alaskan adventures // backpacking trip

Several weekends ago, my brothers and I packed up the bare necessities, hoped on a boat, and backpacked throughout the wilderness of Alaska. This is the digital result of the trip. Sorrynotsorry this post is so long, but considering I took well over 300 photos, narrowing it down to 36 is pretty great. Plus, I shot three rolls of film while I was there as well, so there are even more photos to share with you in the coming months.









The first day we drove down to the ocean, hopped on a boat, and were dropped off in the wilderness. After carrying our packs, we set up camp in the rain, ate dinner from freeze dried packages in the rain, explored the beach in the rain, and fell asleep to rain. In the morning, we woke up to an inch of water in our tent, and while rain was still pouring down, my brother managed to get our door zipper stuck so that we couldn't close the tent. That resulted in many punctured holes and makeshift hinges to keep the rain out, and I learned a few more uses for rubber bands and rocks.
















The second day we hiked to an abandoned military bunker, which was way too cool. I would love to go back there some day with fancy lighting equipment and shoot some high fashion, because even though most of the rooms were pitch black, from the glimpses that the flashlight revealed, it was a really cool location. Afterwards we ate lunch in the lookout tower, above the old missile launcher (or something to that effect). Then we continued hiking to the other side of the mountain, to the southern beach. Completely alone, with just the rain and seagulls and swelling waves. I never wanted to leave.









The final day we traversed along the beach more. I found several interesting shells, including some old crab shells. Then we waited for the water trolley to pick us up again. It was such a fantastic, if not wet, trip (did I mention it was wet? Because I was 100% soaked for at least 48 hours and that part was not very enjoyable).









Before and after the adventure. Success!

Have a beautiful day you guys!

(p.s. I'm in Oregon now, enjoying the hot weather, relaxing before I go back to school next week. Matt got his new car today, I get my new cell phone tomorrow, he and his brother and his dad all explored and ate yummy food, life is pretty good.)

state fair

Sunday I got to go to the state fair with my parents. They're pretty great. We got to go see Bill Cosby, King Tut, and some lumberjacks. I got to eat my weight in gyros, funnel cake, and my favorite, cotton candy. It was super fun getting to hang out with my parents all day, especially since I'm leaving for college in just a few hours! In fact, if you're reading this, chances are I'm in the air right now, sitting next to two awesome guys! (Matt and his brother Ben.) I guess I should finish packing now. My friend Lauren described it perfectly, I guess I'm kind of afraid that my first year was just a dream. I'm not as nervous for school, but I'm also not as excited. To help with this, I watched the videos I made for first and second semester. Those made me pretty excited to see my friends again. :3 They make me smile.

Welp, I've been rambling for far too long. Time to pack some more. Oregon, here I come!

pajama day round two

pants: sister's closet // sweater/belt: forever 21 // shoes: target // button down shirt: boyfriend




"What the heck is Lauren wearing?" you may ask? I asked myself the same question. Never thought I'd see the day when I, Lauren Parker, wore sweatpants. That is what these are called, right? Well, a couple nights ago, I found myself pantsless and in my loft, when I spotted my sister's discarded clothes section (probably put there so she could hide them from our mother). So without thinking, I put them on, and I literally have not taken them off since. They are now officially my pajama pants that I wear during the day. Except, shortly after I took these photos, I discovered a hole in them, so I guess I won't be wearing these in public. Stacey and Clinton are thanking the Lord right now. But you can guarantee that whenever I'm in the privacy of my own home, I will be donning these comfortable things for the rest of eternity.





I hope you have a fabulous day. Tomorrow I'm flying out to Oregon!

apartment wishlist // the bedroom

1//2//3//4//5//6//7//8//9//10

For the final installment of my apartment wishlist series, we head on over to the bedroom, otherwise known as Lauren's sanctuary. This is where I spend the majority of my time during the summer, and even though I won't spend as much time in a bedroom at school, it's still nice to make it your special space. I'll still be sharing with another girl (don't know if I'll keep my roommate or if we will switch things around. But all my friends--including my roommate--are all in the same apartment, so we won't be far from each other!), so, being the person I am, our stuff will have to match somewhat, but these are the things I kind of want to be incorporated into the space.

The first is this pretty rug from IKEA. It reminds me of one of my millions of sketches in various notebooks, random lines and shapes all drawn to make a flower form. So obviously it needs to be under my toes. This rug is also really great, because we all have days where we forget to be awesome. This is just a nice reminder. I'm loving these string photo lights from UO. I can already picture all of my friends' faces in them to greet me every night before I go to bed. That sounds so creepy. In my never-ending love of space, this globe message board is perfect not only to fuel that love, but also to remind me of important meetings throughout the day! And what is earth without the moon? A super fun glow-in-the-dark moon clock is perfect for me to actually know what time it is so I can go to those appointments that I write down. And because you can never have enough lighting, this constellation lamp would look so cute on my desk! Since we can't paint the walls in our apartment, temporary wallpaper is the perfect fix. Well, since I'm basically living in the indie capital of the world, and I love coloring, this indie coloring book should do quite nicely in helping me procrastin--herm, relieve stress? Provide cognitive brain stimulus? But for actual brain function, I'll reach for pens and pencils in this adorable desk organizer. Ugh. They're seriously too cute. And finally to shed some light on the subject, everyone needs an overhead light. I especially love that this one is made of glass.

Well there you have it folks! The last apartment wishlist, which means ... this week I'll be moving! It also means I'll finally get a cell phone again (hellooooo instagram!). I can't wait to show you guys photos of the apartment after we decorate it.

