Walking along the paths of Elysian Park, Crystal and I shared happy and eye-to-eye words that would leave us in awe and
laughter.  We smelled flowers, got into hobbit holes, danced under leaves and oh yes, took pictures of curls.  Can’t leave
that out.  Crystal’s hair is naturally curly but this was a first glimpse of it to me and Brian (photographer).  Crystal
fixes her hair straight for the most part but for this special occassion she agreed to show her untamed beast that only
makes an appearance in the morning bedside after a late night of 36 chamber antics.  So of course I had to take the
opportunity to profile Crystal and see what her curls lifestyle consists of.  And boy, was I in for a day…

That is a certified example of a Girl With Curls.  CARE-FREE ATTITUDE!  Throughout the day all I can remember the most was
the laughter and excitement of Crystal as she accomponied Brian Page and I.  She was open to our ideas and went along with
the good vibes.  At first we noticed Crystal a little camera shy and didn’t know how exactly to pose for us, but within
several pictures she was laughing and cheesing enough to be on a Colgate commercial.  I was cheesing more than her, though.
Every snapshot by Brian made me cringe with excitement as it gives me the opportunity to type this to you right now.  I
absorbed a little of Crystal’s CARE-FREE ATTITUDE that day. It’s a rare thing to see these days with all the WHY SO SERIOUS?
expressions all over the place.  If you’re ever in a bad mood I suggest you get in contact with Crystal.  She will make
you love the idea of living life.

Yes, I will advertise for a moment :

Brian told Crystal to get in the car above.  She was hesitant.  We didn’t know who’s car it was.  But I did know that
there was no one around to see us.  It was a bit dirty and rusty but Crystal hopped on the old safari vehicle and that was
that!  I got to view what I call Jeep Happiness.  It was quite an opportunity to witness this.  If you ever see an abondoned
Jeep around feel free to make the leap and see what it’s like.  Crystal is still trying to recover from the amount of
seratonin that was released at that exact moment. She’ll be talking about this new Jeep Happiness craze for awhile.

                                                                                                YIKES!

Brilliant.  I owe it to Brian Page for pulling thru with these shots.  Brian is testing his bounderies for his photography.
Earlier he had climbed a tree to get a different perspective of Crystal.  Then right after we walked near a big pile of
barks and branches with cautious tapes surrounding it.  Brian stopped and pondered an idea.  Seconds later he grabbed the
tape and started pulling it to a tree nearby.  I got excited.  I didn’t know what he was about to do but I knew it was going
to be really cool.  And this is why I trust Brian as my camera man.  I know he’ll pull thru with something good.  And now
you can see why the cautious tapes are present.  Those curls are dangerous!  Look at them, ready to curl anything in sight.
I made it out alive to tell the tall tale itself.

Brilliant yet again.  Brian Page has to win an award for best hashtag thus far.  Those words captured the essence of our shoot with
Crystal.  She really is fine and we aren’t shy to say it!  Oh yes, and we have changed location as you can see.
Chinatown stuntin’ is what kids call it these days.  The food there is all the rage.  Crystal guided us to a spot
that she herself has to tell you about.  I’m going to pass the tumblr off to her real quick as she reviews the food we got
to explore!

AHHH!!!  That was so cool.  Ok, I am back from shedding a tear after reading that.  All written by Crystal.
I wanted her to contribute to the post in some way.  It’s pretty fun reading Crystal’s words that pour out of her head.
She even contributes to another blog that fancies my reading every week, The Low End Theory.  Check out her latest
words from last week’s post here!

Now, onto a different location!  From Chinatown to Little Tokyo!

Mmm…yes.  We have teleported to the MOCA in Los Angeles.  And right in the middle of the Art in The Streets exhibit. 
This was our last location.  There wasn’t much Girl With Curls shooting going on but there was much glaring and enough
“trips” to set us at ease for our viewing.  There is tons of art in this building that can set you towards a couple of hours
of enlightenment and curiosity for your day.  The exhibit is still going on until August 8th!  Don’t miss out and check it out!
You may meet a nice lady.  And she’ll have curls.  And you’ll thank us.  Or vice-versa. 

                                       Ahahaha.  I had to do it.  I’d be selfish if I didn’t.

This is the only time you’ll get to pick my brain or get some perspective of it.  There ya go.  I am a dog!

And that was our day.  Three locations was tougher than I thought.  An improvement over our one location in the first post. 
I am still trying to arrange the flow better for these profiles.  I feel I have improved somewhat as well as Brian’s technique
with the camera and editing.  Big ups to him again for helping me out.
Yes, I am ending this post.  Too soon?  I wish it could last forever.  What will remain is the memory I had that day of
hanging out with two great people.  That is what I enjoy out of this.  Getting to know each other a little more and of
course spending a nice day in Los Angeles.
Crystal is off enjoying her summer after tackling summer school to a pulp.  And when we say enjoying summer I mean, you
better catch a quick ride to Vegas to even get a glimpse of this adventerous girl.  Off enjoying herself as she should.
I feel that summer time is a great way to just let it all out and really do as much as you can. 
Go out and meet new people,
go to shows, lay on the beach and scope out curls, hike a mountain trail, do drugs.  All that fun stuff.  And if the moon
rises high enough one night when the wind is calm, you too may grow a curl and live a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kind of life.

