so-secret reception. I traveled to San Francisco a few weeks ago and was quite happy to be able to see these two again.
Activities during photo session are great fun. When I asked Nicci what sorts of activities are important in their lives, she responded “quilting and reading aloud to each other.” I was quite intrigued with them reading to each other, so I followed up with further questions.
– When did you start reading to each other? –
“Oh, probably about 5 years ago. It was when we were living in Houston and we started reading this very long, (what turned out to be) very terrible book every night before bed. It is called the Deptford Trilogy and we tried to stop reading it several times, but we sort of considered it a challenge to finish it, so we kept on. The last line of the book was, “You egoist!” We still say that to each other when something seems long and totally pointless. Eddy has been reading to me every night before bed since then. I read to him when we take car trips and sometimes when we are just hanging out at home.”
– Whose idea was it? –
Probably mine. I’m bossy.
– How many books have you read to each other? –
“Oh, gosh, hundreds probably. We have basically covered nearly all of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Madeline L’Engle, Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Bronte sisters, Harry Potter, and so many more. Right now, we are working through a compilation of Jules Verne.”
– What have been your favorite books? –
“We’re both pretty into Charles Dickens.”
– How often do you read to each other? –
“Daily! Sometimes several times a day.”
– How do you choose what titles to tackle next? –
“Sort of weird free association! Sometimes we’ll see a movie that we like and it will remind us of something then we’ll get the book and put it in our queue. Like Eddy got a collection of Ray Harryhausen movies for Xmas last year and they’re mostly based on H.G. Wells stories, so we put those on our Xmas list this year. Also, last time we went to an aquarium we decided we wanted to read Moby Dick. We’ve been reading long enough, we’re pretty much always trying to think about what we can read next together.”
Aside from reading, every photo shoot needs some skipping and Monkees walks. Thanks for the fun afternoon, you two!
