midnight sun

dress: amazon // shirt: mom's closet // denim shirt: ebay // tights/socks: forever 21 // shoes: target





These might be my favorite outfit photos to date. There's just something about the light and the dress contrasting the dark background and the framing of the tree that I really love. Summer is just about over here in Alaska though, it's been rainy for the past few days and it's starting to be a bit chilly outside. I think the thing I don't like about change is the moment right before it, when suddenly you're unsure of whether you really want it to happen or not. Fall is forever my favorite season because I love layering and being cozy under warm coats and mittens, and up until, well, today, I was excited for fall. But now, I'm thinking, "Can't this warm weather just last a liiiittle bit longer?" Of course once fall actually comes around, I'll be excited for it, but it's that moment before that's the hardest. Regardless though, it's still summer in Oregon, so I'll be able to experience some warmth for at least another month whenever I move back!





Well, it's the start of my last full week in Alaska. Tomorrow is my last day of my internship, and then I have a week of "summer vacation". It's funny though, in the past three weeks, I've gotten three client projects, so I'll actually be busy with my own photography businessy stuff. I'm certainly not complaining about the time crunch though! I absolutely love taking pictures for people and I'm excited to be busy with client work.




Also, I've always wanted to wear two bows in my hair like this, but never did it because I was afraid people would think it looked ridiculous. But then I remembered, "I don't care what other people think!" and put them in my hair and loved every moment of it.
Wear what you want, people! Be confident!



Hope you have a great week!

p.s. Modcloth is having their huge end of summer sale right now. Be sure to check it out!

apartment wishlist // the living room

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It's on to the living room for this week's apartment wishlist! I have a feeling we will be spending the most amount of time in the living room, so it's important that it looks very cute and welcoming. In rainy Oregon, it will be important that we all have a place to hang our coats when we first come in, so this coat hanger from UO would be perfect. My friends and I are planning a huge IKEA run when we all get back together (my wallet is begging for mercy already), and I've been eyeing this bookshelf for a while. I already have a ton of books that I've acquired in Oregon, and I would love to properly display them. Speaking of making the living room more welcoming, this "apartment sweet apartment" doormat is literally perfect. Someone please buy this for me because it's so cute! this and that pillow look like they are a match made in heaven. I don't know what color couch we will have, so these bright, fun pillows may or may not go with a nasty college couch. Perhaps I should also search for a couch cover? And since we probably won't be able to paint the walls either, these butterfly wall decals are every college person's dreams. Also this photo hanger. We love printing out photos from our adventures together, and it would be so fun to have them all hanging in the common area. (I wonder how easy it would be to diy this?) And going off the colorful theme in the pillows, this rug practically has my name written all over it. In a perfect world, we would have a nice white couch, which would make this rug pop even more. Oooh I can picture it now ... Our freshman year of college, we all had white boards on our doors, so we could write each other notes. This noteboard from Modcloth would certainly keep that tradition alive! As for this road rug? Do I even have to explain myself. I want this because of reasons. Also it reminds me of when I used to play hotwheels with my little brothers, and I bet everyone would get a kick out of us having on of these. But back in the world of adults, we'll probably need a coffee table such as this one. So that our cars will have a real mountain to jump off of, obviously.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

film friday (on saturday): the great pacific

The Great Pacific from Lauren Parker on Vimeo.

Here's a new video I made for this installment of film friday (on saturday)! A couple weekends ago I went backpacking, and this is the motion result of it. I have yet to edit and process the photos I took on this trip, but they are at the bottom of my to-do list as I actually have a bit of client work to do first (finally!). But for now, enjoy this little video. (Also, I must apologize for the dust spots ... they're really annoying me too. I need to get my sensor cleaned, but I'll have to wait until I get back to Oregon (and have money to spare) so that I can do it.

This is what I wrote when I first got back from the trip:

"I wish I could just be back on that perfect beach, away from the internet and competition and comparison and complicated life, away from all the people who live perfect lives, doing things I wish I could do and having things I wish I could have and being people I wish I could be, because on that beach, it was just me, my camera bag covered with sea spray, my wet, wind tangled hair in my face, and the entire Pacific ocean on my doorstep. I didn't have to worry about being the best or being the most outgoing or competitive, or having the most exciting life, all I had to worry about was shooting my film at correct exposure and finding the perfect seashell or the perfect swell of wave to capture on camera.

Sometimes I hate Alaska because of its seclusion from the world. I can't always go to cool photo or blogger meetups or see fireworks on the fourth of July or have perfect cell phone reception. There's always the option of running into bears while I take pictures, shipping costs just as much as products do, and some people do not understand how I can love eating fish so much (people actually don't like to eat fish? That's very odd to me).

But they say that Northwest is best, and Alaska is the most Northwest of them all. Despite what anyone else says, Alaska is literally the. most. beautiful. place. on. this. planet. Hands down. I don't care who you are. Alaska is as close to perfection as you will ever get. I can spend my entire life here and I won't even begin to make substantial thumb tack marks on the map. All I want in life is to explore this world, to explore every nook and cranny and meet all the people that walk upon it and suffer through the weather and hardships ... and then I want a beautiful home nestled in the mountains to return to, where I can lay down in a warm bed next to a man who loves me and will hoist the masts with me. But I think I'll start with my beautiful backyard of the most northwest of them all, because even in my hometown (as in, the place I'm currently living, since I never lived in my actual hometown for more than a few months) there are still places to be explored.

