this year in bits. in parts. 2-7 | 365

my whole life is built on bits and in parts. sections of one another.
moments strung like pearls on a string.

xoxo

2 | 52 . 1 | 365

I am plunging in on the 10th day (though not making this a ten on ten). 365.

(and week 2 of 52)

I was trying to find a theme as my boys are very fickle when it comes to being in front of the camera.  It couldn't just be about them. SO I thought maybe I would focus just on b+w photography.

However, as I was taking these photos this morning I realized that focusing on composition, using light and shadow, to convey mood and emotion is perhaps even more important to me.

What creative projects are you working on?

xoxo

on a +365.photography or otherwise.

Diving into a spectacular project seems like the most exciting and thrilling thing maybe day 1.

Then comes the reality.

What special projects do you have for the New Year? What do you think will help you live into them? 

1 | 52

my youngest, bright and blurred.
the imprint of a snow angel on a hillside:
                      a gift to the snow encrusted mountain side from my middle.
my boys, my loves.

xoxo

Devil's Punch Bowl | +365

Living in Los Angeles, but having spent the majority of our lives elsewhere, we often long to see real seasons. That aspect has been rough. However, the week of Christmas tide brought rains and colder weather, desperately needed for our parched lands. But the mountains taunted us as we could see snow upon their peaks so the day after the New Year, we stuffed ourselves into our station wagon (and I say stuffed because my oldest is now 6ft -182.88cm) and set out to a mountain trail that we hoped would provide a bit of a winter scene and a needed respite from the city (and also to avoid all the Los Angelenos heading to the ski resorts). 

The Devils's Punch Bowl, as it is called, did not disappoint. It was gorgeous. An hour and a half from Los Angeles, this gem of a park is within the the Angeles National Forest on the northern slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, near Pearblossom, California. We did the whole hike, all 7.4mi. (11.91km). It was long, but our three billy-goats (a.k.a. my three boys) rocked it, despite the cold and the ice we encountered. My middle and youngest made snow angels (until they got too cold) and even my oldest,felt the tug of nature's childish ways as we spied him writing his name several times in the snow. 

Then, at the end, when we were punch drunk tired and spent, we met two beautiful owls who seemed to make everything feel blessed and perfect. They live at the park's nature center.  Both were raised by humans, so they could not be returned to the wild. It was getting dark and my fingers were close to frozen so none of my photos of this sweet barn owl, named Ruth, came out perfect, but I love her sweet majestic beauty. And one thing I have learned in the past year is that sometimes "technically" flawed photos are just as beautiful as clean crisp ones, so I have included her here as well.  

And finally, can I start (and finish) a 365 project? Or even a 52 week one? I guess I won't ever know unless I try. xoxo

a few faves of 2014

In 2014 I did some stuff. I took A LOT of photos. Here is just a random sampling of some of my favorite things. 

I also crashed both my laptop and my husband's laptop multiple times (I now have two external hard drives). I was at 25 births.

And I met some amazing, amazing, amazing people.  xoxo

we live loudly, and dream ever on

 We live loudly,
dancing with parachutes,
eyes pressed against the plumes of wind
from the billowing sails.

xoxo

places

Out on the freeway as the dust of night stretches her lonely palms across the Los Angeles horizon.

 The windows in my VW wagon are wide open and my left hand, placed slightly ajar out the window, moves up and down in the racing wind along the highway as my right hand steers.  As much as this urban expanse is at times a disruptive blight on a once pristine desert, my heart swells with love for this place I call home.  It is a jumbled chaotic mix of heat and humanity: of palm trees, racing cars and soaring aspirations.  I breath in the cooling night air, tasting the plumes of passing diesel engines and the song of sweaty broken hearts. 

 It makes no sense to love this place, no logic at all, but somehow, I do. 

hope you are well my friends. xo

International Day of the Midwife

International Day of the Midwife

Women everywhere around the world: remember how amazing you are. Labor is a woman's work.
xxoo

P.S. to make a long story short, this is how I have been getting out of the house and out of my head. Photographing births and working as a doula. It has been a long time coming.
 Love how life works and invites things in.
xxoo