Carmel Snapshots - Use Your Imagination

 

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."
-Albert Einstein




I took a little walk in Carmel By-the-Sea today after work. Everything was closed and it was sprinkling so it wasn't very long, but I'll go back again soon.

Images:
(1) A new little friend I met sitting in a store window.
(2) One of the many little tucked away spaces in downtown Carmel.
(3) A fence surrounding a restaurant patio.

Snapshots and Polaroids

I have so many exciting projects in the works!

This weekend i have a shoot with the lovely Andrea. We are shooting at the Naval Postgraduate School base, a very classy location, with a very classy theme. Can't wait to post results.

The Spring Florals editorial project has been on hold due to my model being out of town, but we will be getting back to work soon. I'm still inspired for this one, can't wait to put together the final collection.

More coming up to, but I can't tell you about those yet. :)

Photos:
(1) Porch shot as I was leaving the house for work, via the iPhone.
(2) Inspiration comes in the funniest of places.... while unloading the dishwasher :)
(3) A tiny daisy on my jeans.

My 24th Birthday Tea Party

For my 24th birthday, I threw a tea party. I know you would think I was turning 6 (or 64) but I love tea, I love dressing up in pretty dresses, and I love taking pictures. My best girlfriends were invited of course, and we got lucky because the weather was gorgeous! It was an amazing day :)

The invitation...


The spread....






I made the tea sandwiches! A classic cucumber sandwich and lox with onion and chive cream cheese. I took the time to slice off the crusts individually... time consuming, but cute and delicious. You can tell how proud I was by how many pictures I took of them!

The guests....




I took a portrait of each guest... corny? I don't care, they turned out adorable!


The cake....



It was a carrot cake from a local bakery called Layers. It was the best carrot cake I have ever had in my entire life! Loved the Alice in Wonderland tie-in too. And indeed it was my unbirthday, because my real one was a week before. Haha.

Fun.....













Tons of great pictures, this is a small selection. It was so hard to choose! So a special thanks to my friends, again, for making it such a great day. It was so much fun, I might just have to make it an annual thing!

Love,
Rachel

News!

Dear Readers,

I am very excited to announce that there are great things in the works for Rachel Zee Photography and the RendeZvous blog. I can't tell you what they are yet, but I definitely recommend subscribing and checking back often. I am very excited about all of it, and can't wait to share! The more comments and feedback I get, the more encouragement I feel. So Thank You for your support!

Lots of Love,
Rachel

Sunny Afternoons

I thought it was the dreary, rainy, overcast days that were making me lethargic. But with an extra hour of daylight on this sunny day, all I wanted to do was bask in the afternoon light. Maybe I just need more sleep?? lol.

I went through my archives to find photos that fit my mood today. Here they are!







They're all from my trip to LA last fall...
(1) Taken from the bike path next to Santa Monica Pier
(2) LA from the balcony of the Getty
(3) Gorgeous flower vines growing up through metal rods to look like trees in the Getty gardens

More sun all week pleeeeease!!!

Sapphire Skies

The clear blue skies last Wednesday were so nice... I had my roomie snap a few shots of me before I left for work. Just for fun :)

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday! It looks like Spring outside and I'm loving it.

{model: Murphy Moo}

Spring Editorial Teaser

Just a hint of my most current project... model is the gorgeous Melissa Nicole, she is great to work with. We have a lot in common and similar taste, making it easy to capture that idea we have in our minds.

There is much more to come. When the project is completed it will be a full fashion spread. Stay tuned.......

Where the Wild Things Are

I watched Where the Wild Things Are last night and was thoroughly impressed. The story had depth and a strong message, and not just for kids. The theme had much to say about the human condition and our social tendencies... gave me a lot to chew on. Even though the main characters were beastly creatures, they had human voices, which I think was an important touch. It made me think about our human emotions. How in the moment when we feel pain, anger, sadness, etc., reacting with those feelings seems completely justified. When we take a moment to step back however, to think about how we have treated that person, we realize how much we care and love them. It's easy to act purely on emotion and in turn hurt someone; it's part of the human condition. Lucky for us, God gave us the ability to love and forgive one another!

The soft golden light and the lens flares throughout were gorgeous..... super inspiring, especially since I've been waiting for all this rain to go away and craving the sun.....

