Jun & Theresa at Home
Hello all!
I am so happy January is over. How about you? It was just not my month. Already February feels a bit lighter to me, and I have more clarity on my path forward, including how to contribute to the resistance movement against ICE. I feel more inspired for my work and excited about the photoshoots that are coming together for the springtime. So let’s dive into the newsletter—a lovely way to be starting the month if I do say so myself.
I realized that I never shared with y’all about my assignment with Bloomberg Businessweek, which was a major highlight of 2025.
On a random Friday in November, I woke up to an email from someone claiming to be the editor of Businessweek wanting to hire me for a photo commission to use for an article. At first I was pretty sure it must be a scam/spam email, but then I looked up his name and sure enough, it seemed totally legit. I replied to him excitedly and proposed a phone call, and that afternoon officially accepted my first very assignment from a major publication (or really any publication).
I’ll let you read about the story in the article itself, but I just wanted to say what an absolute honor it was to be hired for this. Getting to spend time with Jay in his home, hearing his story, and taking photos in the name of trans inclusion and protection, is exactly what my work is about. I feel really fortunate that Businessweek editor clearly cared about Jay being comfortable and feeling seen when being photographed for this article. It honestly gives me a lot of hope for the future, even in the midst of these dark time.
I highly recommend reading the article, which you can do one of two ways:
or
Thanks to everyone in my life who celebrated this big success with me. I am hoping it will lead to more editorial work, something I have barely dared to dream of up until this point!
Ok, let’s get to photos!
Back in December I traveled to SoCal to visit my grandmother on her 100th birthday (more on that later since this email is already a long one). I stayed with my friends Jun and Theresa, and got to photograph them together in their home & neighborhood. It was so special! I plan to travel more this year for photography and this felt like a very nice sampling of that.
I am obsessed with this bougainvillea and had to take many many pictures of them in front of it. It’s thrilling to see such a luscious, bright flower in the middle of December! I can’t wait to go back to SoCal—I was much more charmed by it than I expected (those purple mountains, wowwiee)!
As always, thank you for being here! I will be back with more photos in mid-February.
Until then,
Holly
