Would you believe this epic windblown sandy desert valley place is in the Yukon? At the end of summer 2023, I spent a month living out of my car and camping in the mountains up in northern Canada, and I was honestly blown away by the diversity of the landscapes. From snow-capped peaks and glaciers, to jagged black spiky mountains, volcanic lands where I swear dragon still live, to thousands of miles of endless tundra and boreal forests… to dry, sand-filled deserts?!

I was not expecting to stumble upon this place in my time up north, but wow, am I glad I did. I may have gotten totally sand-blasted in the wind for this photo (…and for days after I was literally finding sand *everywhere*, ha!) - but it was so worth it, running around like a kid who found a cool stick and became a wise wizard and decided to embark on a magical quest across the desert lands to the far off mountains and into the sunset.

Yep, it’s in these silly, beautiful moments that I become filled with gratitude and realize… the adventure-filled storybook life I used to always live in my imagination? I’m living it now. We can choose to live it now. One beautiful, childlike, sand-filled adventurous moment at a time.

Tags:   Yukon Canada Kluane National Park self portrait nature landscape desert dust sunset mountains woman girl sand gold light

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A self portrait from Iceland, 2024. I never get tired of the magic of midsummer in this country.

Tags:   Iceland lupines meadow flowers Skógafoss Skogafoss waterfall landscape nature self portrait imagination beautiful lovely

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8/100 from my self portrait project.

Probably my personal favourite and most meaningful image (to me) so far this year.

The title/words rang true in my head while spending a few days at this glacier in Iceland, noticing the vast difference in the last 9 years, nevermind just the last week spent there watching sections of ice the size of apartment buildings calving off from the glacier, breaking into thousands of icebergs that will never be part of that mountainside again. It was all at once wild and heartbreaking to see, and filled me with the realization of the raw truth… for some of these special places, very soon, there will be nothing left but stories. 💙

I wanted to create something to remember and document these thoughts, to portray a connection to our Mother Earth, to hold on tight and remember her and protect her. Because now more than ever, we need to be her mother, too. 💙

P.S. This iceberg was safely grounded on the shore for this 4am shoot - I just had to walk through freezing knee deep water to reach it.

Tags:   Iceland glacier ice iceberg lagoon mountains landscape nature woman dress gold yellow resting lying down curled up portrait self

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7/100 of my year-long self portrait project. 💙

This was taken last month during my time in Iceland, at about 4am after it had been pouring rain all night. My partner Kris and I were huddled in our campervan next to this field of lupines, just waiting for the off-chance that the rain would let up for a few minutes to capture this photo. I grew up near Vancouver (rainy mountain central!), so I'm used to waiting for those 5-minute windows of magic where the rain eases and the mist swirls along the mountainsides.

Sure enough, after several hours of waiting, the pelting raindrops on the van roof finally, suddenly, stopped... "this is it!!" I yelled, grabbing my backpack and running as fast as I could down the hill to this spot, while seeing in the distance the next wall of rain pushing in towards us, only about 5 minutes away.

I quickly set up my tripod, threw on my dress, and then... realized my camera was still in the campervan at the top of the hill. 😂😅 Thank goodness for my partner Kris (with the long legs!), who immediately booked it up the hill at lightning speed to get my camera for me, while I attempted to brush out my tangled camping hair from the last 5 days before running into the field for this photo. 😂

In the end, it all came together just in the nick of time! I was able to capture this self portrait in the final seconds before the next wave of rain hit (we got soaked running back up the hill to the van), and I was so thrilled for this image to come out as I had hoped for. I will always love the rainy days - the 5 minute windows of magic they deliver between showers are like nothing else. 💙

Tags:   Iceland lupins lupines flowers meadow mountains misty mist fog foggy rain landscape nature girl woman dress running

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6/100 of my year-long self portrait project.

This was one of my most spontaneous shoots this year, taken the other day. I was just settling down for dinner and a cozy night indoors when I happened to check the weather forecast, and saw the evening was about to bring in a short window of storm clouds - the only atmosphere we were supposed to get all week (I will always prefer shooting with moody clouds than the hot, bright blue summer skies we've been having lately).

I had this image visual pop into my head a few days earlier, with the idea to capture it at Peyto Lake in Banff National Park... and I figured the next 3 hours of moody clouds was my one window to capture it, if I wanted to get it this week. I turned to my love, Kris, just as he was about to serve up dinner, and asked "um, would you maybe wanna hold off dinner and quickly drive the 2 hours to Peyto lake with me to potentially grab a photo before it's dark out but only if the clouds happen to be just right and then we can have dinner when we get back home by probably 1am?!" The immediate response was, "well, YES. We better go RIGHT NOW!" (friends, get yourself a human who supports your spontaneous dreams ❤️😂)

And so, that's how this image came to be. Sometimes these dinner-delayed spontaneous nights pay off.

Tags:   Peyto lake Banff National Park Canada blue water mountains girl woman gold yellow dress rock wolf lantern landscape nature medeival explored

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