Jay and Grady: Hamden Bike Trail Couple’s Session

Jay and Grady are like a freaking romance novel of a love story. Strap in.

Jay (they/them) met Grady (he/his) on a dating app. Their first phone conversation was four hours long. Grady knew it was love before even meeting Jay; Jay realized it the second they saw Grady step out of his car on their first date. Grady had two berry bushes in his arms—unusual, but strangely perfect, gifts for the garden-obsessed Jay.

They were immediately infatuated. Immediately able to be vulnerable with each other. Immediately able to be themselves—not always an easy task, especially for gender non-conforming / non-binary folks.

Within a year of their whirlwind romance, they had moved in together and gotten married on the beach with beaming families in tow. It was after all of this that I met them. They had not ever gotten an engagement session done—when had there been time? And they were intrigued by this opportunity, especially by the prospect of being photographed by a queer photographer.

They knew the perfect spot along the Hamden bike trail; they often went there to get away from it all. We walked over together and (once again) I felt like I already knew these two. Jay and I had an immediate camaraderie that felt incredibly natural, and Grady was so open to the experience despite his earlier trepidation.

These two have a hard time keeping their hands off of each other, which is a photographer’s dream—their romance and care made manifest through touch. Their passion has a kind of tender wildness that made my job, honestly, almost too easy. These two were a total pleasure to photograph AND to spend time with, period. (We may have become friends since. Grady is an amazing cook, and Jay is an amazing artist. You can check out their awesome animal line drawings here.)

I’m really excited to see where life takes these two. I know it won’t be ordinary, and it won’t ever be boring. They won’t stand for any of that.