Love Millennial Style

Tyler Haddad, 25, and his wife Anna, 22, walk back to their downtown Columbia apartment. The couple is living on Tyler's income working as a account manager for Veterans United Home Loans while Anna finishes her education degree at the University of Missouri. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Dating changes with each generation, and when it does the generations that have come before criticize the morality and choices young people. “Kids these days,” is the mournful refrain as elders forget that the same was said of them. The age that people are getting married is rising but many couples are still choosing to wed when they are young despite what news reports about hookup culture and dating applications imply.

            Tyler and Taylor have known each other since elementary school and are getting married the summer of their freshman year of college after five years of dating. Tyler and Anna are about to celebrate their one-year anniversary a two weeks after Anna graduates college. How people find each other has changes over time, from singles bars, to online dating to Tinder but the result of building a life with that person when you’ve met them, remains the same.

A book on marriage sits on Tyler Athon's desk in his dorm room. Athon, 19, is reading the book as part of the marriage counseling classes he is taking with his finance, Taylor Walker, 18. The couple has know each other since elementary school and have been dating for five years. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Taylor waits as Tyler changes before going to work at the Home Depot in Kirksville, Mo. The couple are freshman at Truman State University. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler helps Taylor as they work on their calculus homework. They have several classes together since Taylor is majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in finance and Tyler is double majoring in business administration and accounting. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Taylor checks her messages as Tyler walks her up the stairs to her dorm room. The couple lives in the same dormitory but have separate rooms two floors apart. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Taylor fiddles with her engagement ring while attending an event on campus with Tyler and friends. Tyler proposed at his grandmother's house and the couple is set to wed in August. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

A photo of Tyler Haddad proposing to Anna that has been inscribed with messages from the couple's friends hangs in their apartment. Tyler proposed at to Anna at sunrise in Columbia's Capen Park in Oct. of 2014. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler and Anna order drinks at Lucky's Market after taking a walk around their neighborhood. The couple often take walks after eating dinner together as a way to spend time together while not spending money. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler makes coffee while Anna takes a shower. Anna often makes breakfast while Tyler performs other household chores. The couple met in 2012 and began dating in 2013. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler and Anna clean up after sharing breakfast before going to church. Anna is in her senior year at the University of Missouri and is a student teacher at Smithton Middle School. She will begin teaching 7th grade Language Arts at Excelsior Springs Middle School in Excelsior Springs, Mo. in August. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler drinks coffee while Anna gets ready for church. The couple will celebrate their one-year anniversary on May 31 2016. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Tyler and Anna watch an episode of "Friends," on Netflix in their apartment. The couple often end their evenings watching televisions together while Anna does classwork. (Photo by Adam Vogler)


Relection

Failure is always an option. I don't think that this project was an abject failure but it certainly isn't what I'd hoped for. I knew that going in though. That's part of challenging oneself. You have to be ready and willing to fall flat on your face. That's how you grow. Anyone who tried to do new things and immediately got them perfect would be hated by everyone. 

The biggest issue I faced was that I needed to show intimacy between couples and I had to develop the trust to get those images in a matter of a couple of weeks. This didn't really happen. There are many reasons, my subjects were all in school, it was the end of the semester, everyone was very busy, I'm a weird old guy, etc.

Essentially main biggest problem came from my topic selection. I knew this going in. I was trying to illustrate a nebulous concept rather than telling a straightforward story. I knew that this would be very difficult to do but I'm not here to do easy things. I'm not here to tell a straightforward literal story. I'm here to become more of a storyteller and to learn how I can make even my literal stories and images work on deeper levels. The only way for me to do that is to try to do that and accept that it's not always going to work. 

I like my images. I like how I was able to work with these couples. I don't like how my story comes together as a whole. I do believe that if I spent another month or two working on this I could get it to come together how I saw it. That is the important thing. I know things I didn't know before and I know the gaps that need to be filled to make this a truly effective picture story.