brotherly love

this is my brother, aaron (in the bowtie). he's pretty awesome. he is one semester away from being an architect and is on a full scholarship for grad school at rice university. he already has a super job secured when he graduates in december. he is a really great cyclist and rode his bike across the country (literally) a few years ago with an awesome organization called bike and build. he taught himself to play quite a few instruments in high school, including the guitar. he manages to tell funny, but not that funny stories in such a humorous way that i can't stop laughing. he's run two marathons. he delivered two completely memorable and non-cliche speeches at both his high school and undergraduate commencement ceremonies and graduated college with the highest gpa in his architecture school. he's been to all but a handful of states in the us. he has really good taste in clothes, and like me, buys most of them at thrift stores. (it's a family affair.) he has a really awesome girlfriend named gracie who has a great blog. and, finally, he's an artist through and through. the kid can draw/paint/sculpt/design/sing/play/write with the best of them. he also takes incredible photographs, and i thought it would be fun to share a few here. thanks to his extensive travels, he's had the opportunity to capture a lot of great subject matter, but the way he captures it is always memorable. i have two of his photos from chicago and monticello (shown below) framed and hanging on my wall in my bedroom.

 

concord, north carolina

 

frank lloyd wright's ennis house: los angeles, california 

times square: new york, new york (p.s. i was in this taxi, too!)

 

hermosa beach, california

 

the high museum of art: atlanta, georgia 

disney concert hall: los angeles, california 

 

pittman-dowel residence: los angeles, california 

the north carolina dance theatre: charlotte, north carolina

 

santa monica, california 

 

lindon, colorado

neil denari's hl23 building, west chelsea: new york, new york 

 

venice beach, california 

 

seaside, florida 

american indian museum: washington, district of columbia

alta ski area: alta, utah

the new museum: new york, new york

 

lake lure, north carolina 

charlotte, north carolina

and, finally, the two i have on my wall...

chicago, illinois

monticello: charlottesville, virginia

i've notcied after looking through this collection of photos that i chose (believe me, it was tough) that most of them have a lonely quality to them. i'm not an art critic and won't pretend to be, but i think that a lot of the photos he takes (especially the ones that i like) inflict this mood. loneliness is probably one of my greatest fears, so it's interesting that i find these photographs so gripping and beautiful. which one is your favorite?

aaron is available for hire for all types of photography. okay, not really, but he will draw you some pretty incredible renderings if you'd like them. also, i feel it is important to note that all of these were taken with a cannon point-and-shoot camera. someone get this kid an slr, already!

thanks for letting me show off your work, aaron, and thanks for being such a cool brother. sometimes it's hard to live in your shadow of awesome but i love you anyway! besides, i'm prettier than you.

all photographs copyright aaron cote