When Los Angeles-based photographers Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks had a friend take a picture of them spontaneously kissing, they loved the pose so much they decided to repeat it on their own, with a self-timer.
And then again... and again and again.
"I love traditions and patterns, so it became a fun personal series to document our memories where we were actually both in the photo," Brinson told BuzzFeed News.
The couple, who met in a photojournalism class at the University of Georgia and moved to L.A. a year ago, have figured out a fun way to capture their relationship all over the world — Banks the anchor, gently reclining as Brinson floats in mid-air.
"We're both explorers at heart," Banks told CNN.
Though they met in college, the two didn't reconnect until they were both at different newspaper jobs, and started talking on Gchat. Soon, they were dating long distance, and then moved in together.
"It gets old seeing a photo of you alone on your honeymoon or on vacation at the beach, so this is our own special way of documenting us, together," Brinson added.
By this point, Brinson, 31, and Banks, 32, who married in 2012, have gotten the pose down pat.
But using a self-timer often turns into a "mad dash of precariously balancing the camera on a trash can or rock," Brinson said, then quickly jumping into place in a matter of seconds.
They only occasionally use a tripod, she added, because they don't generally plan the photos.
One of Brinson's favorites is a photo taken near her family's cotton farm in rural Georgia.
"The place is magic — big old trees and ice cold water bubbling from below the sand, and I wanted a photo of us there," she said.
They've gone all over the world, from California to Vancouver to Mexico, with each location providing an eye-catching background for their adorable embrace.
Of course, they had to take a few on their honeymoon.
And again on their anniversary, outside of a charming mobile home in Malibu, California.
"I'd love to be 50 and still doing it," Banks told CNN. "It's more fun as we get more of them, all the little memories. It's one of those projects that will just grow greater."
Though the pose is always the same, the changes to the two as time goes by – they've been doing the series for four years now — are clearly visible.
"It's fun to watch us age and change in them — David's hair is much more gray in the last one versus the first and my hair is much longer," Brinson said. "It's a static pose, but we change and age in each subsequent photo."
The pose has even spawned it's own movement under the #BrinsonBanksing hashtag after the two started to tag their pictures.
What started with their friends tagging the pictures on Instagram grew to complete strangers all over the world using the pose, from Brazil to Ireland, even some on their wedding day.
"I absolutely love seeing those because it's this joyous pose that people are sharing with us," Brinson said.