Have a great week!

family portrait session // August 15

Recently I had the privilege of doing a portrait session with these adorable kids. About two years ago I got to take their pictures, and then again last year, and it's so cool to see how much older they're getting (also how much better I've gotten at taking photos). Can't wait to send out prints of these to the family!

film friday: the pixel painter

The Pixel Painter from The Pixel Painter on Vimeo.

If you browse the internet as much as I do, this is already old news. But it is definitely worth bringing up again. "Hal Lasko, better known as Grandpa, worked as a graphic artist back when everything was done by hand. His family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint long after he retired.
Now, Grandpa spends ten hours a day moving pixels around his computer paintings. His work is a blend of pointillism and 8-Bit art.
Meet 98-year-old Hal Lasko, The Pixel Painter. See more work at hallasko.com"

I hope that when I'm 97 years old, I still have a huge passion for art and life and being creative. It just goes to show that you truly are never too young or old to go after your dreams.

who are you?

shirt: Matt // skirt/tights: forever 21 // shoes: thrifted




You know what's really frustrating? Not knowing whether something will be a good investment or not. Do you wait until you get more of something and then upgrade? Or do you upgrade in the hopes that it will get you more of what you need? What I'm talking about in particular is a killer photography portfolio website. Do I spend money and in turn get more clients? Or do I wait to get more clients and then make a good website? Ugh, it's stressing me out right now because I'm trying to cut corners and do my own coding and not spend any money, but so far I haven't been too successful ...




In other news, I've had this skirt since like junior high school. I wasn't very good at measuring because when I received it in the mail, it was much shorter than I anticipated, so I wasn't allowed to wear it to school. I think I only wore it out once. Mini skirts are kind of a gamble though, but I think with some thick tights it works quite nicely! I can see this being a really cute Christmas skirt, to pair with lots of red accessories. Uhoh, now I kind of want it to be Christmas ... whoops!




Peace out my homies! Have a great day!

sweet and low

dress/shirt: mom's closet // cardigan: target // belt/shoes: forever 21 // tights: walmart (?)





Today while casually walking around my kitchen, my little sister, who is about to turn twelve, turned and looked at me straight in the eye. Then my mom exclaimed, "She's as tall as you are, Lauren!" And to my utter horror, my mother was right. My little sister who just started the fifth (?) grade is almost as tall as me. My two little brothers have already surpassed me in size, but now the youngest sibling is ganging up on me too! They all started school again this Monday, so the only thing I got going for me is my freedom from homework and waking up early. Whenever they complain about teachers giving busywork or assignments being due the second day of class, I shout up to them, "Suckaaaaaa!" in a really high pitched voice. That's to show my dominance despite being shadowed by their mere presence. But I love my brothers and sister, so I guess it's not that big of a deal.





Thankfully for me, I still have twelve days before school starts. Or maybe it's more unfortunately since I'm pretty excited for this next semester! I'm already scheming up different adventures and projects--school related and unrelated--to partake in, and seeing all of my friends and fellow students again. Sorry I'm talking about it so much, I'm just excited to go back! However, I will miss my (apparently) tall family and my kitty cat. It's hard to believe that I was starting my freshman year just a year ago--it feels like that was ages into the past. College really does change a person, I guess. I'm certainly not the same person I was a year ago, and that is a very good thing. But before I get all nostalgic and reminiscent on you, I should bid you adieu. Because it's late and I need to sleep (posting to you from 1 am, haha).




Have a marvelous day!

my summer internship

Well, today I am heading out on the very last day of my internship, and needless to say I'm a little sad. It's been such a crazy ride and I'm sad to leave all of my co-workers and my boss!

This summer I had the hugely unique opportunity to intern under Jeff Schultz, who has been the Official Iditarod Photographer since 1982. My two big projects were to redo his two websites and file literally thousands of stock and Iditarod film slides. I also got to accompany him on many photoshoots, by helping with setup as well as modeling for test and stock shots. You Alaska people might be seeing me on a billboard soon. ;)

It was really by chance that I got this internship. I emailed him asking if I could do it, knowing he didn't usually accept interns, but then a few email exchanges later and I got the job! It's been such a fantastic time learning from him and my two fellow (awesome) employees, Trent and Haley, who are both also wonderful people and insanely talented photographers. I learned so much that I've already been able to put into practice, whether that be photoshop techniques (thanks Trent! You have saved me hours of work on multiple occasions), lightroom, the ins and outs of owning your own business, and of course, "fake it till you make it."

That saying has saved me so many times. There were a lot of days I had no idea what I was doing, but somehow everything worked out (not without a million google searches). You can see Jeff's new fancy Iditarod Photos website here and his personal photography page here!

I am so so thankful I had this opportunity and I'll be very sad to say goodbye to everyone today, but I'm also excited to take what I learned and apply it to my own photography.

two and a half years // August 19th

circa January 2011, a month before we started dating

There is this boy.

He puts life and light into my world.
His very presence turns my bad day around.
His ridiculous characters are endearing.
His conversations are enlightening.
His smile is comforting.

There is no such thing as a lazy day with him,
because even if we just sit and talk,
every moment with him is a grand adventure.

He pushes me to be better, go farther, and do better.
He inspires me daily to become a better person, a more daring person, a more confident person.
He teaches me about love and about overcoming.
He teaches me about friendship and trust and companionship.

He shows me the world through a different lens,
and he encourages me to defend my own with everything I have.

He is my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life.
I love you, Matt.