charley star photo

family.

every now and then you have a photo shoot where everything aligns, and somehow all the muses strike at once and i'm able to capture something transcendent, something i don't even completely realize until i start editing the photos later.   that's the way i feel about these pictures...  that the beautiful Heyari family becomes in these photos the epitome of "FAMILY" -- beautiful, young, loving, blessed family.... that michaeline, the lovely mom, becomes somehow "every mom" in new love with her child...  that's what i see here, and i hope these photos will always remind michaeline of these precious moments.... her handsome husband, nate, so loving toward them both, with the confident fragility of a new father at the beginning of his journey with his son....  and precious little ollie, with your big big eyes and curious smile... i hope you will look back upon these pictures and see how the malibu sun flared for you this day, and may the love of family always envelop you.

thank you, michaeline and nate, for letting me in to your beautiful circle.  ollie is a treasure, and he is blessed to have you two to guide him through his life.

xxo
charley * star

horn.

beautiful horn.
from the morning photos project.

~

hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving!

negril, jamaica

street fashion baby

Satine, a couple days past her 2nd Birthday
K-Town, Los Angeles
Style:  Mod Sailor

Claudia, Age 4
New York City
Style:  Effortless Charisma

Boy on Impanema Beach, Rio


Dad and son, Stockholm


Family, Sweden

(*all images except satine via the sartorialist)

and one video for the road, here.

three's a charm

the other week, i had the pleasure of getting out of LA...  I headed up to Portland, OR for a photoshoot.  The weather was beautiful.  Finally! A real taste of Fall.  Crisp breeze, refreshing rain and autumn leaves so fluorescent they looked unnatural... it was just what i needed.

And then i met Isaac, Dylan, and Levy, three of the most awesome kids, and their parents Katie and Spero.  I had so much fun (!) spending the morning with this lovely family, getting glimpses into each of their personalities, then trying to capture another side of them, and another, and another....  they had such a beautiful dynamic, this family; and each of the kids had their own distinct personality. 

Whenever i do a shoot, I like to spend time photographing all of the family together {i'm not showing most of those, as real estate below is given to the children. sorry mom + dad :) }, and then with all of the children together, without mom and dad if possible, and then one-on-one time with each of the kids.  this way i feel i get to capture them in different group dynamics and also get to spend time with them individually.   i gotta tell ya, these pics don't even do them justice. there were so many selects, that even here on the blog i'm showing you more than usual.

i'm realizing more and more how much i love family and children's photograhy. with each shoot i feel that i am glimpsing into magic. and this is no credit to me or my photography, certainly not. all credit goes to the children i am blessed to spend time with, and i am there merely to document it.... and if i've done my job well, to perhaps give the family a tangible product of the transient, poetic, magical moments of childhood.

thanks Katie & Spero, and  dylan, isaac, and levy:  it was a such a pleasure meeting, photographing, and hanging out with you!  here's just a little teaser from our photoshoot....

xxo,

charleystar

43 years.

and counting....
thanks mom + dad!  .....

                        happy anniversary!

                                                   

xxo

*                 

my parents got married in 1965.
they were young.
20. 29.
he loved her.
she loved him.
simple.
done.

                       

what's to wait for when you're the one?

note on back

they'd been married one year. new love. it's hard to imagine our parents like this, goofy in knee-buckling love, but i can imagine mine. their love was evident, all through my childhood.  i imagine this time to be one of their most carefree, and happiest.  newly adult and together in the world, 1st home, feeling good, before kids.  they were any young newlywed, with their whole lives ahead of them...

and from this state, sprang 43 years.   they are still together, still going strong, still in love. last time i was home they kissed so much i found myself blushing.  but that's not to say it was all peaches n cream.  growing up, we had some doozies.  fighting and screaming, doors slamming and people leaving to blow off steam. 

i've had my own share of those doozies. fights with my husband that leave my shaking and vulnerable, where you're both tired or stressed and someone says a wrong thing, a word gets twisted or comes out twisted, and you're both charging to be right or understood or adored...    or to get the other person to peer out from your side of the mountain but they won't see the world from your view... and you go from precious-intimate-loving-security- to what-happened-and-who-are-you-oh-you're-my-enemy-insecurity....    those kind of fights. they're rare, sure... but one or two of these can leave you wilted, even if infrequent.

as a child, i hated to see my parents fight. as all kids do.  it was awful.  and again, not that they did it all the time, but as a kid, this kinda stuff is really upsetting. so they'd fight. dad'd leave the house for however long, a few hours, and i remember wondering if he was going to come back. which my mom never seemed concerned about because she knew he would, this was nothing, nothing finite, just two people learning how... to merge... with each other.

and to not run.

to not give up.

to turn,

slowly,

into the void,

and say:  I DO.

TO YOU.

I AM YOURS.
ALWAYS.
FOREVER.

                                       

Love Me,
                                               
                                                        Please,
                                                               
                                                                    Love Me.

*     *     *     *     *

thanks, mom + dad, for showing me the way. 
the road to another's heart is beautiful beautiful beautiful...
i love you love you love you...

kiki & polly

Lisa Golightly's portrait work

.:: website ::.

.::etsy

the new issue of lmnop is out, and Lisa's work is featured in it.
i love this online mag from australia!  get it here.

xxo

a walk on the beach.

MANTRA

 

The Solution

authenticity

                Everything

is beautiful.
Everything is poetic.

This is not sentiment. But Fact.
Maybe Anger.

*

                       There izz 

no difference

between the personal
and the political.

*

My Mother is a gale-force wind
Mistaken for a breeze.

*

                        Authenticity
is the bridge.

*

Identity Politics:

American Hero. Deliverer. Savior. Gender-Equalizer. Racial Healer. Redemption.
PreserverOfMyWayOfLife. Progress. Hope. TheRightThing. American Dream.

Regression. ThreatToMyWayOfLife. TheWrongDirection. TheWrongChange.

*

Oh, Nation.

Oh, Mother.

Oh, Leader.

      

                 Oh, God.



                                (ThankYou    ThankYou    ThankYou    ThankYou    ThankYou
                                       BlessUs           BlessUs        BlessUs        BlessUs        BlessUs)

another night of ghouls and goblins.... and fairy angels