The Valley

To have friends to sit in a squished up car with, who make the detour for better coffee, who's group texts come through by the dozen and make me snortlaugh, who will meet to plan menus for a 48 hour getaway with the understanding that every meal will be an event in and of itself, who go out and dive for fresh lobster whilst the ocean is still close, who will get muddy riding BMX's, climb trees, pick fruit, go canoeing, swim in our underwear, skip stones and look for fish. These are the kind of friends I have! Who understand that cameras are part of the fun, who know when to look into the light or ignore me completely, who dance on the table, up the wall and on the floor. Who don't think it's funny to bring your own kettle, grinder and beans or butter & salt. The kind of friends you can go away with on a Wednesday night. Who notice the way the sun moves and are happy to take solo expeditions and return full of stories and energy to give & share. What a magical time we had.

Photos: Rachel Kara in Kangaroo Valley with a Canon 1V, processed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab 

A study on oranges

 Photos: Rachel Kara in Kangaroo Valley with a Canon 1V, processed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab 

this season

Things I like this winter;

Beanies, every kind of soup, fresh produce, going to bed early, down jackets, down doonas, down in general, the pork sandwich from West Juliette, classical music that helps me concentrate, my future-husbands cooking, being productive, taking photos, socks, staring at the stars above my house, girl talk, the whole 2 metres of my I Love Mr Mittens sailor scarf, lying in bed with Nanna and her hot water bottle, jeans every.single.day, new ceramics from Jengalla, learning about coffee, drinking a little more coffee,  good people being pregnant, designing a wedding dress, Cronulla to Potts Point purely for Room 10, using Pinterest sporadically, HRY 4 days a week, starting the day with tea, escaping to the tropics, people who love what they do.

Things I dislike this winter;

The cold. 

Photo: Jennifer Gilmore for I Love Mr Mittens by Rachel Kara

ps. congrats to Jess & Kath, your ILMM goods will be in the post this week! x

pps. I want to know what's on your list slash some survival techniques for the non-cold climate inclined

Escape

"Imagine if you could travel to the bottom of the world, to total serene paradise, with ten of your friends for a week and just drive around the south island, listening to flying nun tunes, eating wild apples off the side of the road, sleeping in the middle of nowhere, visiting towns with population of four people, driving through endless country roads, passing magical cliffs over and over again, getting lost – and that was your job.Our first day of shooting started with running through sports fields in the mist, like a scene from Virgin Suicides, Anja jumping around like a kid who ate too much candy, on the way to travel up hundreds of metres above land in gondolas. When we reached the top it really was like we were at the end of the world, I can’t even think of words to explain what we could see and where we were, so I won’t try..."  Zara Mirkin for Russh

It's one of those campaigns, those journeys, collaborations, moments, whatever you want to say it is, that just falls together so perfectly and sits a little deeper than simply what your eyes see. 

It has given me a renewed sense of urgency to get to New Zealand and explore their landscape discover my own serene paradise that Zara speaks of.

Photographically - it's perfection. I remember watching Tim Barber on Camera Bag TV and wanting to see more but failing to follow through. Thankfully Glassons prompted the reitroduction and I am having a good ol time devouring his archived work. Jessica Ann Strother for Asos a definite highlight. 

If you hadn't noticed - Glassons is quickly becoming a thing. Catch up here

Photos: campaign by Tim Barber, behind the scenes by Zara Mirkin