saturday we took some pretty great shots of purrington. we needed to showcase his long hair before a cut. more of these lates.
just got back from hawaii and have a lot of stuff to edit through and will be doing that in the next day or two..be expecting, more white family, more hawaii, more purrington, more weddings.
(shauna and lauren's bums)
just a little shadow of myself saying what up to my initials I saw in the sidewalk while strolling through hanalei a few weeks ago.
...and now I am in oahu, staying in laie for the week... here for the photography workshop. thanks to the interweb I will still try to post something every day I am, but don't mistake post blogs with me being in front of my computer. you can still email and call me if needed but I might not be able to respond till the evenings.
aloha and mahalo.
here are two of my cutest of cute, ms. bat woman and mr. car man.
they tried their costumes on for me last time I was in utah. you should have seen mr. car man's face when he saw himself in his car outfit standing on top of the bathroom counter....It's the first time I've seen his expression say "I am seriously the coolest".
so today I am imagining their little faces making all sorts of expressions as they stuff their faces with candy and feel super awesome.
happy happy halloween little monsters!
(ps. line through the images due to a bad scan. argh.)
grandpa smoot and grandma thurston/smoot are two of the crumpliest people I know. I could just squish them up. love, love, love them. I will never be able to shake the tune of "you jack of diamonds you rob my pocket.." from playing in my head. thank you for an amazing vacation.
kate sometimes can be found in trees. she is no doubt thinking some deep profound thought. ke'e beach makes you do that. love you little climbing tree sister.
shauna is maybe the worlds "hippest" mom. she was an inspiration and I found such a great friend in her. Loved getting to know her. can I be like you when I grow up?
lauren (shauna's daughter) was on a bit of a roller coaster this trip, but handled everything she is going through with the grace and the poise of someone much older than her age. she is a beauty inside and out. LOVE her and can't wait to see how her story continues.
bye bye hawaii...until sunday.
all I wanted was to take a graveyard tour this last weekend, when I discovered los angeles doesn't have NIGHT time tours (due to safety, permits, blah, blah, blah!!). who wants to walk through a graveyard at noon? not this gal. so I suggested sneaking into one....I think purr was the only one who supported the idea. he also suggested we try to get abducted. that's what I'm talking about!! what can I do that's really scary for halloween? ideas....
some of you may be mad when I tell you this, but good friendships have to be based on honesty, so here goes.....in about a week I am jumping on a plane back to hawaii.
I know I haven't even been home from my last hawaii trip for 2 weeks and I know this will be my 3rd hawaii trip this year, but not everything in my life is great. I have a really cluttered desk, all of my shoes are outdated and I have to kill about 8 spiders a day...PLUS I have barely any counter space in my kitchen which makes it very hard to cook in there let alone re-create that 'what about bob' scene, where they are doing dishes and bill murray sings, "I'm singing in the kitchen with a bowl full of chicken...." my kitchen is never that happy.
I regress. I'm going back.. and feel pretty lucky about it.
I decided last minute to attend workshop that my photographer friend jonathan canlas is having. I get to shoot film for a whole week and eat delicious food and talk shop with a bunch of photo nerds like myself. I am so excited to shoot some stuff for ME and just fung shui myself back into the reasons why I first started taking photographs.
jonathan posted a little welcome to me here on his 'film is not dead' blog, along with this photo he took from one of my best girls weddings, mala. (frenchie, shown with me).
thanks jon for inspiring me to jump on board. I can't get to humidity fast enough.
...some sneaky little photos from camp that were hiding on an undeveloped roll! I love surprises!
took a business trip with grant to porterville awhile back....and now find myself packing to move there permanently (metaphorically speaking).
question: should I keep my last name or take his? OR have him take mine, or have us both switch last names?
hard to decide...ALL great options.
this was probably my favorite moment at girls camp. I had them write letters one night, under the stars with my favorite primary song playing "my heavenly father loves me". It was pretty radical.
ps. photo taken w film, hand held with only available light. I know its underexposed and grainy, but I think it just adds...
WE'RE ENGAGED!!!
we are thrilled, giddy, excited, grateful and CRAZY about each other...so if some of the pictures shown below look a little "smoochy smoochy", get over it! we're in love and don't care who knows it!!
It happened last night, under a full moon, at the griffith observatory. we came equipped with mexican hot cocoa, expecting a chill, but the strangely the weather was super warm. I love the observatory and the setting was more than perfect. we looked at the stars and the city lights and like always, took some pictures of us gazing at the stars and being generally awesome and then before I knew it he was down on one knee, a ring was on my finger and I was shouting YES!
then we made the obvious choice...back to my place to rock it out on the tramp.
there are a lot of "deep throat" pictures, due to our out of control state and a lot of "deep throat" kissing due to our out of control state (sorry mom).
looks like the stars are aligning. maybe there are happy endings...
I know I am posting these MONTHS late. I think I needed time...
I've never had a baby so this is just a guess, but I'm thinking the reason I waited to revisit camp was a little like why you wait between having babies. so you have a baby and as awesome as it must be, it's probably a little hard right? (except for my sister in law who says going to the dentist is worse). but then by some force of divine design you kind of forget how hard it really was, and you start thinking...maybe I want another one.
ya, being in charge of girls camp is a lot like that. I needed time to forget and now all the memories are great!..well.......maybe I need a few more months.
I miss all the girls and the amazing leaders! there is nothing like bonding with a little dirt and grime. being outside most of the day, hearing the bugs at night and seeing the stars before you sleep. hmmmmmm. the food tastes better, you sleep sounder and being dirty just feels good.
here's to being "steadfast and immovable". walk tall ladies.
I am thinking of doing something like this...
..but my hair may be too thick. I will need major thinning. shep work your magic!!
(photos courtesy of urbanoutfitters.com)
as far as my little girl mind can remember my grandma thurston has crushed hard on elvis. I grew up having sleepovers in her bedroom with my mattress on the floor watching blue hawaii. I, along with my cousins, proceeded to buy her elvis lunch boxes, elvis mugs, elvis calendars, elvis clocks, elvis anything!! man it was and is cool to have a grandma who was not afraid of a little hip shaking and rock n roll.
kate and I have spent the last week with her and grandpa steve in kauai. she grew up on oahu and has always been my island grandma. believe it or not this was my FIRST time with her in hawaii. I always imagined her as a teenager in hawaii surfing and lounging around eating papayas......this vacation did not disappoint.
so here is a little video dedicated to gram.
elvis and hawaii will always remind me of my wild, skip bo playing, island grandma!
I get to see these little tikes in just a few days. I wished we lived closer to each other. It's hard to only see them once a month, once every two months. with so much time not together, how will I keep my "favorite aunt" status?... I'm thinking gum. lots of gum.
I don't really say enough how much I appreciate all of my loyal blog supporters.
I appreciate you.
with gadgets and wizets and whatchamacallits, internet marketing is hands down the most valuable tool artists have to share and I am grateful for everyone who has believed in my work and ideas enough to trust me with their time.
I love photography and sometimes I have to pinch myself that I get to call it my career.
so keep looking! keep coming! keep supporting! and tell others about me so I can keep doing what I love to do most, create.
xxoo,
rachel
I go from the aloha state to the beehive state and back to the great state of california on the 12th. you can reach me by phone and email. mahalo.
look closely....
details of my henriksen family cabin up millcreek canyon to go with yesterdays photos of my grandma being awesome at the cabin.