seattle- april 25-30

I will be in seattle from saturday april 25, through thursday the 30th.....that's next week people!

I have one shoot lined up but have room for more. If you are interested in booking me for a shoot email me ASAP at rachel@rachelthurston.com. I am have time monday, tues and wednesday so if you are looking for a great mothers day gift idea or just need some rocking images of yourself, email me for rates.

available for portrait or editorial work...or any other crazy ideas you may have.

(no this photo is not upside down)

lets revisit some images from last july when I was there for rob and cori's super awesome wedding.

wedding images here, and city shots here and here oh, and here. phew. that's kind of a lot of links, but it is seattle.

how excited am I for elliot's oyster house?! very! seattle just makes me want to eat and take photos. feels so good. feels so right.

shoot me over an email if you want to meet up for a photo shoot.

easter sunday

the nanny goat making some delicious cinnamon rolls

grant and I hid easter eggs. can you find the one in the lemon tree?

mini tramp, big hit with the little people

grant gave baby wright a little chair to sit on and we covered him in a blanket. he sat there for a long time.

my steph

almost walking!!!

taking photos of tani...I either get this face (upbove) or this side (below).

what a great day. church with grant's parents, then dinner with family and friends. I loved having all (but one) of my nieces and nephews in one place. matt and nikki where also there (no photos to prove..sorry)... I truly feel like they are family too. did I mention there was sunshine and perfect 70 degree weather? I love california.

update time

my website at www.rachelthurston.com was in dire need of a makeover! until the transformation as taken place the site will be down.. BUT the blog will be alive and well so check here daily for recent work and inspiration.

get ready for a new and improved rachelthurston.com!

rivera beach- san celemente, ca

some detail shots of a saturday night evening spent at rivie's.

we had a long day of shooting and ended it perfectly. grant surfed as the sun set and I bundled in a blanket on the sand. I ate strawberries, played with my polaroid camera and worked on tax deductions (the best part of taxes)... all while giving fistpumps to my husband after a good ride.

It was great. the sun and the waves were just what we both needed.

emily & steven's teaser

more images to come from last saturdays san diego wedding.

someone do this

(image seen here, photograph by andrea polito)

colorful confetti send off.....I want to photograph the madness.

matte stephens

(seen here)

I think these would be really great prints for a kids room. I love the warm colors.

bonnet and basket

in honor of easter, here I am.

this is how I remember easter as a child...easter dresses. boy, did I love dresses. there was even a time, after my brother had chopped all of my hair off, that I strictly wore dresses so everybody would know I was a girl. easter dresses usually consisted of a pastel, dropped waist dress, a hat of some sort and gloves.

the finger wag in the first photo was some sort of photo trademark of mine around that age.. and the hat on tilt...wow. dude, the dollar bill in my basket...money in eggs was always a favorite at our house. I would have rather found a quarter in a plastic egg than candy.

thanks mom and dad for making easter memorable.

mom, I think you should probably still buy me easter dresses...BUT only if there are gloves involved.

ps. I love you jesus. I know easter is really about you. this post just happened to be about fashion and money. sorry about that.

waimea bay

on the island of oahu, hawaii.
sometimes I just really miss you hawaii.

rainbow

jon's post today, inspired me to share my version.

photo of heather taken at film is not dead workshop in hawaii.

heather love your "words to live by" project idea! I need to get involved with something like that.

bright white

(via apartment therapy)

I like this bright white kitchen with dark wood accents. is that a tree growing out of the counter? yes please.

my food would taste so much better in this space.

rachael yamagata- LA part 2

rachael totally had "open stage" for her last song. it was pretty radical.
a bunch of die hards shared the stage and sang "reason why". I did think about jumping on there myself once the bridge started and no one remembered the lyrics!...but I did! the photographer was singing her heart out.

conference sunday

tristan getting his first conference foot rub..and loving it!

wright jr. actually asked to have his photo taken. I am madly in love with this two yr old.

faith, doing what she does, performing. I think she has over 500 songs memorized.

crazy girls with their dad.

aunt rachel getting in on some of the love (photo taken by the grant).

I love tristan's face, his hand on his brother and the car shoes.

tay kept sticking her head in the temple fountain. she just needed to "cool" off.