But man, take me back to that beach."

This is just one of many adventures.

I hope you have a marvelous weekend.

pajama day

pants/belt: target // shirt/boots: forever 21





Remember that one special week every year in elementary school, where kids could dress up for themed days and have contests for the best costumes? Oh yes, spirit week was probably my favorite week of the entire year, and you could guarantee I went all out. I think my favorite day of all was senior citizen day (that particular photo was taken in 2011. And yes, I have been a senior citizen many times. I've got this old person stuff down).





One of my other favorite days was pajama day, these pants are so comfortable that they doubled as my pajama pants. Hehe. I normally would never in a million years wear pants like this because I'm not comfortable wearing a loose cut, but they were only $10 (which was part of my 'back to school' clothing fund) and they also came with this belt (I always feel like I'm cheating the system when that happens), so I thought, "What the heck?" and got them. For this outfit, I paired them with something easy, my grey sweater. Two pajama-esque items? You can guarantee I was all for that. Of course, no one in my family liked my outfit, but I felt pretty awesome wearing it so that's all that matters. It will be fun coming up with other things to wear with this. I'm thinking maybe a white lace shirt, or even and orange or yellow shirt.



I hope you have a wonderful and safe Friday! What would you pair these pants with?

come out to sea

shoes: payless // everything else: forever 21 // photos taken by Matt




Ho hum. I hate wearing clothes that come from the same store (for no good reason either), but it couldn't be helped. I allotted some spending money for some back-to-school outfits, so the shirt, belt, and hat were part of that purchase. I got them all for $14 though, so I'm happy! I wanted to recreate this outfit that I pinned onto my outfit inspiration board, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! This shirt is now the closest thing I have to a striped shirt, so I'm already thinking up a ton of ways to style it. The hat I bought because I wanted one that I didn't have to bobby pin to my head so as not to fall off, like I had to do for my other hat. Random fact, I used to think that I looked awful in hats, and I was always so sad because I thought hats were the cutest thing. But then around my sophomore year of high school I thought, "Who cares if it doesn't look good? I want to wear hats!" And so I did. And now I love wearing hats.





Speaking of high school, you're looking at my au naturel hair. When I was a little kid, I used to have this super long, blond hair that curled into ringlets. Over the years it's darkened (obviously), but in an effort to reinvent myself for junior high (oh how I do not miss those years) I chopped off a lot of my hair and my ringlets have never grown back. From then on I straightened my hair because it was always short and did crazy things and that was the only way I knew to tame it, and more recently I braided my hair to get my natural waves managed. Well, my hair is finally starting to get long enough that it doesn't do (too many) weird things when it dries naturally. Now my already easy hair routine will become even easier, with me having to do literally nothing to my hair.




Wait, it's already Thursday? Where has the week gone? Hope you have a great rest of the week!

eye of the camera // 2

A long time ago I uploaded a post of various photos of me behind the camera. That was over a year ago, and more people have caught me in this state. I thought it would be fun to continue the series and post some more interesting (if not embarrassing) photos of myself being ridiculous behind the camera.



These two are probably the most ridiculous of them all. My friend Aly and I like to do this thing where we go to random stores and act like idiots and take pictures of everything. We haven't been able to do it this summer because we've both been working, so it was fun to look back on some of our shenanigans. I think me posing with an iron man mask, while holding a pair of shoes with a fan in the background describes my life perfectly, haha. The second photo my friend Megan took when she visited me here in Alaska. I took her to the zoo and was pretending to be part of the wildlife for this photo. I succeeded.



This photo my friend Jenna took, way back in September of last year. It was the beginning of school and none of my friends really knew each other that well, so going to the beach was the perfect way to get to know each other. As you can see, we were all very sleepy.



Also in September, I got the chance to hang out with some really awesome photographers at Cannon beach. Shane Black took this one of me toting all my props across the water and being generally starstruck.



Both of these my friend Jenna took, once when we went exploring in an abandoned train station, and another time when we visited a cemetery for a photoshoot. Love exploring Oregon with her! We certainly found ourselves in a lot of adventures.



This photo doesn't show my camera specifically, but I was holding it and this was a good day. I got to meet two photographers, Sarah and Grace (Grace took this photo), and it was so much fun learning from them!



These two photos my mom took of me. This was over spring break, when I drove about two hours out from my area to shoot some film landscape photos for a big art project for school (which I just realized I never actually posted the results from ... whoops! here is a digital photo I shot though.) It was so cold this day and my fingers were completely numb by the end from having to change to different colored filters while shooting, but it was more than worth it (random fact, I got an 85% on the project ... because he thought I could do better and have more extreme horizons ... big major sigh).



My boyfriend Matt took this photo about a month ago, while I was shooting a panorama of the clouds. It was one of the coolest sites I've ever seen.



