Wow, my heart is pounding just posting this, ahhh! ❤️ I’m so nervous and excited at the same time to launch this retreat - it is going to be such a special one. 🥹😍
We privately launched a few days ago via my Newsletter (subscribers had first access to applications), but we still have just a few spots left, so now we’re officially opening the application process to the public here, too!
If you’re interested in learning WAY more information about this retreat, and maybe even want to apply to join us, you can find everything in the creative retreat webpage linked in my profile. 🥰
I cannot WAIT for this beautiful experience with all of you joining us!! ❤️❤️❤️
“Light Walker”
A self portrait series from just a few weeks ago in Deadvlei, Namibia. A place I’ve dreamed of visiting for a decade… and yet being there in person, walking barefoot across the dead marsh under these 600-900 year old skeleton trees, was such a surreal experience unlike what I imagined it would be. It’s strange to walk through a place that feels so long dead and forgotten - yet still full of life and wonder.
I originally had an entirely different series of images in my mind for here, involving a couple of different colourful dresses (red and gold) and dance poses mimicking and flowing with these trees… but when I arrived here, just as the sun rose and lit up my surroundings and as I walked over the last sand dune to see the dead pan valley floor below, all those earlier visions I had simply vanished. Thankfully, tucked away in the bottom of my backpack under my camera gear and red/gold dresses (anyone else cram dresses and chocolate into their backpack as a general hiking norm?), I had also this white dress as a back-up… and I was so glad I brought it, because all I could actually envision in person here was a balance of death and life, light and dark, a dream walking through decay.
And so that’s how I spent the next 3 hours - walking and running around barefoot, feeling connection, contrast and awe, and creating this new series as it came to me. 🤍 What a surreal place.
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P.S. For those wondering, this dress was made by the lovely @kayame.wear 🥰
P.P.S I plan on releasing an editing walk-through for one of these images to my newsletter subscribers in January. If you’re interested, sign up to my newsletter through the link in my profile! 🥰
P.P.P.S. Yes, I plan on releasing a couple of these images as extremely limited edition prints in my next launch (March, 2023)! If you want to stay up to date and take advantage of a massive discount on the day I launch these prints, make sure you’re signed up to my newsletter through the link in my profile. ❤️🙏🏻
“The Heart of Ancient Earth”
3/100 of my year-long self portrait project. 💙
This was taken at 2am in Iceland - the only time I’ve ever seen this location, Reynisfjara beach, completely empty of visitors. The basalt columns eerily rose out of the midsummer night fog, and everything was still and silent, even the waves in the ocean right next to these columns - a calm rarity I’ve never seen here before.
This was my first night ever being high enough in the north to experience no complete darkness, even at 2am. The light was soft and blue, and the settings and emotions felt in this place all came together to inspire this self portrait… a moment of connection with the ancient earth. 💙
Sony Alpha Ambassador @elizabethgadd shows how the Alpha 9 III helps capture her true essence in her environment of inspiration - the great outdoors. 🌿💚 With the Alpha 9 III’s advanced auto-tracking and global shutter, not only will you be able to capture every second of the action when you’re photographing others, but it is also extremely helpful when photographing yourself.
Tap the link in our bio to learn more about our most advanced camera to date, the A9 III, and give yourself the gift of staying in the moment 📸 🌬️ #SonyAlpha#SonyAlphaCanada#A9iii
✨Summer Solstice 💜
One of my very favourite days of the year is here. This year it feels a little extra special somehow. I’m feeling pretty drained these days to attempt writing up long meaningful descriptions or be present here on Instagram, haha, but I will say this, for the start of this summer season, and all seasons onward… appreciate every moment. Frolick among those wildflowers. Notice the warm sun on your skin. Feel the thrill of being alive. Climb those mountains. Make the effort for meaningful connections, especially in person. Tell your friends you love them. ❤️ This week has been a wake-up call and reminder among our mountain/photographer community just how mortal our human experience really is… so let’s keep chasing the light, be kind to one another, and live each moment so wholeheartedly we’ll have no room for regrets. 🥰
With that, I’m currently packing up to head to Iceland to enjoy the next few weeks of chasing the midnight sun with beautiful humans - the first creative retreats I’ve ever hosted, which normally as a severe introvert I’d be pretty dang anxious about right now in the lead-up. 😂 But instead… I’m actually just feeling so ready to connect and create and to be alive, to bask in this world’s beauty and share the experience with more amazing beings. 🥰🥰🥰
See you soon, Iceland! 💜
For as long as I can remember, the most inspired I’ve felt is when I’m surrounded by nature, where I can be quiet enough to really listen and be awed by the vast landscapes, or the peaceful intimacy of a quiet forest. When I started including myself in my landscape imagery, it was a way to express and capture those feelings of awe and peace… and to be able to look at the images or videos later and still feel that connectedness to nature.
