I originally wrote this for Patreon on September 2nd 2017. I no longer use Patreon and have replaced it with my website (here) but thought I would share some of my old blogs with you for FREE to show my appreciation for you visiting my website! <3

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I met up with Darius Ollison in South Carolina for this shoot. I drove all the way down from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia the day before, on the last couple days of my Philadelphia trip at the end of June. Yeah, I really drove all over the place….. Charlotte NC to Philadelphia PA to Suffern NY to Shenandoah National Park VA to Sunset SC. SO MUCH DRIVING! It was a thousand percent worth it. I had so many amazing fun creative shoots on that trip, and I had a ton of fun doing it! I have a story about why I went to NY state… but that’s for another day. =]

Back to this shoot! I had an entire day to myself for my drive from Shenandoah to SC, so I took my time exploring Shenandoah and then meandered my way down to SC. I just had to make sure to give myself enough time to figure out where I was sleeping before nightfall. I drove straight to the trailhead to make sure I knew where it was since I was meeting Darius there early the next morning. It’s in the middle of nowhere down a rural country road, I felt like I was driving into someone’s farm because there were a few houses nearby on the same road. There was absolutely no cell service so I drove back out into the nearby small town to call AD and let him know I made it and what my plans were for that night. The trailhead was small and secluded enough that I felt safe hunkering down there for the night, which is what I did! I actually enjoy sleeping in my car. I have a piece of memory foam that I’ve cut to fit the entire back of my car and I hang black towels up in the windows so nobody can see in. It’s a minimal setup but I love the freedom of living out of a car – I just need to find a decent place to park. =]

I was woken up in the middle of the night by another car driving in and parking next to me. Up until that point I was totally alone at the trailhead, so I was immediately worried about who this person was and why they were there. Obviously they weren’t going hiking since it was about 1 am. I grabbed my knife and peered around the towel to watch what was going on. It was a guy in a minivan. He checked his phone, wrote in a notebook, and smoked a cigarette. He was there for maybe 5 minutes and then a woman walked up from down the road. She got in the car, they talked for a moment, then drove away. I was so relieved! I was definitely scared for a while.

The next morning I got up extra early so I could drive into town to call AD and let him know I was alright, then drove back to the trailhead to meet up with Darius. He was super nice and funny and I really enjoyed modeling for him. We shot for a couple of hours before the sun got too high. Right after I got dressed a mom and her 2 daughters were coming down the trail! Somehow I have great timing because this has happened at least 3 times at different shoots, I’ll get dressed and right after that people show up!

It was so hard to pick out only a few photos to share with you here, there are SO MANY amazing ones! Make sure to check out this huge set in the galleries! <3

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There are 4 BTS videos (and 6 photos) from this shoot for that show you just how big and beautiful these waterfalls are.  I’ve added 5 videos from Shenandoah National Park as well! There’s also 2 new aerial silks videos! One in which I do a stag leg drop back, purposefully falling backwards through the air, which is actually really fun! The other video is a 4.5 minute long scorpion sequence with a couple of backbends from ankle hang at the end. Dang that is a major workout!

All members have access to this complete 170 image photoset by clicking here, the BTS videos by clicking here, the Shenandoah National Park videos by clicking here, and the aerial silks videos by clicking here.

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