What could possibly be better than queso? Probably just queso with margaritas — and people you love.

It’s early summer 2024. We’re all out and about with a brand new babe and a set of tired but really spunky new parents. It’s the perfect weather for eating outside at my favorite local Mexican restaurant. I brought along my Minolta XG-1 loaded with Ilford 35mm film.

When the Ilford ran out, it’s a quick swap over to some Kodak Ultra-max.

The happiness and bubbly joyful feeling of being with family must have made me a bit silly (or maybe the marg helped too), because I had my settings all wrong as evidenced by the blurriness in these final shots.

Regardless of a misplaced Aperature button, the photos document a night that consisted of good, really good (and not just good, but great) time with my family. Feeling at home and at ease with my favorite people who are not just relations, but my most long-lasting friends.

May we have many more easy nights of queso and margs and babies still to come!

“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” – Walt Whitman