On The Road Again

September 24, 2020 in Travel

I am headed out on The Road.

I don’t know yet how long I’ll be gone but I’m connecting some dots between some photo jobs, vintage picking and most of all—

Answering the pull to be out amidst new and natural wonders of the country I call home in the simple, free and easy way I miss so much.

Although, I’m not sure how free and easy it will be.

I don’t know what I’ll encounter out there as the world has changed quite a bit since I was last out in it ten months ago.

Granted, The Road for me usually encompasses large periods of time alone, away from people, out in nature.

But I always enjoy meeting others wherever I happen to be. Hearing their story, exchanging some communal goodness and good will between passing kindred spirits.

But now, I won’t be able to interact with people and make friends quite in the same way.

The Road has been built up and elusively out of reach in my mind this last almost-a-year.
I have felt grounded and content at home and enjoyed my sweet Virginia more than I have in a good long while.
Made new friends and loves and discovered new corners of home that were before unknown.

All of which I am so grateful for.

So I’ll come back.
(I always come back.)

But I am a woman with a two sided nature—I love to be here and I love to also be there.
Here and away—both are home.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to have both in quite this way, or if this will be the end of my wanting it even— but I need to go out and see if The Road, this ever persistent promise, is what I remember it to be.

—————●—————

I am opening my books for @agirlnamedleneyphotography for the next little while, so if you’re somewhere out there and have a photography or documentation proposition for me
(or some of your grandparents clothes/quilts you want me to buy for @folkling)
— shoot me a message.

xo
—————●—————

The Road

December 11, 2019 in Travel, Thoughts

I think this film photo from Washington a few months ago is just about the most accurate and perfect portrait representation of my year.

The Road.

One of the foremost loves of my life.

I have been home for two weeks now.

333 days before that were spent largely in my car all across this country.

But now I am back in Virginia, I won’t say for how long, mostly because I don’t know. And though it makes others uncomfortable I’m usually okay with not knowing. It puts me in a place of trust in something (someone) other than myself and I know that’s the best place to be.

I am happy.

To be amongst my people and the other strips of pavement that don’t represent the proverbial “Road” to me, but are open and inviting nonetheless. Familiar in their curves and bumps, they illicit a different type of pleasure. One of anchored contentment, knowing and recognition.

Of home.

Consistency too.

Which has always been one of the two dualities in my makeup.

My love for nesting, being in a space of my own and near my people who I’ve spent a decade or two or (nearly) three doing life with.

But also my addiction to newness—it is the thing in me that tugs at my center when I’ve been stationary and stagnant too long.

Which I recognize not only as a physical state but a mental one as well.

Most people think this is a thing I will outgrow.

A characteristic of indecision and lack of maturity. Of youthful “wanderlust” and do-it-now-while-you-can.

I used to believe them.

Used to be ashamed of my insatiable appetite and voracious curiosity. “You’re just restless” people would say.

“Oh, you’re finding yourself…”

But actually, I’ve known for quite some time who I am.

I have for most of my life.

As a child I remember being quite sure of things. Sure of myself. Sure of what I wanted to do. It is only with age that I somehow reverted and lost this confidence.

Perhaps because there is more at risk. But I don’t even know if I really believe that.

I think we get tricked into thinking there’s more to lose, but really, it’s the same always. We are just more trusting when we are new and resilient to the voices trying to tell us otherwise.

I’m fortunate to have a few people in my life who encouraged and watered the garden of my abnormalities but there is only so much you can do in the way of becoming grounded in yourself with others trying to do all of the work for you. At some point you need to take root in the knowing yourself and do some pruning of your own.

I encountered a great many people this year who thought what I was doing, traveling alone as a woman, quite insane and unsafe.

But I also encountered those who encouraged it.

But neither should matter. Whichever way the scale tips in its outward affirmation of who we are: we know.

We know because if you pause long enough to listen, you will hear that rhythm inside of you that was created and placed in exactly you and made to push you towards your place of purpose.

Folkling Vintage | The California Coast

August 27, 2019 in Folkling, Travel

I have been in California for part of August, and while there I picked up a few vintage finds for folkling.

Shooting these pieces while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway was such a fun artistic endeavor for me.

It is combining many of my loves, photography, vintage, travel, all into one.

I appreciate all of you who’ve supported Folkling over the last two years of its existence. It’s a venture that I get so much enjoyment out of and not only something I preach, but practice.
I truly believe in the sustainability and ethical consciousness in buying secondhand first and appreciating that which already exists in the world.
Additionally, you are fueling my life on The Road in more ways than one, and that’s a dream for which I cannot thank you enough.

If you are interested in any of these pieces, shoot me a direct message through the Folkling instagram.
Thank you to everyone who sees value in shopping slow.
xo

Life On The Road

July 12, 2019 in Travel

It’s been a little over six months since I hit the road in my Subaru, Blue Moon, and headed West.
I thought I would make more time for posts here on the journal, have a proper road log if you will, but clearly the last post having a time stamp of ‘March’ proves otherwise. I’m even silent on Instagram most days.

While I do make time to write at least a little almost every day, I am too engaged with the real world it seems to enter into the virtual one to share with you all as much as I would like.
The validation of life lived outside of screens and not shared with others, aside from whoever you’re presently with, is a thing I admit I wrestle with on occasion. Especially in my profession as a photographer. For what are images to be made for if not to share and tell stories with?

I have a pretty solid line when it comes to my personal life in this way, but I am finding the line moving closer and closer the longer I choose to travel and live in the way that I do. Whether that’s a specific feeling that comes with age or with a learned focus in the value of intimacy— I am still in the process of understanding. Perhaps it is a little of both.

