my girls

(photo taken by jon canlas)

after posting about heather the other day I started missing my other 3am friends.

these are some of the girls who were at our temple sealing (some 3am friends not shown). having all of these amazing women by my side that day gave me so much strength.

I can't imagine my life without them.

they're a group of broadway performers, ironman athletes, fashionistas, amazing bakers, inspiring artists and devoted mothers. they're women of conviction, opinion, insight and soul.

they are all my true loves. I feel teary eyed just thinking about it.


clever's new website!

check out my images on clever creatives new site!!

if you click the refresh on the homepage you can see an assortment of shots I took in venice and on abbot kinney. browse the whole site for other photo gems (you might recognize some of the photos from here and here ).

If anyone is interested in having my shoot something similar for their business or advertising endeavor, let me know.

I love bottling the flavors of a fabulous location..and a fabulous agency!

miss O



























it has been said that I have some pretty great friends. what they say is true. I would say I have the tres leches of friends. the ripe mango of friends. the kauai of friends. I have the BEST friends.

I have what I call "3am" friends. you know, the ones you can call at 3am when you REALLY need them. I believe each of us only have a handful of these types of people in our lives. matt and heather are 3am friends. being a 3am friend doesn't come without sacrifice (like phone calls in the middle of the night), but there are perks as well! like my complete devotion and loyalty, as well as the occasional photo shoot.

spending a week in the wind rushing state of oklahoma to be with my newest baby girl and her family was amazing. our week together was planned in 3hrs increments...which usually consisted of eating, playing, sleeping, pooping, eating, playing, sleeping, pooping. for a non scheduled girl like me this household was a machine! I think I can still smell the formula and that sweet little body after bath time. seriously, does anything smell better than post bath baby?

I watched in awe as I saw first hand the transformation of these two into parents. they are naturals! the love, and adoring and cooing and instincts were all there. all and more. I loved matt and heather before but after seeing them as parents I think I love them a little more. such selflessness. such sacrifice. but just like being a 3am friend has it's perks so does being a parent. olive is flawless! happy is an understatement. for sure one of the easiest babies I have ever been around. and can we talk about her plus my camera? um, is it normal for a 7 week old to stare into my lens with big wondering eyes?! NO! but olive, being flawless as she is, stared into my lens the entire week. not kidding. we even tried to get her to look away but her eyes were transfixed. somewhere deep inside I want to believe she will take after her auntie and become my apprentice.....or maybe she is the smartest 7week old in the history of time. whatever the genius, taking photos of her was a complete and total dream.

olive, stop being 17yrs old! never get bigger! make those cooing noises as you fall asleep forever! always look right into your auntie rachel's lens! never stop the kung fu panda moves right before you fall asleep! move closer to me! smoosh smoosh smoosh smoosh!!!!!!!!!!

all my love to my favorite new family.

just a taste...

princess ro and her prince laying in some grass in ohio
(apparently the wedding this saturday was in IOWA and not nebraska..and not ohio).
I really need to get america strait.

such a great weekend. I can't wait to post the whole wedding.

castle unicorn

hello. I am now in omaha nebraska. two states in one week that are first time visits. I like!

you can rub your eyes in disbelief, but it's true. I am shooting a wedding at castle unicorn this saturday. seriously, best name for a venue EVER.

the only word that come to mind for this weekend.......magical.

johnny
























this family is great. we once did polynesian dances at a party together.

I have no doubt they will be wonderful parents to this little dude. not only does mama come from a fairly huge family, where she helped to raise many small kidlins, but they are both natural and instinctual and obviously in love.

congratulations on getting to this chapter in your life. so many surprises around the corner.

give the wee one a squeeze for me. xo.

just a taste...

..of miss O.

words can't describe the obsession I have with this little nugg.

missing her too much. NEVER grow up!!!! NEVER!

your aunt rach loves you!

(get ready for her "blowout" post with 1 million pictures).

julia






























the last few weeks has just been full of belly's and babies. being pregnant is the new black.

this bathing beauty is none other than the fabulous and talented julia. she is a talented graphic designer and photographer (check her work out here), BUT she is also really good at being pregnant and really good at being pregnant in a bikini. can you say AWESOME!?

when we starting talking about taking these photos I couldn't stop envisioning this pool with the chairs and cool mod vibe. I suggested the idea to julia and she was on board...and I was so glad. there are not very many woman that would be up to what I wanted, skin, and lots of it. julia was amazing! perfect for this shoot. exotic, sexy and naturally buoyant.

jan, julia's husband, was so great and accommodating. I barked out orders and he and grant jumped to help. we did have to work around the sweet grumpy man swimming in the pool and the woman in the apartment building who was apparently stressed by the floating pregnant woman. love photo shoot trials. they make me want to get the perfect shot that much more. worked both of those grumps!

julia and jan thank you for the fun. you are both going to be such amazing parents to our little mango. see you at the hospital!!!!! xo.

kris












new mama to be kris wanted a 70's reminiscent prego shoot and I said, "yes, please".

she was soft, sexy and drop dead gorgeous (like every good pregnant woman should be).

we had a great time chasing the setting light and talking about her soon to be baby boy.

what is it about pregnant women? they are the most beautiful creatures. I look at these photos and feel like every image is a mona lisa (not thanks to me, but because of her!) they are all sensuous and mysterious but comforting too. how did she do that!!!!

kris, you were an ideal subject. and now that I know we share some similar annoyances regarding skin irritability I can't wait to hear how the delivery goes. xo.

(ps. this is a surprise for her husband, so if you know him and are reading this, mum's the word.)

hoover dam




t













during our stay in paradise this weekend we took a few hours to tour the hoover dam. worth it!

it was really hot outside (understatement), but it was interesting to learn all the little facts.

for some reason it made me so sad that they had to divert the colorado river from it's original path while building the dam. that river had traveled down path and created that river bed for how long? and we just come in with a bunch of steel and decide to move it? I know it helped in a lot of ways, but I just felt bad for the colorado.

in true form, I wanted to know more facts about the lifestyle of the workers. what did they eat? what were living conditions like? were they happy? did they feel like they were living up to their full potential....you know, the basics. I also was slightly obsessed with finding out how many people died while building the dam. why weren't they telling us this fact? I wanted to know if there were people stuck inside that concrete! finally we had to ask one of the tour guides and the number wasn't very impressive. I can't even remember....30 or 40.

they were about finished building the bridge that will take traffic over the dam. amazing! it was a bunch of concrete hanging over the air. how? HOW? made me think of "the fountainhead" by ayn rand.

thanks to the dam for an interesting and information afternoon.

boulder baby
















thanks again to beana and her family for inviting us. this place is a total dreamboat.

grant and I are trying to relish our weekend getaways while they are still easy to do. life only gets more complicated right?

summertime just makes me happy.

pretty

(images by arthur elgort found here)

I'm generally not drawn towards studio or bw images but when I saw these in vogue a while back I was mesmerized.

I really liked how very common wedding poses are made more editorial with great styling. the exaggerated netting and simple makeup is spot on!

love arthur elgorts photography. check out his dance images. you won't regret.