Incredibly honored to be on the cover of @santabarbaramag this month, and so very excited to have the issue center around off-grid-living and sustainability. My idea for this shoot was to merge the two worlds that already represent my daily life; the life of a businesswoman and the life of a farm lover. I wanted to use only pre-owned repurposed fashion from my very own closet, without pulling a single new piece and we did it! Thank you @jennifersmith_c for believing in my company and asking me to be your cover girl, and @samidrasin for capturing my truest self. @santabarbaramag I am so grateful for the opportunity to share a little bit of Bayou and a whole lot of animal love with your readers. And the biggest thank you to Sweet Hillock Farm for allowing Sami to take these images in your beautiful space. The magic you create on that farm is unparalleled. For anyone who wants more, I’ll be taking over SB mag’s IG this weekend so come join me there!🌻
@tweegasb@thisiskelseym
I am SO thrilled to share that I have directed and produced a global launch campaign for Leica making history as the first woman to do so. It is not lost on me that I am showcasing life while also quite literally carrying life, making this a moment of celebration for women in every chapter of their lives.
I am also deeply grateful to be able to use my platform to tell the powerful stories of @returntofreedom , a nonprofit that has been close to my heart for over eight years. Together with Leica, we were able to capture the breathtaking beauty and freedom of wild mustangs, a testament to the tireless efforts of RTF.
Through this campaign (debuting momentarily) I hope to expand perspectives, reflecting boundless compassion for these gorgeous beings and our interactions with our surrounding world. Bearing witness to nature has taught me just how important it is to respect and nurture the ever-evolving beauty around us from a distance, and this new Leica 100-400mm telephoto lens allowed me to do exactly that. To put it simply, by observing from afar our perspective quite literally extends, and I believe our connection to humanity, and our natural world, gets closer than ever. Stay tuned for the full video shortly📷🖤
All images made by me, along with video shot by the most talented @jasonbergh#SLStoryteller#LeicaWomen#ChasingLeitz#LeicaSL2#LeicaSL2S#LeicaCameraUSA
“Zooming in from afar gives us the opportunity to observe our world without disrupting its beauty. This lens inspires me to develop my craft while witnessing the incredible moments that bring humanity closer together.” - @nikkireed
The Leica Vario-Elmar-SL 100-400 f5-6.3 & Leica Extender L 1.4x is now available at Leica stores and online shop.
It has been so lovely and so surreal to be on the water, glancing up to see people waving to us from their front yards along the shore. Everywhere I look feels like a postcard. Traveling by boat, arriving just in time to walk off with our luggage and right onto a train is just beyond my wildest dreams. This way of getting around is so relaxing. I think about the hours a day most of us spend in traffic and I am beginning to wonder where all of that time goes. Everyday here feels more and more like home…
My happy place is listening to the sound of cows grazing in a valley of lush green. Lucerne is so stunning. We stayed at the @burgenstockresort , a hotel village that is 150 years old consisting of 30 buildings that are all an architectural masterpiece, designed with nature top of mind. We took a boat, two trains and one vernacular all in one day, and then jumped back into the city to visit the beautiful Kulturhof Hinter Musegg- a little green oasis in the middle of the city that is a non-profit farm focusing on sustainability, cultivated since the Middle Ages. We drank hot cocoa and visited the little farm shop, walked through a grassy field to get to their highland cows, perfectly juxtaposed with buildings just behind them. Wild to think all of this exists right there in the city.
Our building at the @burgenstockresort is known as the Forest hotel, appropriately named for it’s place among the trees, built by an architect named Matteo Thun who works with natural materials like stone and woods sourced locally from the surrounding mountains. The vision was to create a setting that felt like the hotel was the stage and the valley was the audience. The walls of the hotel are made of gabions to reduce chemical exposure and also for the insects to be able to live freely, while the water from the lake is used for the spa, the pools and the gardening. Going through a turbin system, it is also used for electricity that provides power to the whole resort, and used in the pipe system to provide cooling and heating. The green valley below the hotel is just one of the many surrounding farms where the food is locally sourced for the 7 restaurants in the hotel village. What an incredible display of working with the elements to create sustainable beauty🌱🫶🏼
The Biosphere is the most beautiful region that goes beyond it’s name - it is also a concept - one that allows people the opportunity to experience nature while also protecting nature. While here we visited an organic farm, Schottenhof Lochsitli, located at 1400 meters above sea level that uses innovation to cultivate one of the highest potato fields in Switzerland. They served us delicious bread and we drank fresh mint tea straight from their garden, played with 3 week old kittens and a baby goat while asking questions about life at this elevation. They even converted an agricultural vehicle into an amazing camper so you can sleep under a canopy of stars that feel close enough to touch. There are different areas of the Biosphere that cater to ecotourism (my new fav term) which encourages people to come from outside of the region to immerse themselves in nature while also fueling the local economy. The combination of people needing nature and nature needing people was incredible, and a major eye opener for me personally. If only we could mirror this on a global scale, and allow nature to be our source of inspiration and an economic engine without exploiting her. What an amazing concept…