It’s been a very busy year though, and I have been working on a myriad of projects that I hope to share more about soon. Most of what I’ve been working on is still in the process and creation and becoming stages, which is a space I’m not sure I’ve ever spent quite this much time in before.
My turnaround time for projects and ideas is usually a bit quicker, or there’s at least some measure of sharing about the journey of it all along the way, but I am finding that the richer and more rewarding projects deserve more space and time to become what they deserve to be. I am learning to sit with things longer than I am used to being comfortable with and not rushing creation for the sake of producing and proving productivity.

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

March 06, 2019 in Photography, Travel

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
//
Portraits of Heath Herring in Silver City, New Mexico

Somewhere on the road in California during The Wild + Wonderful American Road Trip. Shot on 35mm film — *Somewhere on the road in California during* *The Wild + Wonderful American Road Trip. Shot on 35mm film*

Your Home Is The Road

January 05, 2019 in Travel

Putting this next season of my life into words feels nearly impossible.

I have been dreaming of this exact moment for so long, and to have it here, happening, and in process is the most incredulous thing to me. It truly leaves me in awe and in somewhat of a state of disbelief.

Such is the feeling, perhaps, of realized dreams.

I have been on the road for 7 days. Which is the average length of most of my travels.
The longest I’ve ever been away from Virginia, my home state, was during The Wild + Wonderful American Road Trip this past Summer, which was an adventure lasting 59 days through 30 states.

I have travelled extensively throughout my lifetime, visiting 44 of the 50 states in America and 9 other countries besides. I am so fortunate in that, I realize. But it is my life’s passion. I give up and do without a lot of things so that I can go as much as I do.
(You can read a little bit more about that here in this post if you like)

I have been wanting to do something like this for a number of years.

*Walden Pond shot in Kodak Gold 35mm film Winter 2017*

On The Move

January 04, 2019 in Travel, Slow Living

It has been a little over a year now since I left and moved away from Richmond.
Granted, only to the bay, which is a second home and place of familiarity in and of itself, but it’s the first time I have ever lived anywhere other than in the city I have called home for my entire life.

This is not something I have ever explicitly shared on the internet, and something that many people still don’t really know about me, though here and there over the course of the year it has been implied and referenced in varying ways or conveyed in person to various individuals.

But to spell it out, a year ago I packed up my apartment in The Fan and (after many many trips because I stubbornly refused to rent some sort of Uhaul which made the whole process way harder than it needed to be…) moved to the bay.

The move was made for a number of reasons, and I wasn’t really sure how long I’d be there, but it was mostly an initial attempt at listening to a voice I have had echoing in me for several years that I hadn’t fully listened to until that point.

A voice telling me I needed to go.

Artists In Film | Jeanie Tomanek of Everywoman Art in Marietta Georgia

December 18, 2018 in Photography

I wish I remembered exactly how Jeanie Tomanek’s work came into my life.
I do remember a Winter afternoon in 2015, looking at her Etsy shop and being captivated by the elusive and etherial figures and scenes she depicted in her paintings.
I favorited nearly every single one.
I soon discovered she had an instagram and after following, would regularly click on her account, drawn time and time again to the peaceful and dreamlike imagery that, to me, conveyed this spirit of hope and resilience.

A theme she often focuses on when painting, I later learned after meeting her.

I finally purchased one of her originals, which you can see here, titled Tiny Bit of Faith, which reminded me of the great many leaps of faith I’ve taken in my life, and how each and every time I have always landed after leaping.

A thing you can forget when you are on the precipice or in mid air.

Hitchin England | Siobhan

December 09, 2018 in Travel, Photography

These are portraits of a dear friend of mine. She lives in England. We’ve been friends for about seven years, but met in person for the first time this year.
Okay, there is more to this story…

Siobhan and I have been internet friends through our blogs for longer than we’ve had Instagram. I remember having my blog on Blogger when she started following it, and I remember her blog, Bless The Weather, on Wordpress back when she was mostly knitting and only dabbling in taking photos. (For those of you who don’t know, she’s a kick ass full time photographer now.)
We have come a long way in the development of our businesses, but more importantly our friendship.

Spaces In Film | The Jupiter Flats in Joshua Tree California

December 06, 2018 in Travel, Photography

Much like Artists In Film, Spaces In Film is focused around a more intentional and simple documentation of intriguing interiors and favorite vignettes found on the road.

This first space I am sharing with you is The Jupiter Flats, an Air BnB in Joshua Tree California that was a stop during The Wild + Wonderful American Road Trip.

My favorite spaces are the ones that incorporate the outdoors into their functionality and everyday living. They are the ones I find myself happiest in. Closer in routine to that which we came from. A natural invitation to rewild.

We spent the evening unpacking and repacking our bags, playing vinyl records, turning on the twinkle lights, making a batch of margaritas from our earlier-in-the-day purchased roadside tequila, and soaking our clothes and then ourselves in the outdoor tub.

As the day wore out and the stars grew more contrasted as the sun rotated further from our patch of sky, it was apparent that this space was not only a respite for our road weary bodies, but our minds as well.

On The Road Again

The Road

Folkling Vintage | The California Coast

Life On The Road

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

Your Home Is The Road

On The Move

Artists In Film | Jeanie Tomanek of Everywoman Art in Marietta Georgia

Hitchin England | Siobhan

Spaces In Film | The Jupiter Flats in Joshua Tree California

There is a wilderness inside of me.
This space is the documentation of my humble attempt at it's navigation.
Sometimes through words.
Sometimes through images.

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