Sheldon & Faisha have been together for over ten years. Faisha is one of my best friends, and I was honored to be there for their ring blessing ceremony. Their relationship has always inspired me, and that’s why this moment felt so powerful. 

They held the ceremony where they got married, on a little stone platform surrounded by bamboo trees. It was so intimate, just family and close friends, and everybody showed up in whatever they were wearing. Sheldon & Faisha just wanted to be surrounded by the people they loved, and you could feel that presence in the atmosphere. 

 Everyone went up to the bride and groom, held their hands, and spoke kind words, whatever was on their hearts. That was when the tears just flooded everybody. You could feel the power and the love. 

When the bride and groom renewed their vows, that’s where the power, the mana, went to the next level. We all gathered in a circle and raised our hands over the couple as the Kahu chanted a Hawaiian blessing over them. In that circle, nothing else mattered. It was like we were all in our own little bubble.  

After the Kahu finished speaking, everybody came close and we had a moment of silence. No chanting, no words, no one moving. There was this strong force that came over us. Everyone was crying, happy tears of course. I couldn’t even see through my lens. And that’s when I took this first photo, in that moment of pure joy.  

This photo is really the definition of ascend. It captures one of a thousand small moments of ascension that create the beautiful love this couple shares. 

I’ll do these events a million times over. To feel that love and capture it, to give these photos to this couple and see their joy, that’s worth everything to me. That’s my passion.