People always say you should marry your best friend.

Because in the end, that’s what marriage is - a lifetime of friendship with someone you love.  Joseph and I can happily say that friendship is precisely where our story began. 

Our paths crossed for years before we actually connected and it wasn’t until February of 2012 that we sat down for a coffee meeting that changed the course of our lives for good.  We talked for three hours about photography and family and everything in between.  And from that day forward, there wasn’t a day that went by that we weren’t in touch in some way.  Joseph became my mentor and I his sounding board, and it wasn’t long until we were the best of friends.  Later in the year, feelings started shifting for both of us, and we knew that our friendship had grown into something more.  It caught us by surprise and we were hesitant to even bring it up to each other, neither of us wanting to risk losing the great thing we had.  After several months of denial, we decided it was all or nothing and dove in head first to what would become the most exciting, challenging and transformative relationship of both of our lives.  This was it.  And we knew it pretty quickly. Over the coming years, we supported each other through illness, injury, career change, awards won, goals reached and myriad of other highs and lows.  And on September 5, 2015, in Marfa, TX, we made it official.

Since then we've successfully raised a German Shepherd puppy to (almost) adulthood, renovated and built a professional photography studio The West Studios, celebrated our first year of marriage, journeyed back to Marfa 4 times, and continue to grow in our love for the craft that brought us together - photography.  

- Joseph and Melissa West