Some of my favorite photographs happen on days I never planned to shoot.

I had a long layover in Portland, Oregon, and instead of waiting it out at a gate, I rented a car and drove ninety minutes out to Silver Falls State Park to walk the Trail of Ten Falls — ten waterfalls strung along one 7.5-mile loop through old-growth forest.

I wasn't alone for long. I ran into three au pairs, all originally from Colombia, who'd coordinated to meet up that day — two placed with families in Washington, one in Oregon. We ended up walking the entire trail together: comparing notes on home, laughing about the mist soaking through everyone's shoes, and, somewhere along the way, they let me start photographing them.

This is the kind of afternoon that's kept me shooting even in the years Hexagon House Studios wasn't technically open for business. The gear never really stopped coming with me — the business side was just on pause.