                                                                                     Thanks for reading!

happy 4th!  f*ck your ethnicity.  get curls.

post 2 is about done.  stay tuned.

Post #2:  Shot yesterday.

Now in the works for editing and write up. 

Shot in Los Angeles. 

Stay tuned.

- Daniel Racz

NOTE: BEST VIEWED ON THE GIRLSWITHCURLS.TUMBLR.COM PAGE

And we’re live.  This is the first profile on Girls With Curls and I wanted to do it on someone I knew that had natural curly hair and I had a good relationship with.

My intentions from the very beginning of this blog were to expose the curly perspective of this world in a matter of seconds.  Tumblr is a great outlet for this and for the near future I hope to adjust the way you see these photos.

My goal for this entire project is to meet as many curly haired women as I can and be able to do these profiles on complete strangers.  We’ll see how that goes.  But first, let us see what this girl Joy is all about:

Nope.  I did not come up with that wondrous title name.  I wish I did.  I had a handful of titles to name this post that had fun ways of using Joy.  She ultimately took over the creative directory and drew out her ideas on a handy sketchbook she keeps around. 

I didn’t know how to exactly plan this whole photo shoot, so Joy and I met at Barnes & Nobles on a dark and breezy March 19, 2011.  I offered to buy her a coffee or beverage at the Starbucks inside.  Joy absolutely refused my kindness of doing so but I was strong and just about went thru with buying both of our orders.  Then, suddenly out of nowhere she remembers a gift card snuggled into her wallet and mentions it may have some change left.  Oh it had change alright!  It just about covered her drink.  I smiled.  I knew the night was going to be good.  And it was.  We grabbed magazines left and right before indulging our crazy ideas.  Let’s just say that pouring honey all over Joy’s curly hair didn’t make the cut.  I’m not disappointed at all though.  Joy and her hair came out great!

That’s right!  America the great!  The land of opportunity!  There just isn’t enough curls.  We got rid of Osama, yet we haven’t taught our children the importance of curls on a woman’s hair?  Or any hair for that matter?!  If you can’t tell I am being quite humorous about this topic.  Although, there is a bit of truth to what I’m trying to say.  Curls represent a lifestyle.  One that leaves the human soul under it a gleaming journey of disorderly happenings.  And what this all leads down to is taking risks.  A risk that ensures going the other direction or path might not be worst thing that can happen after all.  Try it, America.  Curl a hair or two.  It won’t hurt.  And at the same time be thankful for even having that strand of hair.  All in all you will be one humble being that is willing to take the next step without fear of losing anything.  Some say grow some balls!  I say curl some hair!

YES!  Curls are very healthy.  There’s just something about it that nourishes the soul of everyone around its presence.  What a gift.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  Joy’s hair specifically is a living breathing creature.  One that lets you tie knots ‘till no end!  For me to get a good feel for the curls, a deep inspection is required.  I am so glad Joy is a cool enough person to let me make out with her curls.  If you haven’t done this yourself I expect you to be on your way after reading this post.  It’s a MUST experience!

….

Okay I probably shouldn’t have revealed that.  On with the pictures.

We found a great location thanks to Brian’s sighting while on the road.  All of us experienced what Joy had called The Rape Cave, a dark two-way tunnel that almost engulfed us in its demeaning transit subway-like atmosphere.  No trains ran us over though.  We made it out alive.  We vowed to never reveal pictures of The Rape Cave.  So onwards with the curls.

A poem was just about necessary for this post.  Joy has a tumblr of her own (joywanders.tumblr.com) and for the greater part of it writes poetry.  All original, all enlightening and all confusing. I don’t understand most of her poems.  But I like ‘em.  I can’t think of myself ever producing words that flow like that.  She takes it to a professional level.  I am glad she was able to dumb it down a bit for my post though.  I could tell what she was talking about.  But who knows what she really meant.  That’s the beauty of it right there!  Thumbs up for timeless poetry!

I am in a humorous kind of mood.  That’s the vibe that Joy fills my body with. And being able to unleash fun and careless acts.  I hope she got a kick out of that one.  Maybe it will come true.  A school like that needs to be built.  Forget American History and Calculus.  Curls 101 needs to be on your summer class schedule!

Let me say that Joy’s hair feels like heaven on earth.  I cannot further explain what I was feeling in the above picture.  These are the moments were you appreciate all your five senses.  I heard the curls, I saw the curls, they smelled so nice, the feeling was great and yes I even tasted them!  Killing a bird with five stones is just how I like living my life.

I’d like to thank Brian Page for taking these photos and Joy herself for letting me smile at her while she shot for these. 

This was a great experience for me and I hope you had fun viewing it!

This post may be a bit all over the place but that is the exactly the lifestyle of one with curls.  I’m having fun with life.  And so should you!

Embracing the curls,

Daniel Racz