Every year I try to tell my child’s story through photographs, their story of their now.  So this year, while we were in Westlake Village, California, I thought of what we could do for my 12-year old.  12!  Last year she was a Sea Queen at a favorite imagination-inducing spot here on Maui.  This year we went with her absolute love of books.  I contacted my friend at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles and she worked out the details for me to be able to shoot.  This place is amazing and you can see more about it here.

As we talked about the outfit and the look for the shoot she wanted two of her favorite colors, so we worked with that.  I wanted more of a 60’s feel, and a dress with some texture and structure to work well in a bookstore.  Her new “glasses” (from an accessory store) would also prove helpful.  So we put together the look and as we did I started thinking of creating a light interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.  We don’t have a crazy queen, crazy rabbit, and a disappearing cat, but we didn’t want one either (not many people really do, right?)   This was more about how when you read you enter a world of imagination, you go down rabbit holes that lead to new lands, and some are really amazing.  My girl reads with an incredible appetite for books and it is her down time.  I do my best to feed her books that will inspire her soul and mind and scour booklists to find worthy ones.  (Might I recommend Sarah’s blog here.) So as I was planning this shoot, I remembered that we really wanted to visit The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles while we were in L.A., and it all came together.

This was our first time to The Last Bookstore, and it was a hot summer weekday in the early afternoon.  I was determined to use available light, which would be a challenge– but it couldn’t be a bigger challenge than navigating the parenting-a-12-year-old-waters, so I welcomed the momentary challenge.  Once we were inside the converted bank building, we explored the creative nooks and crannies of the store, meandering through the mazes of books and creative vignettes.  We used the subject-staircase to have her stand at some favorites including World History and Business– this young lady has a booming babysitting business that she has just started.  As much as we love reading books, we also loved all the building with books too.  From the books that hold up the counter for the cashiers, to the tunnel that became our own rabbit hole.

The bookstore in essence does what a good book can do– let your imagination take flight (notice the flying books), make you appreciate the unexpected (bank vaults converted to contain classic hardback books), and to rediscover the rhythm that soothes the soul when a device isn’t in front of you and the printed pages are actually holding you.  The books at The Last Bookstore are new and some used, and endless in options.  And yes, we left with a new book in hand.