"Gorgeous, Sexy Goddesses

in the Woods"

Photo Shoot with Karen Custer Thurston's Middle Eastern Dance and Drumming Troupe

"Al Rakasaat"

by r.s.thurston photography

r.s.thurston blog

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul."

~Martha Graham

I was born a dancer to a mother who was born to a dancer who was also born to a dancer. As far as we can see, the love of music and dance--that's as natural to us as being women--goes back to at least my great grandmother Ruth who was a hard-working farmer and saved up $ from selling butter and eggs during the Depression to put my grandmother and great uncle through dance classes and training to become performers.

It's not something that my Mother and I were ever told we needed to do. It's something that we find we have to do. It brings me such joy, such bliss to dance and to have music in my life. My Mother has been one of my greatest inspirations in the world of dance. As I've followed my dancing path here in Santa Barbara, she continues to expand as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer in Flagstaff. Her dance troupe "Al Rakasaat" is composed of a beautiful group of women who have studied with her over the years as they've all grown together in their dance and their friendships through their shared love of dance.

Flagstaff is like a second home to me (along with Indiana!) and it's been a dream of mine for years to have the opportunity to photograph her with her dance group. Many of the members have become friends of mine over the years and it's been a joy to watch them perform on my visits out to Flagstaff.

For anyone who has music and dance in their life, we are blessed! I cannot imagine a life without dance anymore than I can imagine a life without air, water, and good friendship.

To my Mama I say, "Thankyou for being an amazing mentor to me in my own pursuit of happiness through music and dance! And thankyou for always being such a solid foundation of support for me through thick and thin." And to these women I say, "I hope that you continue to have music and dance in your lives for many, many years to come and that your friendships continue to deepen and expand~"

Thankyou for giving me the opportunity to photograph you all~

Dance on!

all my love, Rachel

These photos feature Turkish Egyptian Dancer/Choreographer/Teacher Karen Custer Thurston and the current Dancer and Drumming Members of "Al Rakasaat": Crystal Drumheller, Cintamani Ellsworth, Sandra Gomez, Meredith Rankin, Nicky Sanders, Sarah Vrba, and Janet Wilson.

*Visit my Fanpage on Facebook as well at r.s.thurston photography~

Enjoy the Slideshow!

r.s.thurston photography

*Make sure to turn up the volume for the music. If the music doesn't come on, refresh the page and play slideshow again.

Goddess Photo Shoot With Lisa Beck

....Basking In the Sun!

by r.s.thurston photography

r.s.thurston blog

"Joy is a flower that blooms when you do."

Author Unknown

I've had the opportunity to photograph the divine spirit that embodies Ms. Lisa Beck....she's a veritable Goddess in every sense of the word. In the past ten years of our friendship, I've seen her blossom into this tour de force. Using a unique range of talents, she and her partner Mr. Budhi Harlow have created a dynamic community of dancers, musicians, and percussionists from their loyal following of students. She sings, she dances West African and Bollywood, she's a fabulous djembe and djun djun player, dance choreographer, and she's able to share these passions with her dance students who can't seem to get enough of her classes!

Most of what I love about Lisa, however, is what a steadfast, radiant spirit she is and I think that these portraits capture the grace that emanates from within her. She inspires me on a weekly basis both as a teacher and a friend and to me, that is exactly what being a Goddess is all about!

To find out more about their classes and community, visit Panzumo.com.

Make sure to check out the slideshow...if the music doesn't come on at first, try to refresh the page.

Enjoy!

with love, Rachel

Halloween 2010

www.rsthurston.blogspot.com

Greetings To All You Romans, Superheroes, Pirates, Miss Piggies, Vamps, Pimps, Exotic Dancers, Gladiators, and Disco Stars:

Thanks to you all for helping to make this another awesome Halloween experience! I

loved seeing the costumes, throwing back some jello shots, experiencing all those good vibrations on the dance floor. It was, in short, another amazing Halloween for us!

Here's a slideshow of some of the best pics from the night including those from the photo booth. Don't worry, I didn't post any of the truly risque shots (and there definitely were quite a few). If you'd like any of these pics, you can click on "Visit Gallery" in the upper right corner of the slideshow. Once you're in the gallery, click on the pics you want then click in the upper lefthand corner. You'll be given a choice to "Download Original." You can also choose to download "All Available" if you like.

Oh yeah!!! Don't forget to turn up your sound for music to the slideshow. If you still don't hear it, refresh your screen and it should come up when you click "play" again.

Be good, rest up, and keep the celebrations alive into 2012!

Cheers,

Cleopatra, The Mad Cow, and Senor Beltran!

Rach, Steve, and Jim...

September 24, 2010
Goddess Shoot With Kris Oster...Afro-Brazilian and Cuban percussionist, researcher in mythology and rhythm, and the founder of "Gaia," a women's conference in Santa Barbara.

Serendipity comes sometimes when we least expect it. Just around the time I decided to switch my business name from "Rachel S. Thurston" to "r.s.thurston photography" and to focus on Goddess Photography, along comes Kris Oster, another sign from the universe that I'm going in the right direction!