Quick stop in Montreux and off to dinner in Vevey at a charming little restaurant on the water @ze_fork . We drank biodynamic wine and spoke to the chef about how they source their ingredients by season which I was particularly excited about. I ate my body weight in food, which started with this exceptional daikon dish encrusted with sesame seeds and ended with a chocolate mousse I will think about forever. It was the epitome of dreamy dining. When we got to the hotel, we arrived to the loveliest assortment of wooden toys for the kids. So far, the majority of the toys we have seen have been plastic free which is so refreshing. We stayed at the beautiful @fairmontlemontreuxpalace that overlooks the lake, which was full of history that still lives in the details. Built in 1906, it was immediately brought to my attention that the hallways were specifically designed to accommodate the very wide dresses women would wear, with sweet nooks and peek-a-boo windows that show the surrounding homes. Although our stop here was short, this region left such an impression on my heart…
Traveling by train…my new favorite way to get around. Changing regions every 48-72 hours with 5 kids and luggage sounds daunting, but it has been nothing short of amazing largely due to the efficiency and simplicity of this mode of transportation. Some of my most treasured memories thus far have been on trains. The Swiss Travel Pass gives you unlimited access to all the trains, buses and boats via a little QR code you save on your phone. So simple. You show up, and jump on. I just read that over half of commuters here use this way of transportation to get to work everyday, and I am not surprised. Second to walking/biking, it really is the most environmentally conscious way to get around which adds to my fondness for Swiss-tainability. Not only is it a much more sustainable, it is also one of the most relaxing experiences once you get the hang of it. I worked during each ride, glancing up at the most gorgeous hillsides and lakes, baby napping in a carrier on my chest, big sister playing with her buddies, and all I know is everything about this just feels right. Traveling by train, being conscious of what is better for the planet and the soul…🛤️🌳🌿
Ps While it’s true, I was excited to get fancy for the Golden Pass Train, I am also so grateful for bts moments like that last slide that are rarely captured, which show snippets of life in the most real way. The majority of our rides my cameras are tucked into my backpack, we are baby wearing, working, big kids playing, drinks spilling, changing trains while changing diapers and loving every minute of the (not documented) chaos :)🫶🏼🥹
Cannot get over the @goldenpassexpress . Bucket list moments happening in real time over here. You can be anywhere within a matter of hours, while working as you commute. And the dreamy backdrop doesn’t hurt either!
A 300 year old farmhouse with the same traditional practices for cheese making that one might have seen a century ago. Not much has changed, and that type of preserved integrity is just one of the things that makes this farm so special. Mr and Mrs Hefti have been married for 37 years, and for their entire shared life they have made cheese here together. We rode 15 minutes up the mountain to their farm on ATV’s, stopping occasionally to take it all in. This is real life. This is how people live, and it’s magic. Their happy cows wandered the hillside free grazing with their babies, coming up to us occasionally to say hello. A far cry from what we see back home with factory farming. I glanced around at the mamas and babies munching on grass outside their window as Mr and Mrs Hefti moved through this dance they have done thousands of times together around a giant vat of almost ready cheese, and I couldn’t help but think about the food system I grew up with, and how disconnected so many of us are. For six months out of the year the Hefti family makes cheese at their farm, and for the rest of the year when it is snows they hand transport their milk to the local village and make it there. That is how much it means to them. It is personal, the way it should be. Regardless of how one chooses to eat, it is essential to maintain an understanding of where food comes from, and this is the perfect example of that. For so many of us, that connection simply doesn’t exist as we live in a world where food is presented in plastic wrap and bright labels, with no story. This cheese has a story. Thank you for inviting us to come see your beautiful home, and thank you for allowing me to document this moment with my camera. It evoked so much emotion for me, and opened my eyes to more than I can fit on this page. Also, the last photo makes me teary eyed every time I look at it…Switzerland you have my heart.
A lake with turquoise water and a picnic on wooden tables, with an entire ecosystem growing out of living walls with outdoor showers. And then, a park surrounded by wildflowers, compost bins, goats and tortoises, maintained by people with health conditions, impairments and/or learning differences. Sustainability is about so much more than just recycling plastic. It is taught through compassion. When we raise compassionate kids, they grow up caring about the trees, and the soil. Everything about this park is an example of that. What a beautiful display of community taking care of people, and people taking care of community. The way it should be, and a theme I have seen over and over again throughout every region here. From the children, to the land, to the soil and the animals. Forever changed by this experience…🇨🇭
It is almost impossible to capture all of the magic of this place in an image. It is a feeling. An energy. Every corner, every inch so thoughtfully curated with such intention. From the salt room to the warm ginger tea made with local honey, my jaw has lived on the floor since we arrived. Let’s be honest, traveling with 5 kids and a very full schedule means there isn’t a ton of time for spas, but Sarah and I both took a moment to dip into this dreamy pool together and it was the best 90 seconds (literally!) ever. @myswitzerland thank you for allowing me to come camera in hand to this sweet gem tucked into this magical hillside! @thealpinagstaad