I have the best memories growing up of spending conference sunday with family. we would have a big breakfast, snuggle in our jammies, give each other foot rubs (mom's tradition) and eventually fall asleep....all while listening intently to the words of the prophet. I'll be honest, it was pretty exciting to get to spend church time in pajamas.

my mom would always turn on "the music and the spoken word", sung by the mormon tabernacle choir. she blasted it throughout the house signaling to us that it was time to drag ourselves to the TV. wrapped like mummies in our blankets, because the house was right around arctic levels, we would nestle in together. the body heat and the words we were about to hear were a simply a matter of survival.

this last conference sunday, wright, steph and kidlins came for a visit to the little blue house. It was fantastic!

grant and I made breakfast....scrambled eggs, homefries (with purple potatoes big wright was too freaked out to eat), bacon, frothy banana oj and homemade cinnamon rolls. delicious to the max.

our house is not the biggest, in fact, probably the smallest. I was curious to see how the kids would manage. they did great. I think for the most part they thought they were in a house made for little people like them.

some of my favorite quotes of the day:

"rachel and grant, I really love your house"- taylor
" I just love how many windows there are that you can open up!"- taylor
" were are we going to eat?"- taylor
"grant, how do you even sleep in here? It's so small!"- faith
" I want water"- wright jr.
"I want grape juice"- wright jr.
"I want milk"- wright jr.
" I think I need to stick my head in the water one more time"- taylor
" want to hear a song?"- faith

We half watched and half maintained madness then went for a visit to the LA temple. I loved having them in my home. I am thrilled they love so close to us now. I can't get enough of those wee ones.

one month

(in front of our little blue house)

happy one month anniversary to my brand new husband!

has it only been one month? seems like it's always been this way.

I love trying to stuff ourselves into our miniature house.
I love going to costco with you (even more than when we were just dating)
I love hanging my clothes next to yours
I love waking up every morning for 30days with you breathing out of your mouth next to me
I love people calling you "mr. thurston" and people calling me "mrs. porter"
I love watching shooting star after shooting star with you under the thick sky in boipeba
I love instant oatmeal with you
I love missing you so much when you come home at the end of the day that I just need to smother you
I love you going into the garage so I don't have to
I love going to "grown up" church with you
I love me always asking you if you have the keys
I love that we both know who "patti" is
I love when you say its time to invest in new camera/computer equipment
I love being able to tell when you are tired 20 minutes before you can
I love your ski slope toenail
I love you trying
I love you being so patient with me wanting to be a rockstar
I love cadwell talk
I love getting to go to seattle with you
I love sharing everything
I love you always wanting to pray or have family counsels or fhe
I love that I have my very own boy
I love my husband

happy one month to us. I am so happy.

rachael yamagata- LA, troubadour

shot this concert for IRR on saturday night. I was late so didn't get my "up in her face" spot on the floor....I was too busy making cinnamon rolls.

It's funny really because 5yrs ago if I would have had the chance to photograph one of her concerts I would have been there 3hrs early, sweating in an outfit that would have taken me days to pick out. this concert ended up being memory replacement for me and how it all worked out was really perfect.

I strolled in when I pleased, lucked out with some good vantage points, heard some of my favorite songs including "sunday afternoon" and was accompanied by my husband.

I didn't realize it till I was there but somehow being late because of cinnamon rolls gave me this extra boast of freedom. freedom from the past I guess. this post may confuse some of you who have no idea what I am even talking about, but I think a lot of you can relate to the feeling of "release".

I believe in one capacity or another we are always tied to our past, but there are ways to control your past instead of letting it control you.

my point with all this is I am suppose to be a rock star.

I know in the bottom of my heart that I was made to rock out my emotions in front of an audience of fans. fans= people who get it. after I left the concert I was talking it out and came to the conclusion that love sick song writing is like taking a 8hr conversation about some part of a painful past and letting it reduce on the stove till only the best, most flavorful parts are left. five minutes of what matters. intense communication really gets me. now how to learn to play an instrument and write music?....trust me, with the battleground my heart has survived (public but mostly private), I would make a great rockstar.

"not going to live for you or die for you. won't do anything anymore for you. not going to shed one more tear for you....at least not till sunday afternoon."- rachael yamagata

matt and ananda-part 2

I love the double eye blink in photo 5... like they are both taking a happy little rest.

terreiro de jesus

salvador, brazil

venice/abbot kinney

more shots for clever creative. I love the hanging venice sign.

oliver

shannon's dog /clever creative office mascot. he was the most delicious puppy.

clever creative shoot

at the end of february I had a shoot with the creative design agency, clever creative. their office is located on venice and abbot kinney, so we headed to the streets to get some shots for their soon to be updated website.

the idea of "office shots" can cause a little fear in me as I imagine boring head shots and photos of people sitting behind computers.....but going against the norm, they wanted something "clever and creative" (of course). I was given free reign to shoot exactly how I like.

they were a dream to work with. positive energy oozed out of everyone. I left the shoot thinking seriously about going into graphic design so I could work with them everyday. shannon was professional and laid back , making for the perfect combination of productivity and fun. PLUS when I showed up there was freshly baked homemade bread. what?!

these guys are totally dope.