I've been drumming with Kris for the past year or more with the performance group The Djun Djun Mamas and knew she was a gorgeous, multi-talented goddess but had no idea just to what extent her goddess roots went! Besides spending the last handfull of years completing her doctorate in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute and regularly leading workshops and classes in goddess mythology and drumming, she's also a radiant Mama and wife. To top it off, she comes from a family of percussionists and has been drumming professionally and recording since she was twenty.

Which makes her all the more of a rock star in my eyes!



And then she tells me that she's running a goddess women's festival this coming fall called "Gaia," which celebrates the divine spirit and that she'd like to have some beautiful, goddess-like photos to promote the festival and her own work.

Voila!

So I continue along this goddess path...having the opportunity to photograph incredible women who are divine inside and out.
We played with the light, the shadows, and a few fun wardrobe changes. Best of all, Kris really feels a deep connection with the tree goddesses and I've been wanting to take more sensual photography of women wrapped up among tree branches... I really love what we created together!

I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.

Here's to Kris and all that you continue to create, my love!
Hoping that our goddess paths continue to cross and overlap....

much love,
Rachel

August 8th, 2010

Baby Photo Shoot With Erin, Javier, and Mateo
Santa Barbara, California

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.
~Woody Allen

I first met Erin and Javier through a mutual friend and we hit it off immediately. Turns out Erin is a Hoosier--born and raised--just like me and Javier is an Argentinean...so what's not to love? Mateo is growing up bilingual in a super loving, joyful home and has Queso as an energetic, playful canine playmate.

We had such a blast doing this shoot together that we toasted to it at the end of the afternoon!
Mateo, like his parents, is a super mellow, happy kid who has infinite patience and smiles when large cameras are being pointed at him and grown-ups are making funny faces and noises with every possible type of of rattle and stuffed animals. Sometimes I wish had a photographer documenting the interactions between me and the parents when we're trying to elicit sweet responses from babies....it's probably one of the most entertaining behind-the-scenes moments of baby shoots.

As the shoot went on and little Mateo became more and more tired of our grown-up tricks, we got goofier and more creative...using bottles of tequila, bottles of vitamins, and stuffed gorillas to entertain him. I still wish I had a recording of Erin, Javier, and me all trying to make our best monkey and cat calls~

And I was especially stoked to discover one of Erin and Javier's favorite songs by John Lennon that really speaks to their journey with Mateo....Here it is. Enjoy!

July 25th, 2010
Santa Barbara, CA

Co-Creating The Journey:
Photo Shoot With Lisa Beck and Budhi Harlow of Panzumo
West African Dancers and Drummers

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
Ursula K. Le Guin.

I don’t’ even know where to begin with explaining my relationship with Lisa and Budhi. Friends. Mentors. Co-creators. Teachers.




We perform together. We dance together. We drum together. We commune together. And we occasionally sing together. It’s difficult to separate out the levels of relationship that we have together. But one of the most cherished of these relationships is as their photographer. In the past ten years, we’ve had several photo shoots together which have unintentionally archived our journeys as artists from their first music cd around nine years ago with their first band to their connection with the ocean and Lisa’s growth as a dance teacher to this summer during which our creative energies only seem to growing without abandon and Lisa has become something of a mythical creature…graceful, gorgeous in a very unself-conscious way, strong. There is so much that I wanted to create with her photographically this time around that we decided to do a separate photo shoot of her as goddess portraits (to be released soon) and another of her and Budhi shining in their musical elements….



Budhi is a phenomenal musician, composer, teacher and performer. And in the past ten years, Lisa has not only blossomed as a highly talented musician and dancer but she has become one of the most gifted dance teachers I’ve ever known (up there along with Vanessa Isaac and my beloved Mamacita). Her humility, grace, unending ability to combine her multiple talents have helped make her such an amazing leader. Together they have helped to create a truly beautiful community of drummers and dancers in Santa Barbara over the past several years and one which I consider to be one of the many amazing blessings of my life.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. There is a beautiful synergy that occurs when creative spirits come together with a similar vision and you can almost taste it in the electrical texture of the photos….This is the path that I have envisioned for many years to come. It’s difficult to imagine having more fun than we did together on this shoot but, after years of experience with them both, I know it’s always possible! ;)

June 28th, 2010
Whirlwind Summer Solstice Weekend....Scantily Clad Drumming, Dancing, and Celebrations!

Wow...so I've survived another Summer Solstice Celebration in Santa Barbara! I've just finished a whirlwind weekend...a Friday Night Pre-Solstice performance of drumming/dancing/singing with the Djun Djun Mamas, dancing with Panzumo's Summer Solstice Ensemble on Saturday in the Parade, threw a bridal shower on Sunday, more celebrations on the beach, then watching another awesome episode of "True Blood" with good friends on Sunday night.

Dang! Now that's a great weekend!

I'm so happy to be on this creative path and to have a life that is so abundant in music, dance, drumming and creative fulfillment with amazing people. Here are a couple of videos of the weekend. The first is a clip of the Djun Djun Mamas...a group that I've been with the past two years. We worked on this piece for about six weeks and are really proud of it!

The second clip is one of our Panzumo Summer Solstice Parade Ensemble dancing several West African Rhythms in the Parade.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k3B2O_Xmmg