buffalo bill vs. dracula

j. arthur purrington in all his creepy glory...

jared's outtakes

an hour late

yes, she was. an hour late to her ceremony..BUT she showed and the wedding was beautiful.

stay tuned for their wedding photo story.

one year ago..

(photo courtsey of shaun)

well, almost a year ago. last year on thanksgiving day gfunk and I jumped on a plane(s) and flew to peru. we hiked the inca trail to manchu picchu and did it with some pretty hardcore friends. thanks mikell for planning the whole thing and thank you porters for all of the coca tea.

off to texas this year for the grateful day. not quite the same as cusco but texas will be full of family so it will be an adventure in its own right!

face film

I just got back my processed film from the film is not dead workshop and am so excited looking through the images. It was a great week with some great photographers shooting side by side....so I thought it only fitting to showcase some of those photographer faces first in what I'm sure will be MANY hawaii posts to come.

jon making the most NORMAL face I ever saw him make (thanks again and again for such an amazing week...I can still hear your shooting "wooOOooo" in my head).
natalie is SO full of energy and has 3 amazing boys and 1 amazing husband that match her energy. how does she do it all?! quite the inspiration.
leilani spent many years living in laie and was one of our island experts. I loved her free spirit and morning walks along the beach.
tracee was the bombshell photographer and mother of 2. thank you for all your advice on child rearing and motherhood. you took away some of my fears and actually helped me feel a little bit of excitement. not sure about your "baby a year" plan, but we'll see how desperate I get!

doble quinceanera

(invite design by jp)

grant n' friends threw a surprise party for me on friday. how thoughtful!! I loved it!

we bowled, took out 30yrs of pent up aggression on a couple of awesome pinatas and were serenaded by jenny b.

because of friday, this birthday was easier to bear....actually quite easy. I was happy and content with my old, old age. thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and everyone else who thought it in their hearts.

hasta luego a los anos veinte.

jenny & baby battlestar

introducing my soon to be sister in law, with darren making a guest appearance (g's brother) and the real show stopper, little baby bump! our very own baby battlestar! my cute cuddly, mad over his aunt rachel, soon to be nephew!

photographing and looking at these images truly remind me how blessed I am to be adding these people to my life.

jenny has been such a positive influence on me this past year and a half. she is one of the most Christ like people I know. so forgiving. so generous. so accepting. she is a magnificent mother, wife, woman and sister. her smile makes me smile and her love helps me feel welcomed into her and her family's life. I love darren for being so kind to me and for showing his desire to be close to family. I love chasen for showing so much inner strength amidst life's challenges. I love jori for tenderly letting me know I'm needed. it wasn't long after grant and I started dating seriously that jori said to me "I hope you and grant are always together", when I asked her why, she responded, "because I don't want to lose you". is there a better compliment coming from a child? I love tani for her energy, personality and bright spirit. AND I love baby battlestar. I look forward to him making messes, screaming all day long, peeing on everything in sight and me still melting every time when he looks at me with his perfect little face.

jenny, thanks for adding so much beauty to my life. I love you.

on the web

I shot a wedding in washington dc, a few years back and the sister of the groom had just started getting into photography. since then we have chatted a few times about the biz and she recently has started a photographer directory and featured me on it! how great! take a look:

http://web.me.com/rachaeloborn/directoryofphotographers/T.html

thanks rachael! I am honored. plus you have a really great name..minus one "a".

disney criminal

last night grant and I went to disneyland for 1 hour. our passes expire on monday and we were down in the area so we popped by for the last hour the park was open. In the short hour we were there we rode big thunder mountain, haunted mansion and pirates of the caribbean and were then escorted out of the park by security. yep. escorted by security.

The whole thing was pretty ridiculous but pretty rad all at the same time. it involved us having our own boat on pirates (because it was 10mins before closing). they sat us in the middle row of the boat and half way through the ride we decided we wanted to move up a row..or two. yes, we knew it would be breaking a rule to jump seats during the ride, but we waited till it was practically stationary and no one was with us and we follow the rules way to much. so we jumped up a row. we thought we had outsmarted them and done it in the darkest spot (are their cameras infrared?). after we had done it they asked us through muffled speaker voices to move back a row. we did. I thought it was over after that, but as the ride ended the president of disneyland rules (or so it seemed) and a security officer were waiting for us. they threatened to take our season passes away. we acted aloof and innocent. "we only wanted a better seat...". they acted like they were giving us a lucky break by letting us walk this time, BUT next time we won't be so lucky. apparently we now have a tainted record. are they serious?! wow!

It was kind of embarrassing considering how old we are, but maybe it's just what I needed to remind me, with the 3-0 birthday coming upon me, that i'm still young and reckless. definitely made me feel young...maybe too young. I don't think poor grant had ever broken any rules, so as the sweat gathered on his innocent brow I soothed him with the positive, at least we didn't get thrown in disney jail.

oh, disneyland. how unreal can one place be?

ps. you may be more like crazyland but I love your vintage posters!!

the haunted mansion one has always been my favorite! but the tomorrowland ones are pretty amazing.

here's one place you can buy them...but I'm sure there's others.

correction..

..to yesterdays post.

jamie oliver "whazes" not "whizzes".

thank you grant for bringing that mistake to my attention.

I love him

I do miss "naked chef" but "jamie at home" is SO good. makes me want a garden something awful. nothing is more exciting that when he whizzes stuff up. I could watch him whiz all day.

watch him on the food network saturday mornings (or tivo and watch him over and over).

white family- laguna beach

this family is seriously awesome.

I photographed their wedding almost exactly a year ago and even on that very day, when I didn't really know either of them, I felt like I did. they are so gracious, laid back and just all around beautiful people.

their son riley is so adorable. I love the fact that both of his parents practically grew up in the ocean and he doesn't want to come within 20 feet of it. he would scream and point to land any time we even approached foam...but as you can see as long as we were a healthy distance away he was super easy to photograph. by the end of the shoot he had lost all fear (and I dare say may have developed a crush) and was all up in my wide angle's grill...made for some GREAT images.

thanks you guys for yet another fun saturday at the beach house.

(psss. this location is where we will be having our wedding dinner/party....I am seriously freaking out over it. private beach cove, complete with a fire pit inside the beach house!!! thank you so much m & p!! xxoo)