Yes, Instagram shares our story with the world – a fractured version, one that is curated to grab an entire day and shrink it down into one moment that encapsulates the feelings of the afternoon. The single shot is not always enough however. We want to grab more than our morning coffee, the scenery we slept in or the distance we so bravely jumped into the water below. Sometimes we want photographs that capture a life.

I started emailing this lovely lady back in early 2017 in the hopes we could wrangle her into a shoot somewhere along our cross-country road trip because, well, if you’ve ever looked at her Instagram you’d see there’s really no comparison. She’s a genius. She could make Boris and Natasha look like they spent their afternoons snuggling amongst throw blankets, safe and warm from the snowfall outside their warmly lit mountain cabin. Many photographers are able to capture love but Montana gets something even more rare- she captures happiness. Every couple is unique in their love but to me, the most interesting part of finding the one is finding that person that brings you true and sublime joy. Luke is my person through and through – we’ve gone through the way high ups and the annoyingly thick and mucky lows. In the end our relationship is marked by our playfulness. He is the one that runs to the store at midnight when I have a stomach ache and the dude I’ve tried to wrestle to the ground one too many times with both brute force and/or kiss attacks. We’re family. We poke, prod, tickle, play and definitely take the joke too far. In two hours, Montana discovered all of this and more.

She caught us giving noogies and stumbling over the Utah dirt in between nose nuzzles and immense fits of laughter. Yes, those giggles were genuine but she was the catalyst. She feels like the best long lost cousin you rarely get to see who has finally arrived for a weekend visit and your excitement can’t help but runneth over, you’re practically tripping over your feet. Her positivity is contagious and it just wraps the two of you up in a beautiful bubble of security and bliss. She gets you natural, foolish, giddy and free- something I can’t say about too many people out there in the world. She is a human with incredible morals that believes in the power of love. Who wouldn’t want that in their photographer?

So here is our session with the one, the only, Montana Lee. We rolled around in our van, hiked up a few hundred feet in elevation and tumbled in the dirt by Corona Arch near Moab, Utah. Thank you, Montana, we will never forget this day.

Also, uh, really sorry but here’s basically every photo…