New Mexico

To Walk In Beauty

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One of my pursuits in living here in New Mexico has entailed learning more about the Diné (Navajo) culture.
I came across this blessing today which from my understanding is often traditionally sung during the process of weaving, in reference to Spider Woman, who is said to have first woven the universe and taught the Diné to spread the “Beauty Way” by creating beauty in their own life and thus encompassing the balance of mind, body and soul.

It is also a part of the story that when Spider Woman discovered her abilities and after showing Spider Man, he created tools for her with which to weave out of the Juniper tree (read more here).

A fact that seems even more meaningful to me due to my own fascination and interest in Juniper trees that primarily began sometime last year.

(I don’t fully know why this feels meaningful exactly, other than the fact that I always take note when more than one interest seem to intersect with another…)

The more I learn about this beautiful culture, the more I feel it has to teach us in so many ways.
I thought I would share the blessing here with you today. I got chills reading it and cannot imagine how beautiful it must be in it’s original native tongue.

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To Live Again

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To Live Again

I am sitting cross legged on the earthen floor, thick patterned blankets between me and the dirt. It is dark inside the dome, which is made of 16 willow saplings tied together with cloth and string and covered in worn blankets and I am centered on the doorway, a square of piercing light that frames the fire a half dozen yards away where the fire keepers are excavating the lava stones, Grandfather, from the molten embers. 


“Mitakuye Oyasin,”


I am inside of a sweat lodge, the ceremony, Inipi which means “To Live Again” is to purify and place ourselves in a position of openness to send prayers for ourselves and those we love who are suffering.


“Nothing will hurt you here”

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A Day On The Farm

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A Day On The Farm

There is something special about being intimately invited into people’s spaces, lives and routines in a way that photographs cannot always capture. 

Though, truth be told, it is that very specific situational aspect of life that I am most often drawn to in my photography work. Capturing the raw and unposed moments that conspire within the framework of the mundane and attempting to convey the interpretation of that perceived beauty. 

Raven is someone I’ve met here in New Mexico who has taught me so much about the caring for a type of animal I, admittedly, have not thought too in depth about aside from eating their eggs for breakfast most days of the week… 

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When One Door Closes


So I realized recently that I like taking photos of doors when I travel.
Above is a quick example of a collage I threw together of some of the doors I took photos of when I was in New Mexico a few years ago.
Yea, I said some.
I also apparently did this when I was in England/Scotland last year.
You can see that collage here.

Speaking of New Mexico though, I'm hoping to go through some of those photos to share here on the blog sometime in the upcoming months. 
It still remains one of my favorite places I've visited in the states.
You really are hard pressed to beat the expanse of beauty that is the american west.

What about you?
What have been some of your favorite places to travel?

Ode to Summer

Since today is the last day of Summer I decided to pay a little tribute to it. While Fall is my favorite season, it on occasion runs a tie with Summer (usually when it's the middle of Winter and I'm sick of cold and longing for warm weather again). So Summer, here's to you. You were quite lovely this year. Thanks for some pretty grand times. Hope you're just as nice next year.






























Extra Extra Read All About It


So a lot of good things have been in the works lately, and so I thought I'd share just a few of them with you!

First, I had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite cities this past weekend and it was simply marvelous. More about that soon (complete with an unnecessary amount of photos).

Also, I happened to be reading RVA News yesterday and noticed two of my photos from the most recent street style article are in the newest Capital Style! How neat is that? (Remember the first time?) It's been so cool seeing my work randomly around the internet and even in person on the streets. I've really loved this opportunity of taking pictures for From the Runway to RVA and getting more involved in the fashion world. I've always loved fashion and dressing creatively and uniquely (which you can read more about here), but now I actually have the opportunity to be involved in it with other people and be a part of different photo shoots and other creative aspects involving style and fashion. It's been so much fun. Speaking of which, you'll be seeing a lot more photo shoots and cool articles this upcoming month as we enter into Fall! I'm super excited to be a part of several fun upcoming projects, so keep an eye out for them.

Also I've had so many lovely ladies wanting me to do their senior pictures, which has also been fun. They are, in a sense, models of sorts and so taking their pictures helps me practice. ;)
I have a lot of album updates for the photo page to do though... There have been some very beautiful pictures taken lately.
Which has much more to do with the actual subject being just downright gorgeous rather than the photographer being talented.

And then of course not to mention the Etsy shop should be up and running by the end of the month (fingers crossed).

And on top of that I get to go to Boston for a weekend in October! I've never been to Boston. I'm looking forward to it. To say the least.

Anyway, lots of exciting and interesting things coming up, and with Fall literally just two days away I could not be more excited. All the knitwear I spend all year sporadically making, even in the Summer months, becomes totally justified once the leaves start falling off the trees.

And because I personally don't like blogposts that have big chunks of boring text and nothing pretty to look at (assuming you actually read all of that) here's a photo of some instax polaroids that I took over the Summer in New Mexico.











So what have you got going on this month?