how lovely the silence of growing things//
Yesterday in the garden with fresh flowers, golden sunlight, and Nina Simone playing in the background.
Styled by @gabrielalimliving for @bfivedesign đŤâ¨
Every year is a bolter year when youâre a retreat and travel phototrapher but WOWEEEE that last couple of years have been the best adventure. From Arctic Circle to Antarctica and everywhere in between - what a world.đŤ
#retreatphotographer #travelphotographer #retreatphotography #retreatphotographers #travelphotography #tourguide #internationalretreat
Itâs amazing what happens when you give into what your heart canât ignore anymore.â¤ď¸âđŠš
I loved my life in Guatemala. I can still remember my first day in Antigua at barely 20 years old, in complete awe of this incredible, beautiful city. Wide eyed and so hungry to devour the world and learn anything I could. What was supposed to be a semester abroad turned into a year, then I began the dance of living in both Arizona and Guatemala for the next five years. It was complex and so sacred to have what felt like two different lives. Two totally distinct communities of people who loved me and supported me, but two communities who would never know the other part of me.
Guatemala gave me my career. I found retreat photography because I was at the right place at the right time. It gave me a beautiful relationship that Iâll cherish the memories of forever, it gave me friends that loved me fiercely and protected me. It gave me a dream job with @heartoftravel__.
But one day I started waking up from dreams where the only thing I could see where the mountains surrounding my parents home. I would also have this specific vision of a view in Sedona. This wasnât a one time thing, it would happen weekly, for months. I would hear an old country song and long to be home wandering the desert with my parents, waking to the sounds of the horses outside of where I slept. I knew it was time to go home.
I left Guatemala quickly, because if you know me you know once I make up my mind to do something, I do it. I felt bad for a long time, feeling like I abandoned a country and the people who gave me so much. But now, yearly a year later, I can look back on that time with so much love and fondness. Iâve forgiven myself for jumping ship, and Iâve found so much of myself since then.
All of this is to basically say, you can go home again.đ¤