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rebecca coursey-rugh

 hey there! My name is Rebecca. (she/her)

I’m a birth & documentary photo/filmmaker living in California.

I love fresh pressed coffee on foggy mornings (or after a long birth), believe that enchiladas are as close to food-heaven as I can get, and that everyone has a story to tell.

I started my career in the arts as an outspoken teen, taking college courses in oils and color theory, all the while insisting I wanted absolutely nothing to do with a career in art. However, I found myself stumbling backwards into photography and videography (which I also wanted nothing to do with) as a way of expressing the visual poetry I saw in the sea of humanity around me.

I’ve been documenting families for years and years and years now and I have come to believe that when we embrace the messy, the day-to-day grit of living, we see how our love truly shines, even in the darkest of times.

 
 

I am also a mother and a doula.

When I was little, shaped by the Colorado mountains I ran free in, I dreamed of being able to craft tales about the way I saw the world around me; of illustrating lives, and etching words into stone.

Today, my life is sculpted by this dream, made full by both the mother and the photographer in me.

I now live in Los Angeles with my merry brood of 3 teen-ish boys, 5 wily pets and a spectacular partner.

I love that my life work encompasses exploring the vast mountains of the human heart.

I believe that families are born in a million different ways:

I stand firmly with my LBGTQ+ family and friends AND #blacklivesmatter movement. I donate a portion of all sales to social justice organizations local to Los Angeles and Southern California. Ask me about this and I’d be happy to share more!

 
 
 

Let’s begin a conversation.

TELL ME WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART. LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I SEE.

  • TO ME, THE HUMAN CONNECTION RESTS AT THE VERY CENTER OF MY WORK.

    And getting to know YOU and your FAMILY is integral to my process.

 
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“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”

–Annie Dillard

 

 

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ACCOLADES & AWARDS

 

2018


2017 


  • Top Honors in the IAPBP contest Honorable Mention

  • Cover Image for The Long Way Home Vol VIII

  • Commercial Video Work for WORDS WITH FRIENDS app

  • Presenter and teacher at The Family Narrative in NOLA

  • VOICE COLLECTION self-portrait 2017

  • Featured in Looks Like Film and Tribe Archipelago

  • Teacher/Mentor at Illuminate Classes

  • Published in Vogue, Journey to Artist, HuffPost, Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Bored Panda, SELF, RedBook, Mothering, Healthy Mummy

  • Collaboration with GroundSwell

2016


  • Teacher and Mentor Illuminate Classes

  • Joined the Family Narrative as a Teacher for NOLA 2017

  • Featured in LLF

2015


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