SEPTEMBER 1988
Brian and Kathy, two arty MSU students, meet at the local record shop in East Lansing. The first order of business was to check out each other's record collections. Brian thought Kathy liked The Beatles a little too much. He was right.
MAY 1992
After four years of being best friends, Brian and Kathy decide to actually start dating. It is about time.
AUGUST 1993
In the woods near campus where they used to take walks (and drink beer), Brian asks Kathy to marry him. She says yes.
MAY 1994
Brian and Kathy get married at the Detroit Yacht Club. Kathy wore her mother's wedding dress and the DJ got a ticket speeding on Belle Isle.
MAY 1994
Brian and Kathy leave on their honeymoon for a cross country camping trip where on the first night they came back from the bathroom to find a raccoon on top of the picnic table enjoying a bag of their tortilla chips.
SEPTEMBER 1995
Brian and Kathy move to Grand Rapids for Kathy's first real job at the Grand Rapids Press. They welcome the first addition to their family - Sherman, the Jack Russell that will drive Brian crazy for the next 17 years.
DECEMBER 1995
Brian begins working at a large photo studio and expands his photography business to include editorial and commercial photography.
JANUARY 1997
Kathy lands a job at the Lansing State Journal and it is off to Lansing where they start restoring a 1927 craftsman-style foursquare home. Brian can rip out kitchen cabinets like a boss.
MAY 1997
Brian and Kathy photograph their first wedding as Widdis Photography. Pat and Terri were married at the Botanical Gardens at Michigan State.
AUGUST 2000
Their first son, Evan, is born. They are thrilled. Sherman is not. Kathy leaves the Lansing State Journal to begin a freelance career so she can be home with Evan. More mouths to feed means more weddings for Brian.
AUGUST 2001
Kathy and Brian move back to metro Detroit for more freelance opportunities and to be closer family.
OCTOBER 2001
Their second son, Owen, is born. Sherman is still not thrilled, but with Evan around he got used to babies. Evan takes a wait and see approach.
FEBRUARY 2003
Kathy joins the Detroit Free Press as a picture editor. Brian expands the wedding business in metro Detroit and perfects his diaper changing skills on the home front.
APRIL 2007
Kathy wins first of four National Emmys from Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the News and Documentary category. Those statues are heavier than they look.
JANUARY 2007
Brian begins 'Can't Forget the Motor City,' a long term project looking at the people and landscapes of Detroit. Yes, Virginia, there was a Tiger Stadium.
OCTOBER 2012
Kathy is named visuals director at the Detroit Free Press. Her days are all about meetings. Lots of meetings.
Brian's client base continues to grow and includes publications like The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian UK, Education Week, Hour Detroit, and AAA. Phew!
DECEMBER 2012
Sherman heads to the big dog park in the sky. Sigh.
FEBRUARY 2013
On Valentine's Day, Oscar and Felix, two Schnorkie brothers, are rescued from a animal shelter near Belleville. It was instant puppy love.
MARCH 2013
First annual Freep Film Festival, a documentary film festival co-founded by Kathy, kicks off at the Fillmore Detroit.
NOVEMBER 2015
Brian's work on a story for Bridge Magazine about a homeless college student's resilience sparked an outpouring of support. A GoFundMe account set up in his name collected more than $25,000 in just six days from donors across the country.
JANUARY 2016
Brian wins first place photo story in the Michigan Press Association's annual contest.
MARCH 2016
Kathy and Brian fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a vintage travel trailer. Brian drives to Calgary to pick it up. Yes, that Calgary. The one in Canada.
JULY 2016
Weird sport alert! You probably know the Rubik’s Cube and you probably know there are people that can solve the puzzle really fast, but did you know there is an actual sport called Speedcubing. Well, there is and our son Owen competes all over the country solving any number of multi-sided, multi-shaped puzzles. And having a cubing kid automatically makes you a cubing parent, which is why when Brian isn’t shooting pictures, you can find him in some convention hall or school gymnasium watching Owen compete. Just don’t ask him to wear one of the Cubing Dad t-shirts.
DECEMBER 2016
Brian is always nailing moments like this one for Bridge Magazine of Jenaveve Biernat, co-owner of Meta Physica Massage, covering her face in delight after she and co-owner Anahi Hollis won first prize recently in the Hatch Detroit contest.
APRIL 2017 Kathy’s documentary film “12th and Clairmount,” a full-length documentary that Variety called “an illuminating and innovatively crafted account of the 1967 Detroit riot,” made a huge impact in Detroit and around the country.
AUGUST 2017
Brian’s gone international with this amazing spread for M le mag, the Saturday magazine for the French newspaper Le Monde. He was contracted to do a photo essay looking at Detroit fifty years after the 1967 riots.
OCTOBER 2017
Oscar and Felix turn 5. Yea, we are all pretty jazzed.
APRIL 2018
And the hits just keep on coming. Kathy is part of the team that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a series of multimedia stories/videos that examined the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
JUNE 2018
Have Boler, Will Travel became Kathy and Brian’s catchphrase as they load up their two teenagers and head out on a 14-state camping trip in their Boler, the fiberglass trailer they bought a few winters back.
AUGUST 2018
Another Spartan in the making as Evan starts his freshmen year at MSU. His brother is going to miss him, but not as much as he likes taking over his brother’s bedroom.
PRESENT DAY
Thinking of woods and mountains.