world was in the face... of the beloved

I have been photographing my wife Stacy, whom I married three years ago this coming fall. My relationship with her is the closest, kindest and most successful of my life. My pictures of her are a celebration of this accomplishment.
 
Trust is the starting point of this work, which manifests as warmth, familiarity and playfulness. In many ways the series is collaboration. The portraits bear the stamp of Stacy‘s mannerisms and style. There is a degree of partnership in any collaboration between a sitter and portraitist, but ours is a constant one that continues to be honed even when we are not making pictures.
 
Role-playing exists in many of the images. Some of the roles are fanciful and fun, while others are darker and more psychologically fraught. With some photographs there are straightforward connections and tenderness through eye contact, while others harken back to earlier eras.
 
"My previous work has involved contemplation and exploration into the nature of human relationships. In past series I have examined the connection to family, looked at the bond between couples, addressed the idea of masculinity in a portrait series of men, and more recently combined photographs of seemingly disparate subjects to suggest metaphysical and sexual interactions. The images of my wife continue this investigation.
 
References to some of the great examples of earlier photographic spousal collaborations, as well as important portraiture, abound in this series. The work of Eleanor and Harry Callahan, Georgia O‘Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz, Olga and Baron de Meyer, Walker Evans and William Eggleston stand out as influential and inspiring.
 
I am challenged by the many possibilities of making portraits of my wife over a long period of time. How will they change as we move forward and age together? My photographs of Stacy are in many ways only in their beginning stages, as is our marriage. I am excited by the promise and potential of both our life together and the ensuing photographs we will make."
 
"Should one of us, after much happiness, have to follow the
eternal laws of nature - those everyone on earth has to follow -
we shall not have lived in vain, for during the short space of
time we might still have to linger on, we will have gathered
what will be almost as precious as life together - memories."
 
- Baron Adolph de Meyer
 
Eric Weeks (2006) – Used with permission