So all of this AND some beautiful cinematography. A new favorite most definitely!

~Best Friends and Fairytales~

Best friends make great models! The first three photos are my best friend Bonnie. We shot in Point Lobos a couple months ago, and unfortunately it got too dark before we could finish. The book she's holding is an antique book of fairytales that my dad gave me. It's got all the classics in it and I love it! The last ones are my best friends Michelle and Carmen while we were on a hike in Big Sur. I am so blessed to live in a place with beautiful scenery!

Hope you all had a happy weekend! I went to a fashion show last night and had a short little shoot with the lovely Melissa today, will post photos soon. <3

Creativity.

I recently discovered kanyewest.com. If you haven't been there yet, go. The layout of the site is a piece of art in itself and if there is anything truly original anymore, I would consider this to be it.


His post, Creativity, really got me. "I am tormented by the need to create." That quote relates directly to this blog. My feelings of frustration from not finding the perfect outlet to share my creativity was tormenting me. As an artist, it makes you feel like a failure. Like you have so much to offer the world but can't get it out. Those lucky enough to be able to express it through classical mediums such as painting, sculpture, or music, and are lucky enough to be naturally talented at it, have it made. For me, it has taken longer to find what I can work through. Photography and fashion are the closest I have found yet. A blog lets me share my visual and verbal opinions, and right now it is doing the trick.


"The way you dress is an expression of your opinion." Also from the same post. A way I feel, but never put into words. I am never completely myself on days that I don't have time to put an outfit together that expresses the way I feel. Looking back, jobs where a uniform was required made me feel trapped. Some may think it shallow, but how I dress corresponds with how I feel. And I know I'm not the only one. If you are someone who is not effected by what they put on, share your thoughts with me. I'd love to hear another point of view. And just like with voicing your opinion, the way you dress comes with the risk of being judged. I will admit that I hesitate to put on items of clothing for fear of being judged, in the same way that I will keep my opinions to myself on some issues for fear of being judged. Moral of the story: judge less. Appreciate more. We can all feel free to dress how we want. Those who are offended are probably not happy with their outfit choice from the day. Go home and change.

Spring Florals Moodboard

This is the first "moodboard" I have created for a shoot. I absolutely love making them. They help communicate the theme/concept for the shoot so everyone is on the same page. For this one, I went with springy florals, bold stripes, and threw in some neutrals. After putting outfits together, we may take out the stripes and stick with a more delicate look. I am still tying up loose ends, a few accessories missing and we still need a makeup/hair person. But my model, the lovely Melissa, is great and I have a really good feeling about it! Will post a teaser shot right after the shoot of course! :)

RendeZvous: Where it all comes together.

I'm Rachel Zee, and this is the new blog to supplement RachelZeePhotography.com. That site is my portfolio site with information about my business and client proofing. Recently I realized that I needed another outlet for side projects and to showcase my creative process. I'm looking forward to sharing with and inspiring readers, and getting inspiration and feed back from you too!

A little about me:

I am a 23 (24 in a week and a half) year old photographer living in Monterey, California. I like it here, but it definitely lacks the opportunities that a big city provides. This is why graduating from college with a degree in art (in this awful economy) left me with the same job I had while attending college. Not knowing exactly what to do next, I decided to follow my passion: photography. Specifically, fashion photography. If I don't do it now, it will be that much harder after I've found a job that consumes more of my time and energy.

Photography gets me excited. I could sit and look at fashion photographs for hours... maybe even days! I remember the first time I looked at a Vogue magazine. Strangely enough, it wasn't until I was like 19 (I guess I only really paid attention to Seventeen or Cosmo before that point). I was immediately amazed by the glossy perfectness.

I am happiest when I express myself through fashion photography. I think it's something about the combination of clothes and art that gets me, but I really can't explain it. As a kid, I loved my American Girl doll because she had different outfits to mix and match. Paper dolls really excited me too and my parents would buy books of them from the bookstore to cut out and play with. When I got a little older and discovered paper dolls online, that consumed a lot of my time that I should have been doing homework. I guess my love for paper dolls turned into loving to dress myself, and then to dressing others, and then my passion for art led me to start photographing them. Other than these reasons (and the fact that I'm a girl) I can't seem to explain my passion for fashion photography. And I think that's why it is one.