When I'm in a popular shooting spot, I immediately start looking for a fresh angle.

Same thing happens when I’m shooting people other photographers have worked with.

On the beach with McKenzie, I tried to make the shots more playful, intimate than other photos I’d seen of her.

She’d recently shot at the beach with another photographer, which worked to my advantage.

I sought to close a distance I’d perceived in those shots, wanted to create a sense of connection, of folks at play together.

There is, I hate to admit, a competition in me, and as much as I’ve tried to do away with it in my day to day, when I’m shooting it blooms, and I welcome it.

So here, a reaction to summer, to McKenzie, to other photographers I seek to conquer.