HERE'S TO LONGING #47

// #47

photography by layli samimi and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

yes, yes ya'll

aww yeah boizzzz!!

i now have a facebook page for Layli Samimi Photography! I just launched it today and am super pumped about it! 

So, if you're on facebook, I'd love a "like" and a share with your buds to pass on the good word! click here to get to my photography facebook page!

So excited to be moving forward. hey yo - i'm lovin' it!

HERE'S TO LONGING #46

// #46

photography by layli samimi and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

three things!

>>this vase is titled "my friends, 1892". so this was before the time of facebook or cell phones or email inboxes or even picasa photo albums of you and your beloveds. this is one woman's vase that has her 50 best friends autographs on it. how darn cool is this?? i want to recreate this today. [found here]

 

>> i just adore this quote by gertrude stein [via]:

>> and then this last one, which is so touching to me, a video about artist sophie blackall who has done an entire book on illustrating ads from the craigslist "missed connections" section. i love that she says she loves people and that she loves to capture them. i find it so sweet and touching. and the art is fantastic, with such a great concept!


Handmade Portraits: Sophie Blackall from Etsy on Vimeo.

we can all always use a laugh till we cry moment.

geeeeeeez, i just about DIED looking at these photos from this winter in israel. i laughed so hard i think i woke up the neighbors.

we had gone to the beach in atlit, israel to go for a walk and to shoot some footage for a birthday video that we made for my mom. that is why she isn't in any of these photos. and obviously, it looks like we got a little sidetracked.

HERE'S TO LONGING #45

// #45

photography by layli samimi and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

melancholia // israel film shots, part IV

i gasped once i got these shots developed. i mean, they are so unusual to me...the darkness, the moodiness of it all, especially in places like the Baha'i Holy Land. i feel like these photos capture what i feel to be a huge surreal-ness to the environment there. most of the photos we see of the Shrines and the Gardens are always so beautifully colorful, so bright and bold and cheerful.

i will always say, as long as i live, that there is something so powerful and HUGE about the world when its grey, and dark and raining. it's like another layer of depth to things at times, it allows people to let down, open up, and take a moment to reflect, or allow themselves to feel those at heavier, harder emotions [which, by the way, are just as valid to feel and express as the light ones, like joy and gratitude ; it's just a balance right], [a dear mentor of mine shared with me this beautiful, totally truthful quote by a physician in the early 1900's, i believe: "if one doth not let the tears fall, the body will find other places to cry"].

some of you might disagree, that walking around with an umbrella in your nice clothes is a drag. i quite like it. it's very good to expose yourself to the elements, and there is some sort of romantic nature about it, some wonder.

most of these shots were taken on a day where it was raining so hard, then it started hailing. we were waiting under the roof of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, to find a clearing in the straight-up-torrential- downpour to walk back to the Pilgrim house. when we found a bit of a clearing, we went for it, even though others were still waiting for the rain and storm to disappear.

call me an alaskan rainforest girl ... that i love my melancholic moods and my stormy skies...call it what you will, but there is so much magic to it, for sure.

i HAVE to go on record and say that this is one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE-EVER PHOTOS. of two of my most treasure people.

do you like being out in the rain and the storm? if so, what is your favorite thing about it?

my birthday weekend.

> side note: how could i, a photographer, not have brought my camera? not quite sure. so all of these are taken with my shoddy camera phone, please excuse me. :D

from my niece, miss bee.

leaving our house to go on surprise getaway

mommy mo: what are you doing? // elsa: decorating for auntie layli's birthday!

miss v. rue

photo was taken for leif & brett

ahhhh my paradise.

my loves.

milo wasn't so sure about the smurf thing.

elsa called me to wish me a happy birthday and told me she was making me cookies. she wasn't lying. #breakmyheart

i had an amazing weekend full of love, support, encouragement, rejuvenation, reflection and FUN.

i am so thankful to be blessed with such a beautiful group of family & friends that are family. 

xoxo.