Birthday Road Trip: Part 2

As part of our Birthday Road Trip chronicle, we bring you part 2 from Feather & Twine:

We were planning to camp at the Grand Canyon campsite (I’m still so sad we weren’t able to), but according to the weather report, it was supposed to be 20 degrees and raining. We had left Tent Rocks late, so we decided to stay in Flagstaff and drive to Grand Canyon the next morning. In addition to that, we left later than we had meant to and would've been trying to find our campsite in the middle of the night.

We left at 5am in order to reach the Grand Canyon by sunrise and I do not regret it for one second. Hands down, it was one of the most beautiful, serene, and humbling experiences of my entire life. It was magnificent to stare at something so vast and complex, and to think it was made completely on its own! This was both our favorite part of the trip. We wished, once we got back, that we had taken more photos and video during our time there, but we spent so much time just sitting and looking. I don't know what words to say that would come close to accurately describing this experience. Not only do I feel so lucky to have been able to see these sights in my lifetime, I also feel so lucky to have had that experience with someone I adore. I can't wait to tell our (far, far future) children about it.

From the Grand Canyon, we drove to Joshua Tree. See tomorrow's post for this trip!

Story // Kelsey Newkman Editing // Michele Davis Photography // Feather & Twine

Amanda Crew's Photography Essentials

Most people know me as an actress, but not everyone knows that I also have a huge passion for photography. Taking photos has always been a part of my life in one way or another, but over the past year or so I've been pushing myself to explore photography more and learn as much as I can. As my skill set grows, so has my equipment. I thought it might be fun to share my photography essentials.

Nikon F3 35mm film camera: I have a few digital cameras but my film camera is my absolute favorite. There's something magical about getting film developed and having no idea how the images are going to turn out. I've had this camera for a couple of years now and it's already been on so many adventures with me.

Kodak Portra Film: This is my go-to film. I love the soft colors this film produces, especially for portraits. It never lets me down.

Polaroid Camera: As a lover of film, it's a no-brainer to have a polaroid camera. Who doesn't love instant photos with unpredictable light leaks and saturations?

Impossible Project Film: Polaroid film was discontinued a few years back, but thankfully the life-savers at Impossible Project brought it back! They have a lot of cool options to choose from including black and white to different colored frames.

iPhone (yes that's my phone in the Panda case): With so many cool photo-editing apps, the iPhone has become a photography staple. I'm addicted to Instagram and love sharing images as well as being inspired by other people's photos.

Sunglasses: It's sunny here in LA so I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Brixton ONA bag: This is the mother of all camera bags! I'm constantly traveling so I wanted a bag that was durable enough to protect my camera, yet still matched my style (and let's be honest, most camera bags look like my 5th grad lunch sack). The Brixton was perfect because I can fit a few lenses along with my laptop and it's such a gorgeous bag.

I'd love to hear what your photography essentials are! Tweet or Instagram me!

Amanda is wearing a Shop Ruche dress and Loly in the Sky loafers Story // Amanda Crew Photographs // Jessica Castro Hair and Makeup // Jeanne San Diego

Birthday Road Trip: Part 1

Today, Kelsey and Talon from Feather & Twine begin documenting their amazing road trip in celebration of Kelsey's birthday! Enjoy their adventures, and let us know if their trip makes you want to hop in a jeep and go for a ride too!

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We decided pre-trip that we would have a journal going during each phase of the road-trip to make the writing process easier. Fast forward to trip time, and of course, making any time to write in the journal was promptly thrown out the car window. There’s so much to say about the trip that I’m having a hard time articulating. There was a lot of road time, which was spent reading (on my end) and dreaming (between the two of us); being creatives, the downtime was so refreshing and igniting. If you’ve never taken a road-trip before, I highly recommend it. So, the following is my attempt to convince you to take a road-trip right this second. We drove from Dallas, TX (where we currently reside), to Santa Fe, to the Grand Canyon, to Joshua Tree National Park, down to Palm Springs, up to to Tucson, to White Sands National Park, to El Paso, down to Marfa, then back up to Dallas. In a week.

There are many phases you go through when on a road-trip. If you’ve been on one, I’m sure you can identify with these feelings, especially when you’re dreaming up a blog post for it.

Pre-trip: You have all these ideas about what you’re going to do, to film, to photograph, to write. We had hundreds of shots in our heads, and concept-ing the video turned in to quite a hobby over the two weeks preceding our trip.

Day before the trip: You realized you haven’t actually packed anything at all, so you scramble around trying to fit a week’s prep into a few hours...suddenly realizing you can’t just throw stuff in the car and be done with it. This is when Talon decided we would leave at 4am in order to reach Santa Fe at a reasonable hour.

Trip day: Our conversation went a little like this—(Kelsey): “Wow, we slept right through that 4am alarm... what time do you want to leave now?” (Talon): “Let’s just go back to sleep and leave when we wake up.” (Spoiler alert: We left at 11am.)

The first day was mainly filled with getting out of Texas. While west Texas contains a simplistic beauty, I tend to understate the time it took to get through. We also got stuck in a giant windstorm that was actually so big it had been named. You can imagine how much more interesting driving through west Texas became when there was so much dirt flying in front of us, we couldn't see anything that was more than 10 yards away.

As we drove into New Mexico, we were greeted by the brightest navy skies I have ever seen at dusk. I felt like I was in a moodier version of Van Gogh's “Starry Night,” watching the black road illuminated only by our headlights as they swished across my frame of sight. Cutting through the swirls of blue was absolutely mesmerizing. A site I won't soon forget.

New Mexico was filled with eating. Dinner - Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen Hotel - The Lodge at Santa Fe Breakfast - Tia Sophia’s

We seriously loved everything we tried in Santa Fe, which is why I wanted to be sure to notate it. We woke up the morning of my birthday and drove to Tent Rocks (Kasha- Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument) for some morning climbing. What an amazing drive to a perfect place. In the video, you’ll see most of our clips are from there! We were so inspired by the different textures of the slot canyon, and the way the light fell on the different sections of our hike. If you're a texture person like I am, you'll love this place. If you ever get a chance to go, you must! It was an easy but unforgettable hike. One thing we really noticed was how fast everyone was moving through the canyon. It was sad to see people focused solely on getting to the top as quickly as possible, without even stopping for a second to see the beauty that surrounded them! Even if you’ve been somewhere a million times, it’s so easy to forget to find beauty in everything.

After our hike, we ate peanut butter sandwiches out of the trunk of our car and then set off!

Onward to the Grand Canyon! See our next adventure in tomorrow's post!

Story // Kelsey Newkman Editing // Michele Davis Photography // Feather & Twine