Although I’ve always been visually creative, I’ll admit that I’m not the most tech savvy person in the world. 😂 In the past, it’s often been a time-consuming process to set up these shots with myself properly focused in them... But with the Sony Alpha 9 III? A whole different story! I’ve been LOVING playing with this camera this month, and I can honestly say that I’ve never put so much trust into a camera as I do with this one. Which, in turn, has made it easier for me to be more present in front of the camera again, back among the source of my inspiration while still being able to capture these moments... and be delighted after that I was still in focus the whole time, haha! The Sony Alpha 9 III may have honestly ruined me to go back to anything else now. 😂❤️
#ad@SonyAlpha#SonyAlphaCanada#SonyAlpha
Hi everyone! I just released my latest video journal on YouTube, and thought I’d share a few screenshots from the video here. 💚
I realized I haven’t taken any of my typical “real photo” self portraits in a few months now, which is entirely normal for me - I’ll often go months between feeling inspired enough to shoot images that mean something to me… and I really hate being pressured to “make content”. My work is my art that stems from time, inspiration and introspection, not hustling to always be throwing new work out there… that idea drains me even more. 😂
But this year, between these photographic dry spells, I’ve REALLY been enjoying documenting moments that mean something to me via video instead, and creating moving/storytelling video journals out of all the clips I’ve collected over the weeks. ☺️
So, these are a few screenshots of those moments. If you’d like to see the actual video, the link is in my profile. 💚
And don’t worry - I have lots of new photo ideas/exciting opportunities coming up this summer, so stay tuned for new images coming soon! 🥰
I realized something this month:
This week marks the 10-year anniversary since I took my very first Red Dress self portrait… The first image of what would become a 35+ piece series, still on-going today, and ever dear to my heart. ❤️
It began in 2014 when I was embarking on my first ever “photography” trip abroad to Iceland. In the months leading up, I spent countless hours scouring the internet looking for ANY photos of “a small person in big landscape” or “ethereal woman in a dress in natural landscape”, trying to find inspiration for this new photo series I had in mind.
…But this was before the days when photography really took over Instagram, and apparently before the days that photographers began to add “people” to their landscapes, because: “Gasp! How DARE thou tarnish thy pure landscapes with a person!” was the impression I got during all my early research looking for any ethereal portrait/landscape crossovers, or even when posting such images myself. 😂😂
In the end, I decided to take my red dress with me to Iceland and begin a series of self portraits I called “Wholehearted” - a visual depiction of my longing to step beyond my comfort zone, as described by the following words I wrote when I started the series 10 years ago:
“This is what these photos are to me - a way of living more boldly, of being alive, of finding peace in letting go of my fears as I keep pushing forward. This photo series symbolizes my wish to live wholeheartedly. It’s a reminder to myself to let go of fear and doubt, to embrace who I am, and especially to focus on a life lived in gentle love, gratitude and absolute wonder of the world and everything in it.”
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Here’s just a few of the images taken over the last decade. I also just wrote a blog with more background to this story, and more images from the series - the link is in my profile if you’re keen to read it. 🥰
I just can’t believe how these 10 years have flown by!
Here’s to embracing life in all its ups and downs, and throwing your whole heart into it. ❤️
“Mystical Meadows”
💚 Self portrait, 2021.
This was taken during a 4-day trekking/camping adventure here in the Canadian Rockies with a wonderful group of 12 other friends and photographers. The night before this, we went to sleep to the sound of crashing thunder and heavy rain on the tents... And knowing that storms usually lead to a magical weather window, I mentally prepared for an early wake-up the next day. Sure enough, by 5am my partner @kristopherandres and I peeked out of the tent to see our surroundings shrouded in calm dreamy fog... so we scrambled to get out, make coffee and quickly pack up our camera gear without waking up the rest of our group (easier said than done - sorry everyone for the constant tent zipping sounds, heheh)! We hiked a little ways up the mountain with our coffees, stopping at a little lake for sunrise, when I saw this foggy meadow and the inspiration hit to take this self portrait. It was a little rushed as the fog was burning off fast with the rising sun, but this morning will go down as one of my favourites of the summer... Aye indeed, summer in these mountains has completely captured my heart. 🤍 Except for the millions of mosquitoes... the mosquitoes have not captured my heart. 😂
Full version of this video is on my YouTube (complete with bears, aurora and a cute owl - link in my bio). 🥰
I just got back from a few days of camping here in the Canadian Rocky mountains - our first camping trip of the year, YAY! Spring is back, the animals are waking up, the lakes are starting to open again, and I’m SOOOO HAPPY about it. 🥰
So, my one secret thing that always surprises people when they find out: I’ve never had an ice bath (on purpose, that is 😂). Which is kinda funny considering I’ve lived among mountains and glaciers my whole life, not to mention I’m also a Pisces water sign, haha… and yet... I’ve just never felt the desire to plunge into arctic waters. 😂 I have swam in tons of our beautiful alpine lakes, but just never when there’s still ice on them... but that finally changed this weekend.
So I made a short video of the experience. I was going to save this to include in one of my longer video journals later this month, and I might yet, but I figured this experience deserved its own little video, hehe. Even if I couldn’t get my shoulders under the water. 😂
Thanks so much for watching, everyone! Have you ever had an ice bath? How did you like it, and would you do it again? 🤍
“Rise Up”
Self portrait, 2016.
A surreal scene in the highlands of Iceland, watching the clouds of snow and rain making their way across the valley filled with hundreds of intertwining streams and rivers... I could have stared in awe at this view for days. ❤️
Fun fact: My friends and I were actually stranded here in these highlands for two days after driving across the river into this valley, and then not being able to get back across due to extremely high waters from the rain and snowstorms. 😅 I took this photo on the second day of being stuck here - we had nothing else to do while waiting for our rescue (a much bigger truck!), so we climbed up this mountain in the freezing wind and rain, and I couldn’t resist putting on the red dress to capture this self portrait, embracing the totally exhilarating weather and the feeling of being on top of the world in the middle of the most surreal world I’d ever seen. 🥰
