Brinton Parker Botkin

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A Honeymoon on Film

Written as an Instagram caption while drinking rosé at a sidewalk café in Paris, having just finished my seventh book of the trip and bursting with love for my travel companion:

“To my Heineken-loving, hilarious, sweet-toothed, handsome, kind, generous husband: the past three weeks have been such a privilege to spend with you. I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life. After more than 10 years together and 6 months of marriage, this trip has granted us the most uninterrupted alone time that we’ve ever spent — and I’ve loved every second. Every ice cream and pastry devoured, every cute dog we’ve gasped about, every glass of wine sipped, every hour passed in silence while we each read our own book; I’ve never laughed so much, loved so much, or felt so deeply happy than I have during our honeymoon. What a gift you’ve given me. 💕 I’m so blessed to have married you. Can’t wait to see the rest of the world together.”

I want to remember every feeling from our honeymoon (minus 12 hours of intense food poisoning in Bayeux) and Christopher managed to find the perfect way to encapsulate it: in film.

Prior to leaving for New York and France, he dropped $30 on a camera from the late ‘90s and several rolls of film. I doubted that any of his photos would turn out, but after we dropped off a roll at a 1-hour photo in Aix en Provence, I became a true believer: the photos he snapped during our trip are my favorites. I feel awful that nearly every time I turned the camera on him, the results were blurry and unsalvageable… all the more reason for me to feel impressed by his patience and eye for good shots.

These are just some of the photos from our trip, spanning from NYC’s Lower East Side to Nice, Aix en Provence, Bayeux, and Paris. Each one fills me with so much joy it’s hard to articulate, but one thing is certain: we will be bringing a film camera on every trip from now on.