When Erin reached out about a portrait session celebrating hers & Cole's relationship by just hanging out with them & capturing Christmas on The Hill, I was pumped! I knew this was going to be good. Because their relationship started during the COVID era most of their dates *including their first one* involved lots of walks and bike rides in the city and on the National Mall! So we grabbed two Capital Bikeshare bikes..decorated them for the occasion & basically just hung out! Their story needs to be shared though...because it's something you'd only hear during times like these. Here's Erin sharing a bit on how they came to be!


Assuming it’s helpful/makes the whole shoot more fun, I thought I’d give you some context/background on our story: 12 years ago, I met my now human/person, Cole Ried. We met at a military boarding school in Woodstock, VA, where he went for many years, and I happened to go for a year in high school. I had the biggest crush at him there, however I thought he always had many suitors and was under the impression that I had been friend-zoned for sure. When my parents transferred me to another high school, I didn't have a cell phone, but I had a job at a local True Value hardware store, where Cole would call me to catch up during my shifts (secretly of course as I was on the job!). We both can't quite fill in all the gaps, but sometime during my time at Virginia Tech, he treated me to lunch in a small town called South Hill, VA - passing through on his way back to college at the University of North Georgia. A few years later, I was in grad school at Clemson, on my way home for holiday break, when I got a text from him asking if I was driving north on 85 N. I was, and he had just passed me on the highway...small world? Perhaps fate? Who's to say. We both can't quite fill in all the gaps, but sometime during my time at Virginia Tech, he treated me to lunch in a small town called South Hill, VA - passing through on his way back to college at the University of North Georgia. A few years later, I was in grad school at Clemson, on my way home for holiday break, when I got a text from him asking if I was driving north on 85 N. I was, and he had just passed me on the highway...small world? Perhaps fate? Who's to say. We continued to have interesting encounters/ways we kept in touch over the years, but nothing more than hellos and goodbyes here and there.I moved to Washington, DC in March 2019, and was aware he was in the area, but never reached out...and neither did he. Fast forward to quarantine 2020, and I, like many others I think, indulged in a quarantine bottle of wine and found the guts to send Cole a very bold text along the lines of "I can't believe I moved all the way up to DC only to never hear from you". Not my finest moment, but one I do not regret. We went on what Cole calls our first "not date" on July 9th and truthfully, the rest is history. He didn't think it was a date - and I didn't think I really liked him. I was a fool at the time.


Isn't that so sweet? So corona has done at least one good thing around here...bring Cole & Erin together!