The twins, Shannon and Hannah, though I didn’t know their names when we first met 18 years ago. Mom and dad brought them in the back of their van, to Norfolk where I lived and often shot. It started sprinkling rain and mom, a friend of mine for several years, called to ask if they should turn around. No, come on I said, we’ll do something. Joey and I were set up with a strobe in the yard behind my building. We covered it with trash bags. They hurried in with the girls in their little white dresses. I wanted to sit them in this birth bath with the wall of ivy behind them. They’re 10 months old, they can’t sit up, mom told me. Undeterred, I said we’ll lean em against each other. At the time I had no children and no idea how they worked. We put a towel down and sat them in the birth bath, leaning them together. Dad stood on one side just off camera holding an umbrella, Joey was on the other. Mom with me, behind the camera. When the girls began to sway, one or both would lunge to catch them before they tumbled out. We didn’t shoot long, maybe 20 frames. But in the end, it would yield a most remarkable image. One girl holding her dress so delicately with her toes pointed; the other wide-eyed, her hand above her head. This fall they’re heading off to college. Has it really been that long? See you in 18. (click on image to enlarge)