Twins Falls

Katie and Kevin
Twins Falls
Austin, TX
August 2007

Spotting this young woman on the picnic table in the woods at Twin Falls was almost startling - like love at first sight - I got instantly nervous and sweaty - but it was the same kind of attraction I felt towards the teenage boy at Barton Springs. It seemed like forever since I thought to take pictures of people, and suddenly, these teenagers at the river's edge revealed a beauty and awkwardness and sexuality that awakened a long buried desire.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get her face into sharp focus, which has brought me some real disappointment and frustration, wishing I could step back in time and change that moment ever so slightly.

But at least looking at this image reminds me that I discovered someone and somewhere that I cared about, and while I'll probably never find her again, at least I can finally go back to the woods to look. For four months, I've wondered who will be sitting at that picnic table when I walk into the woods, if anyone. What will the light look like on his or her face and body? Will anyone be swimming in the river nearby? Will the woods be deserted, or do some of them come around all year long?

Where I grew up, it was the cemetery, the lakes, the woods - these places of solitude and intimacy and rebellion - the first places I ever took pictures.