Jane Austen’s Fight Club

I’ve always bragged that my friends are smartest, prettiest and most fashionable, and here is proof.

Emily Card’s (Fanny) brilliant Masterpiece won the grand prize at a small film festival here in LA.

JAFC has been talked about by TIME, NPR and many others around the interwebs.

My favorite lines are, ” Is that your blood?!”…”oh, yes. Some of it”.

Way to go smart, pretty, drop dead brilliant friends!

Baby Bunting

So now I can share all the baby stuff we have bought WAY before a baby was even remotely in the equation…you know…just in case.

When I was in Vancouver shooting for OC Tanner during the Olympics, my good friend Whit talked me into buying this organic cotton bunting. I think I may have been a little high from the lobster roll I had eaten moments before the purchase, but I don’t regret it. Not one bit.

I guess either gender could wear this but it looks more girly to me…OK, I guess we better have a girl!

What do you think? For a boy, girl or both?

Anna + Dave’s Wedding

I become friends with most of the couples I photograph. It just makes sense. You have unusual levels of bonding when you are working with people in stressful situations. As great as weddings are…it’s no surprise to anyone, they can be stressful.

Anna and Dave are a couple I want to hang out with, like, everyday.

I’ve known Dave and his family for years but Anna was a complete surprise. I met her the day I shot their engagements and after 2hrs of first meeting was telling her I loved her. I wanted to cook food, watch reality TV and lay on my bed and cry with her about boys and cellulite. I fell in love.

I guess Dave did too.

Dave sang the most beautiful Josh Radin song to her at the reception;

“I could have saved so much time for us
Had I seen the way to get to where I am today
You waited on me for so long
So now, listen to me say:

I need to be bold
Need to jump in the cold water
Need to grow older with a girl like you
Finally see you are naturally
The one to make it so easy
When you show me the truth
Yeah, I’d rather be with you
Say you want the same thing too
Say you feel the way I do”

It can be quite the journey finding the one you want to work at spending your life with. I feel like once you have you should be entitled to massages and poolside pina coladas for the rest of your life.

I found myself teary eyed trying to photograph that moment. I felt him. I felt her. I know those feelings. I’ve  lived through those feelings.

Thanks for having me out for such an inspiring and touching day. Although I didn’t know it at the time, it was the first wedding I had shot as a Mom!

Under that blanket of amazing wide open Utah sky..June 4th 2010 became unforgettable.

xo-Rachel

Featured on La Belle Bride

Brooke and Luke’s kickin Backyard San Diego wedding was featured on the fabulous La Belle Bride today!!!

This wedding was as awesome and laid back as it looks.

Check out more here, and thanks to La Belle Bride for featuring my work.

Two Hearts.

“We” become 3 in early February.

Can you believe I have a teeny tiny human inside my body?! I didn’t really believe it either until I heard this:

Feels so good to share the news. Now I can really talk about what’s on my mind…NOTHING SOUNDS GOOD TO EAT!

(sorry about the tipsy video…It’s really just for the sound anyway)

Dave + Anna

Dave and Anna’s full wedding story posted next week.

This couple is gorgeous. Like, really.

(Shot on land camera with 690-100pola film)

ps. NO photoshop editing done. This was strait out of the camera and scanned. That sky is for real people.

Meet Holland

I had the pleasure of flying up to San Francisco to photograph this new little human.

Unlike some newborns too sleepy to give me even one look….Holland was modeling like a true professional. Big wide eyes, pouty little lips and of course, playing to the best light.

Oh how I wish this whole crew lived about 6hrs closer. There is something about a new family of three….something that makes you want to stay and stare at them forever.

The Lassen Family

Pretty much in love with these guys.

Salzburg, Austria

It was rainy, wet and cold and we had the city all  to ourselves. Magic.

(Photos taken on the 330 land camera w/ Polaroid 690-100iso film)

Amsterdam

Amsterdam. Oh Amsterdam.

One of the highlights was getting to meet up with Rachel and Marielle for dinner…dear friends I met while traveling in Asia years ago. And thanks to Julie got tons of delicious food recommendations.

Poffertjes, (miniature yeast pancakes caked in butter and powder sugar), were a bit of an obsession. We had a lot of these but found our most delicious AND least expensive ones at the market shown above. Of course we ate frites with pinda sauce and tried many cheeses. We took Julie’s advice and tried the one with mustard seeds which we ate with bread by a canal watching the boats float by.

There is just something about cities with canals…they get me every time.

(All photos taken by me on the 330 land camera w/ Polaroid 690-100iso film…except for the shot of a girl holding lilacs, which granty pantalones takes credit)

Füssen, Bavaria

One of the main reasons I loved Bavaria: wood piles everywhere.

Maybe not a selling point if you prefer trees alive, but with the snow capped mountains in the distance they were something out of a storybook.

This particular woodpile was in the shadow of the Neuschwanstein Castle…which is really just a tourist trap. I was much more interested in the piles of wood.

Kinderdijk, Holland

We would have missed this bike ride completely if it hadn’t been for blog friend Julie’s recommendation. Thank you! It was one of the most relaxing moments of our whole vacation.

(Not seen, Jenni or I….but I have digital proof that we were there. Coming soon.)

Grant looks like he’s a member of a windmill bike gang.

Film is Fuji FP-3000B, shot on my 330 polaroid land camera.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

It was chilly the day we spent in this quaint walled city…but I didn’t mind.

The empty streets were romantic and the muted colors whispered at me.

I had a little bit of a love affair with Bavaria.

(Photos taken on the 330 land camera w/ polaroid 690-100iso film)

Tulips in Holland

We timed our travels perfectly to be able to see the Dutch countryside covered with flowers.
The smell was unreal. Miles and miles of the best smell ever.
We did make a very short visit to the Keukenhof, but found walking through the surrounding bulb fields much more appealing AND free.
The colors of those flower fields were a visual I will never forget.

(Photos taken on the 330 land camera w/ polaroid 690-100iso film)

PS. Happy 4th of July Weekend!!! We are jetting to San Fransisco for a newborn shoot (of a new baby girl named Holland!) and hope to be back in time to see some fireworks at Culver City High School. We love our small town in the middle of a big city.

Bruges

Can we please start looking at my Europe photos already?!

Lets take a little break from weddinglandia and take a look at some of the instant film I shot in April.

Film is Fuji FP-3000B, shot on my 330 polaroid land camera.

Bruges was one of our favorite cites. Better than Brussels…just saying…