This last photo my mom took while we were on our fishing trip. I think the waterfall photo was the one I was shooting at that moment. I love just being able to shoot photos of my beautiful state. It's a pretty fantastic place.

I hope you all have a great day! What's one of the craziest places/situations you've shot in?

Hug me!

cardigan: gift // shirt: boyfriend // pants: target // gloves/jacket: forever 21 (old)




Huzzah! I have a new fun t-shirt! Matt let me keep this old shirt of his since he never wore it (hehehe I love boyfriend shirts). It seems like I've been on this weird pink kick this summer, as I've seemed to acquire several pink items these past few months. Pink isn't one of my most favorite colors, though it is just fine, but it's just funny to me that I have so many pink items now and not that many items (only two that I can think of) in my favorite color, which is green. (Light olive green to the exact.) For one thing, I generally don't find that many green items in a department store. For another, I don't shop at department stores that much. For a third, usually green items at the thrift store (it seems to me) are below average in looks and quality. Has anyone else noticed that? Or am I just insane? I'm probably insane.




For the above photo, I was actually looking at my dad, who was making funny faces at me through the window. And then he decided to come outside and join in on the action! I'm glad my parents have come to a point where they no longer question what the heck I'm doing in the front yard nearly everyday. They probably still think I'm crazy, but the first step is admitting it, so they are well on their way. (You guys will miss me when I'm at college. ;) )




I hope you all have a wonderful day!

The 48 United States

dress/shoes: target // cardigan: forever 21 (?) // shirt: thrifted // earrings: diy





Man, it has been so hot this summer. It's weird for me to type this, but I'm pretty sure we only had like two weeks total of clouds/rain (buuut today it's raining, so I guess I didn't knock on wood fast enough. Sorry guys ...). Apparently some places here have broken the record for high temperatures, which shouldn't be a surprise anymore. I think this is the third year in a row Alaska has broken some sort of weather temperature, and it makes me even more proud of being a resident of this state. So many people I know talk about how much they hate Alaska and want to get out of it as soon as they graduate high school and it makes me sad. Even though I know where they're coming from, what with Alaska being so secluded (I mean really, we're never included in any of the maps of the United States!) and with Alaskan people just having a different lifestyle from much of the world, (and probably the 7+ months of winter has something to do with it), it's still sad when they're too excited to leave that they don't appreciate how great this place really is. I used to be the same way though, I couldn't wait to get out and explore the world. I still can't wait to explore the world, but I'll always want to come back to this beautiful place.






Hope you have a wonderful week!

apartment wishlist // the bathroom

// the kitchen //

Since I currently do not have a cellular device and can't continue "my week in instagram" every Sunday for the time being, instead I'll continue my apartment wishlist! This semester in school, I'll be living in an on campus apartment with five beautiful and amazing girls, and I'm incredibly excited to make this little space our home for the next year.

For the bathroom, it of course will have to be nautical themed. No question about it. Starting off, that octopus art print is amazing and would be perfect to go on perhaps the wall above our towel hangers. Since I'll be sharing with five people, so shower caddies such as these two from UO and Modcloth would be perfect for everyone's shower products. I'm all for bringing the outdoors inside, and these little boxcar planters are going to look so cute on top of the commode or maybe even lining the tub! Even though the hair care set is geared towards guys, I kind of really want it for myself. I've been cutting my own hair since eighth grade, but have been using my scrapbooking scissors the entire time. Think maybe I'm ready for an upgrade? In keeping with that nautical theme, it's only appropriate to have a cute whale chilling out in the tub and that aaaawesome shower curtain. Now I will never want to leave the shower because I'll think I'm actually in the ocean!

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death of the white lace cardigan

finding your passions


monochrome


holy moly me oh my!

While packing for home for the summer, I had to downsize my wardrobe, and my beloved white lace cardigan was one of the items that had to be left behind. It had started to get yellow stains from where I folded it, and the edges were getting frayed, so with a tear in my eye I had to say goodbye. This post is a tribute to the cardigan. It's not often I get rid of clothes, but all of my items that survived my style epiphanies (ie Lauren can actually dress fashionably and not wear t-shirts all the time) are very quickly dying off. I'll have to do another closet sweep this summer for items I don't really wear anymore, since this whole dressing nice thing is still pretty new to me. I want to purchase more versatile pieces instead of the weird statement pieces that I wear one time and then never wear again, so this summer will be an effort to begin that by building room in my closet.

I've always loved remixing posts from other bloggers, and want to do it more often. Perhaps not a weekly feature just yet, but I wanted to post this one before the photos got too dated.

This cardigan was one of the first things I bought that I thought was considered "stylish" and I wore it all the time, even before I started blogging, hence some of these never-before-seen photos. It shall be missed.

it's all about the light // lighting tips

Today I'm guest blogging over at the etailPR blog, giving you guys some tips on how to shoot outfit photos in any kind of light! Be sure to check it out and leave the people of etailPR some love for letting me guest blog.

Have a marvelous day!

film friday: the love competiton

Matt sent me this video to watch several months ago, and it's still such an adorable and interesting video. I'm sure my hopeless romantics and science-loving friends will find this fascinating!