My parents moved out of our childhood home in 2017 after 20 years and decided to move to California. It was a large and life changing event in our family and many people were affected by it. My parents were always hosts when it came to friends, parties, holidays, birthdays, and more.

The day my parents moved, I stopped by the house to take photos of them saying goodbye for the last time. I followed my parents around and documented everything they did from cleaning, saying goodbye to our family dog who was buried in the front yard, praying for the future ahead and finally walking through the house.

Christmas of that year, I reached out to everyone in our extended family as well as close friends to share a quick thought or memory for my parents. I gathered images from my childhood, my teens, and even my college years that commemorated the house and all the memories inside.

I put all the photos and quotes from friends and family into an organized book, indicating the past and memories of others in bright and colorful photos. I then edited the goodbye photos in black and white to indicate a sense of loss and goodbye. The book ended with a colored photo of our family as well as the memories and thoughts from me and my siblings, with colored photos of us as kids to indicate that the future is still bright and exciting.

This has to be my all-time favorite project I’ve worked on. It is extremely close to my heart and is the greatest gift I’ve ever given my parents.