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This January I was excited to plan a collaborative photoshoot with McKenzi Taylor of Taylored Photo Memories. She and I had met right before Christmas at a show and were inspired to do a lifestyle shoot during a typically quiet time for both of us. I am always a mixture of nervous and excited when working on a new shoot, but I have to say McKenzi made me super comfortable from the start, and I was more excited than  nervous. Planning this project also helped push me to create a new collection earlier than I normally do, and got me back into my creative vibe after the chaos of the Holiday season.

I reached out to some of my favorite local artists and boutiques to put this together, and my hair stylists Kate and Tanya of Atelier by Square salon made the models look gorgeous as always. The wardrobe was provided by Fashion and Fairytales Boutique, located over at the District at Green Valley Ranch, while the gorgeous handmade roll top leather backpack came from Jesse McAllister, who I also met at a local show this holiday season. We borrowed the vintage trunk from Nostalgia Resources (who has almost every vintage prop you can imagine for rent), and the rest of the props came from my home. My husband was super excited that his walking stick made an appearance as well.

Overall, I love how much talent and collaboration exists in our town, and I really felt that as we pulled this shoot together. A huge thank you to all who made it possible.

After a few false starts due to illness and weather, we finally approached the day of the shoot. The day started early in the morning at the salon, then we all packed up into the Outback and drove out to Joshua, CA. About two hours from Las Vegas. Joshua is on the way to Kelso (which is home to my favorite train depot and sand dunes), and a great little pocket of the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness area. We had fun in the car ride, chatting about the backstory of the shoot and all getting to know eachother. I wanted the girls to feel like old friends, and coincidentally, they had been in school together and shared a few mutual friends. I love it when things like that happen!

Overall, we had an amazing day, got some beautiful images, and I left more inspired than ever. In this post, I wanted to show off the story and atmosphere of the day, but I also have to give a shout out to the beautiful detail shots that McKenzi and her assistant, Emma, captured throughout. It isn’t easy to capture the level of depth and character in raw crystal jewelry, but they exceeded my expectations throughout the day. See the story behind the shoot and the edited gallery below:

When your life is an adventure, your jewelry should tell the story.

See the amazing video below: