Pre Violet
Archive for the 'prairie' category
Canyon Days
From Sasha
This weekend I went to visit my parents, who live about 40 minutes East of San Francisco in the San Ramon Valley. San Ramon is famous for three things: the Ashram which hosts the yearly U.S. visits from Amachi (the female Indian guru who gives hugs and Hershey kisses); spectacular moonrises; and, in my opinion, The Very Best Tree.
It is an incredible specimen of California Buckeye that has multiple arms reaching octopus-like from the earth to cover a whole section of the canyon. In the winter the ground is carpeted in Chickweed, a nutritious food-herb, and in late summer it is thick with the Buckeye leaves. California Buckeye is the first tree to leaf out in the spring, and the first to drop its leaves in the fall, so it is a kind of bell-ringer for the change of the seasons. I used to spend many an hour sitting on these smooth and sinuous branches, playing guitar to the frogs in the seasonal creek which runs right beside it. In fact this is where I learned that frogs will actually sing along with music!
In late summer the Thistles have all dried to the same shades as the grasses… infinitely photographable. Check out the birds perching in the ones above!
Naturally I hiked out there with a bag of clothes and a tripod…
All The Pretty Little Horses- A Gunne Sax Fantasy
From Sasha
We don't usually do consignments, but when my friend Holly asked if we wanted to sell her Gunne Sax dress in the shop, I didn't hesitate for a second. "Yeah, of course– if you model it, and if we can take pictures at your relative's ranch!"
I always wanted to take some pictures with a horse in them. I had the My Little Pony Castle, okay?
To seal the deal, her relatives have a Big Red Barn– a dream come true for a Gunne Sax photo shoot! Since solid backgrounds work best for thumbnail pictures, we could use the barn to do the "official" pictures, like this one:
And then there were the "unofficial" pictures– my favorite part. Yes, those actually are two happy horses galloping spontaneously through a sun-kissed meadow… we didn't even put them up to it.
Sweet Gunne Sax Dreams to you…
Covered Bridges and Boho Minidresses
From Sasha
There has been a sea-change inside of me lately. It started when I cut down my hours at my day job to part-time; suddenly Violet Folklore could take up a space of its own, instead of being squeezed into the margins of my days and weeks.
The first sign of the change was an almost manic obsession with my own wardrobe. If something was not perfect, it needed to leave the closet right away. If something was missing, it needed to be bought immediately. I probably did more online shopping in the past month than I had done all year!
The next sign was a very fussy, very focused obsession with taking exciting pictures. (I'm sure you all noticed something was up when I brought unicorns into the photo shoots!) Come to think of it, the dresses in the store were good, but they could be better too. I got more particular about what I bought for the store. I wanted every item to exude an absolute ton of "charm".
That's a very long preface to these pics, from my trip to Bridgeport, which is a place oozing with "charm" just down the river a bit from Grass Valley. It's home to scenic barns, the oldest covered bridge in the West, and of course the beautiful Yuba River. As I told my friend, "I want every single picture to be an amazing fairy tale!" I hope you enjoy:
