The Olivers | A Family Session in the Park | Bedfordshire, UK

This has been our summer of goodbyes.

First, my friend Saana moved back to Finland, where she’s from, taking her family (including Adlai’s best friend Kasper) with her.

Then, a month ago, my friend Sarah moved to Seattle with her kids – my boys’ other closest friends.

Friendship-wise, we’re starting from scratch a little bit. And it’s exciting and painful at the same time.

…

The night before Sarah and her family moved, we finally – FINALLY – got around to taking some photos of them. Sarah and I have been talking about this for ages. They’ve known they were moving for a while, and at first, Sarah wanted us all to travel to London and take pictures with red buses and phone booths in Leicester Square and on Southbank.

But then, as is often the case…the closer it got to time to leave, the more Sarah and Richard realised just how amazing Bedford has been to them. And when we talked about pictures, Sarah said, “I want pictures here. In the park where my kids play. Where we’ve had picnics and taken walks. London is cool, but this is our home.”

So that’s what we did.

And, you know what’s funny? These guys came straight from their farewell party, and the kids were starving and Richard had taken them to get something to eat, and then we couldn’t find them, and the sun was setting and…well…it was just a little bit crazy. It all worked out, and I love these photographs…but my favourite one is the very last one: Sarah’s face says it all.