taylor: senior photo shoot.

it was taylor's senior photo shoot that helped crowley get the j. shipley epic-location status it had long been striving for. i knew it had potential but never really gave it the chance. until now. it proved itself indeed. and to make the shoot even better, taylor pulled out all the stops to ensure his photos had that epic awesome-ness factor.

so taylor has a minor obsession with sunglasses. he literally has a collection. i love it...mainly because he let me try 'em on. i contemplated pilfering a pair, but then my conscious got the better of me. they are his pride and joy afterall. so of course, we had to get some bad-ass sunnie shots in, among others. needless to say, we had a great time.

crowley love.

sometimes i get too used to what's around me. so much that i look past, over, through and beyond that which is so unique, interesting and often profound within that space. i don't appreciate. or see the potential. or slow down enough to experience. i ignore. skip over. and i become all too comfy.

but when i get some distance from the every-dayness or from the familiar, i gain new clarity and i begin to notice potential and see the situation, place, relationship or person in a new light. i like this process. it's good, and it's healthy. and more often than not, it leads to something even better, and i find myself content, inspired and refreshed. but in order to complete the process, i have to come back. i have to come home. i have to confront it, deal with it, and move forward. such is life. it's hard but it's good. i just know it.

crowley often becomes that thing for me. i forget what i love about it. i blaze past the beauty and head straight for the familiar comforts of home. and i don't push myself out of the proverbial box, outside of those comforts. i drink from that same red cup, i sleep on the same side of my bed, i spend far too much time in the green chair. of course, this is all fine and dandy, but alas, there is more...more to love, more to experience, to notice, to taste and see and of course more to photograph.

this weekend i experienced more of crowley, and i quite liked it. i did a family photo shoot and senior photo shoot there this weekend and i forced myself to shoot in new locations. and to find them on the fly and to notice something different and unique. and i found awesome spots all within five minutes from my house (most of which were on my street). and now i have a deeper appreciation for juniper drive and for crowley. it now has photo-shoot worthy status for me. before it was just normal, boring and uninspired. until i looked at it differently and gave it some love. yay for crowley lake. now, i can't wait to shoot here again. who's next?

*photos from this weekend's photographic wanderings are to come in the next few days... :)

the banta family farm.

so, i am finally catching up on my bloggin'. it has been far too long since i have given my blog love. geesh. sorry about that my faithful readers. so my next post here was from my sister's birthday weekend a little over a month ago.

so, i took a few days off to head home to hang out with Sister and celebrate her 25th birthday. and we had quite a good time i must say. she asked if i would take a few photos of her, e-hem, farm. haha. i call it the banta family farm. they grow delicious things you can eat, raise chickens, and even have a hound-dog to keep watch (problem is that she is just too darn cute). oh, and they have two pet bunnies to boot. i am quite fond of it all. well save for the actual chickens themselves. they are stinky and rude. they attacked me when my sister forced me into their coop to photograph them. i may or may not have squealed like a small child. it happens. they are vicious pecking creatures i tell you.


after my brush with death, we toured the plot of land where the various award-winning (best of show mind you) veggies are grown...








then we picked apricots for the jam we had to make and can.


oh and we even went over to the corn field via Sister's purple golf cart. oh yes. that's how she gets around the farm. haha.


she tried to fight me with her little camera. oh please. i took her down. teach her to have a shoot-out with the likes of me. sucka.


finally, we started on the bold endeavor of creating her award-winning tri-county fair cupcake entry: shark attack. it is tough work on the farm. i quit on my first day soon after the twinkie sharks kept falling over. well that and after i had eaten so many of the decorative candies that i felt ill. it's exhausting i tell you. i was not much help. it was all my sister. although, i can say i did save the life-preserver cupcake from utter failure when i carved a hole in the hole-less doughnut. it resulted in life-preserver perfection if i don't say so myself. i am talented like that.


and of course, i had to get a shot of my sweet lil' tenya. ain't she adorable? okay so, you can achieve this look by going up to her kennel and saying "oh poor tenaya. poor tenayaaaaa." then she gets all moppy and gives you that classic puppy-dawg look. haha. it's hilarious.

colab.

a few weeks ago emily, montana and i took a lil' road trip down to malibu for the day. i had a shoot for sotheby's during the morning, but soon after we were down, we spent a sometime exploring and photographing each other. it was so fun. we are quite a dynamic trio and our collaborative spirits resulted in some shear epic-ness to be sure.


and a few by montana...

a little lake.

i quite like the seasons. perhaps it's because i grew up in the mountains where each one is dramatically different. i like change. especially of the autumn persuasion. it gives me an excuse to drink some apple cider, wear a cardigan, eat soup and sneak away to the home-land for some true autumn-lovin'.

so that is what i did. i went home last week. it is simply splendid to spend some much need time with my fam. i dragged my parents on a lil' chase-the-sun hike one night in search of some fall colors. we failed at the original mission but came across this instead. totally worth it i do declare. and all these photos were taken within a twenty minute window of time mind you. i loved how the lake worked with me and gave me lots of variety so quickly. ripples. perfect stillness. shadows. and reflections. oh little lake how i love you.