Labor Day Weekend Trip

Imagine: Arriving in Las Vegas at midnight after a full Friday of work, exploring until 5am, hitting the road at 10am, Seeing the Grand Canyon and horseback riding in Monument Valley, camping both nights, and stopping to do hikes and sightsee the whole drive home to LA on Monday. We were TIRED, but we were so HAPPY that we both have a friend so willing to explore that they’d give up precious sleep over a holiday weekend and survive on pre-bottled cold brew.

This is the quick iphone snapshot version of our trip:

Photoshoot with Olivia Koterska

I am so excited to show this collaboration with the very talented Olivia! It’s the best feeling to have a friend to bounce ideas off of and create together. Here are the photos she took of me at at Vasquez Rocks Park outside of Los Angeles. You can find her instagram at @oliviabop , and check out the post below to see what I took of her!

Vasquez Rocks Shoot With Olivia

Here are some photos from a recent shoot with Olivia (@oliviabop)! We trekked all the way to Vasquez Rocks Nature Center (and if you haven’t been then I highly recommend) and afterwards got in-n-out at a random rest stop in the desert so yeah, I’d say this was a great shoot.

Desert Shoot: Before & After

Here’s a before and after of my latest shoot with Laura! I wanted to make the harsh yellows and greens softer so her dress and hair would stand out as being almost silky and rich against the bleached ground.

AFTER:

BEFORE:

Turquoise Place Polaroids: A New Process

I’d been wanting to share these polaroids from my trip to the beach back in August, but didn’t want to do the same boring grid. So, I let photoshop decide how to fill the spaces in its content-aware mode and got a more unique and abstract approach to the average square format. I think I’ll keep playing with this in the future!

Water Shoot Collab!

Danielle and I met again with about 7 miscellaneous containers filled with water (whatever I could find in my house-including a nutribullet) and a camera and this is what happened! 

Photos by Danielle J Parker

A Brave New World

In the past month and a half I have:

• graduated college
• was a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding in Sacramento
• spent a week in Los Angeles
• celebrated my 22nd birthday
• went to the beach
• visited my family in Mobile
• spent some needed down time with the people that make me feel loved

Now, onto the process of job applications and getting back into the swing of things!

Here are some instants I snapped along the way:

Wildflower Shoot with Ramsey

Back in late January I noticed an unopened message in my instagram dms with the basic ask of "I'd love to shoot sometime!" Then, I noticed it was from a whole year ago. I freaked out, since I'd wanted to shoot with Ramsey since I'd first ever seen her work, but instagram apparently hides  messages in a separate inbox from people you don't follow (I still have no idea why I wasn't following her.) But anyway...

We met up and I got to lie in a random field of wildflowers while she captured it all on what she calls "drug store film," or Fuji 200, that produces excellent images. 

I'll update this post with images as they come in, but for now you can enjoy this iPhone picture I quickly snagged of her as a plane flew right over our heads! (I squealed like a child.)

You check out more of her work at http://www.ramseygriffin.com and on instagram @rramsey

Photoshoot with Danielle Parker

I met up with Danielle Parker for our second shoot ever recently, and I can't speak highly enough of her. Working with Danielle is great because, although I model for her, we both approach the shoot together as photographers. Another successful shoot in the books--hopefully another collaboration in the future to come!

Check out more of her work at http://daniellejparkerphotography.com and on instagram @daniellejparkerphotography

Photos with Momo

This past February, I had the privilege to shoot with a childhood friend of mine: Momo Ohta (@angelapeachy) She lived next to my first home in Mobile, Alabama and we were thick as thieves until I had to move away. Several years later, the explosion of social media happened, and we reconnected after almost fourteen years. Turns out, she is also pursuing a career as a photographer, and travels to fashion weeks around the world. I can't praise her enough for the talent she's become and the friend she remains to be. It was like a day hadn't passed by. People like that are rare - keep them close by!

Here are some shots she captured of me and some I captured of her: