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Ambivalent Ann at a nude beach
CAPTIONS FOR THIS VIDEO:
Hi friends! This weekend I’m sharing a photoset that I took outside of Portland Oregon of my friend Ambivalent Ann. I met her during the nude beach gathering that I facilitated outside of Portland last summer, and we met up again to take photos of each other at a different nude beach. It was super fun. There were other people there but it wasn’t super crowded or overwhelmingly a lot of people. I went to the nude beach that she and I went to another time with other models that I’ll be sharing with you. It was a really great time and it’s a beautiful nude beach and I believe I’ve already shared the photos that she took of me so these are the photos I took of her there. I love that we had access to the water and there was natural trees and grasses and stuff that we could hang out in too and of course the sandy beach which is nice. I’m always definitely a mountain person, but the beach is nice too. If I had the choice I’d go to the mountains before I’d go to the beach, to be honest.
I’m excited that I have finally decided what I want to do. Of course it might change because life happens, things happen, I might be called to do something different, but at this moment I’ve decided that I’m going to be making some changes. I’m really excited about them, and I hope you are too! For those of you who are in the photo level, you’re getting upgraded! I’ll explain that in a second. For everybody, on Mondays at 6pm EST I’ll be doing livestreams on my youtube channel. (I’ll link to that HERE!) Make sure to subscribe to my youtube channel so you can see all the Monday livestreams that I’ll be doing! The first one coming up is this coming Monday the 6th and my mom will be a special guest! We’re going to talk about holding space for all of our feelings, because we’ve both learned a lot about holding space and what that truly means over the last couple of years, and we have knowledge that we would like to share about it. We’ll also probably do some mini meditations at the beginning and end and have a conversation, I’m really excited about that! If you’d like to join our circle on Monday, it’ll be every Monday (this time my mom will be joining!) at 6pm EST on my youtube channel, so subscribe!
Every Thursday at 6pm EST I’m doing a members only live video chat via freeconferencecall. I have topics already scheduled out (CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE) I have the whole list of dates and what all I’ll be discussing (topics) and all of those are up for potential rearranging, changing, upgrading, adding, subtracting. I’m not going to hold myself into a small box of like “this is what I decided to do 3 weeks ago, and I have to follow that 3 weeks from now” when I might have something different going on. It’s like a template, a basic general idea of what I’d like to discuss, but I want to give yall the ability to let me know what you’re interested in and excited about! I would like to cater those Thursday live video chats with yall to what you’re interested in talking about and experiencing. If you want to see what my tentative plan/schedule is, it’s at bunnyluna.com/schedule.
I’m really excited! I’ve wanted to go more into video and more actual community and spending time with each other instead of being like “here’s something that I typed up and here’s photos that I took, that’s it, here enjoy it”. I want to be more connected to yall and have more experiences with you, even if it’s just virtual. For me, especially with everything that’s going on, I’ve really enjoyed the times that I’ve been able to talk to someone and see their face and hear their voice. Even if it’s not in person and it’s just digitally like this. To me it’s so much more connecting than just reading text and seeing a photo. I tend to try to do these blog posts early. Like, today is Thursday (I think? Who knows what day it is). I think today is Thursday. I won’t be starting the live video chats today obviously because you won’t see this video til Saturday. But I like to do things early if it’s something like a blog post and getting photosets ready to show you. I feel like I’m not as present with you when I’m doing that because I’m scheduling stuff for the future. I want to be present with you. I want to have a conversation with you, have a dialogue, see your face, hear your voice (if you’re into that). I would like for us to have a conversation. I want to ask “what is something that you’ve enjoyed that I’ve done?” so I can do more of that.
I’m excited about these changes I’m making. Another change that I’m doing is May 1st I will be discontinuing the photo membership tier, that whole photo membership I won’t sell anymore. I think I have to technically keep it in my store and just have a cap of how many people can join and hide it. Anyone that’s in the photo membership before May 1st will automatically be upgraded to the VIDEO membership on May 1st. I think the only thing different is that since the photo membership is so discounted, like right now I have it at only $10 (usually $15) and the video membership is $33, that’s a HUGE discount. The people that are upgraded from photo to video, they won’t have the video percent off in my store, they’ll have the photo percent off, which I think is 5-10%, but that’s the only thing that would be different, you get everything else. Instead of only having access to the photosets, you’ll also get access to all of my videos that I’ve made since 2015. That’s 5 years of videos, probably thousands of videos, at least hundreds if not thousands. I have a ridiculous amount of content on my website for yall to see already. So if you’re not a photo member, then you already have access to all of these. Video and up already has access to all of my videos. Everybody, all of my members, will always have access to my live video chats. That’s Monday nights on youtube, which is free for everybody, and the Thursday video calls through freeconferencecall which is members only, so all members have access to that. I may or may not record those, the Thursday ones, I don’t know, it depends on how they go and if you’re interested in me recording them. I might record them sometimes, I might not. I’m trying to be open and accepting and willing to change, because I know that nothing stays the same ever, so I might as well let memberships and my website grow with me. I’m trying to make sure I haven’t left anything out. All members have access to all of my videos starting May 1st. If you’re a photo member and you start TODAY, then you’ll only have photo access until May, and then starting May 1st all members of all levels will have video access. I’m excited! Because then I’ll only have 3 membership levels instead of 4 and that will simplify everything. I’ll have the basics of everything which includes video, which I think is important because it allows me to connect with yall in a deeper way.
Starting with video, then first look and all access get extra content for first look and all access… but since you’re watching this then you’re already a member and you probably already know that. I’m really excited, I think since I’m going in the video direction anyway, why keep a photo tier, why not just start at video? In the future, since I haven’t been creating a lot of photo stuff lately, I might not upload a new photoset every week, starting a couple months from now. I have stuff through at least early to mid June at least, from my archives that I haven’t shared yet. So you’re still going to get new consistent content every week at least until early to mid June. Depending on if I’m inspired to create photos or not, and depending on how things work… I think state parks and stuff are closed already so I don’t have as many opportunities to go to the places I’d want to shoot anyway. I don’t want to just shoot everything at my house, I’ve already shot so much here. I might, instead of doing a photoset every week, I might just do videos every week. I don’t know, we’ll see when we get there. I just wanted to give you a heads up because things are changing and I’m trying to be flexible. I think its important to be flexible and to allow things to shift and change and just go with the flow of where life is taking me. I definitely want to go the video route more, I’ve already started that a little bit, and I’m excited to take you on this journey with me!
I’m so thankful yall are here! I literally would not be able to do this without you. Since all of my gigs have been cancelled because of what’s going on in the world, yall are why I have food on the table and I really appreciate that so much! I love that we enrich each other’s lives, and that means a lot to me. I appreciate you and I love you and please let me know if you have things you want me to discuss or questions that you have or things you’d like to learn from me! I have so much stuff in my brain.
Let’s start by, if you have time, checking out the schedule (click here), seeing if the topics for the live chats are something that you’re interested in, and if Thursday at 6pm works for you. It’s a day that I was consistently available, and I figure a lot of people’s schedules have probably changed a lot anyway. I’m going to go with this for now and it’s something that can change in the future if that’s whats best for everyone. I’m excited, I love you, I’m so glad you’re on this wild adventure with me! Thank you so much! I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon!
Don’t forget, Monday, a couple days from now, me and my mom, holding space! On Youtube, 6pm EST! We’re also going to do it on Thursday so Mommy is going to be my special guest all week next week. Yall will get to meet her and converse with her during our private video chat too! If you watch our livestream on Monday and you’re like “oh, I wanna talk to Bunny and Willow about this thing that they mentioned and didn’t talk a whole lot more about it. I wanna ask questions about that!” Come join us on Thursday because she’s going to join me too! We can talk about it because there’s going to be less people and not a livestream on youtube, it’s gonna be an intimate gathering of just members! I’m so excited! I love you! I’ll talk to you soon. Bye!
Click for my youtube channel (and subscribe!)
Click for the schedule with the topics I plan to cover
Click to download freeconferencecall for easy login for the Thursday video chats
Photo members: click here to view the full photoset of Ambivalent Ann at a nude beach outside of Portland Oregon & click here for the BTS
Video members: click here to view the BTS video
First Look members: click here to view the photoset of Tiffany Helms on Bainbridge Island & click here to view the BTS video -
With Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn
Photo members now have access to:
- blog post with the story behind this photoset with Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn in Tacoma Washington
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50 image complete photoset
Video members now have access to:
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everything above
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24 minutes of BTS video
First Look members now have access to:
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everything above
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69 image complete photoset of me taken by Mandy Darling in Olympia Washington
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With Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn
This week’s photoset and BTS video release is from my time with Quinn Sanguine (they/them pronouns) and Megan Ayn (she/her pronouns) in Tacoma Washington during my cross country road trip last summer. I have another set on the way that I took of Quinn and Megan! I stayed with Quinn for almost a week while I was out there, and it was so wonderful to catch up with them again. We originally met a few years ago when they were traveling up and down the east coast before their move to the PNW. You might remember them from previous photosets when they were using a different name (here here here and here if you wanna check those out!). We kept in touch online while they did their own cross country road trip which was also their move from the east coast to the west coast. It was so wonderful to spend time with them again, I consider them a really close friend even if we spend weeks without contacting each other… as soon as we are together it’s as if no time has passed.
I had been wanting to meet Megan for a long time, I knew of her through social media and it was wonderful to finally meet in person! She lives just minutes away from Quinn, and before we were setting up the shoot they had no idea they were so close to each other! Megan is such a kind person and has a great upbeat personality, it was a treat to be able to spend the day with both her and Quinn. I was exhausted and low on energy that day… I almost didn’t shoot any film because there was almost not enough light, but I’m glad I found the one roll of 1600 ISO film that I brought with me. Those photos are coming soon!
CURRENTLY: I’ve been reading a lot over the last few weeks, probably more than I have in the last few years combined. As a kid I used to read allllll the time, but then once I became an adult and was working full time and married… I just didn’t take time to myself to read anymore. I didn’t really realize how much I missed it until I started reading consistently again over the winter.
I recently bought FOUR books by Charles Eisenstein, who has opened up my world and mind to so much more than I ever thought possible. He is the reason I consider myself an ecosexual. Before reading his essay The Ecosexual Awakening I had never even heard of ecosexuality, and now it’s a major part of my life. The label ecosexual gave me the space to be able to fill in and understand a lot of aspects of myself that I didn’t have words for before.
I just finished his book The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible and I just started Climate – A New Story and wow he basically speaks directly to my heart, and it’s everything I’ve been looking for. Have you ever read a book that shifted your perspective so much that something changed inside you? That after reading it, you’re a different person than you were before? That’s Charles Eisenstein’s work for me. After being in despair looking for something to hold on to, something that didn’t crush my heart, something that felt TRUE and REAL and TANGIBLE, his words are giving me hope for humanity and the future of the planet.
If nothing else, I highly recommend watching some of his videos on youtube.
I’m not affiliated with him in any way (though if I was that would be amazing), I just love everything of his that I’ve come into contact with and I hope that his message reaches as many people as possible.
Thank you so much for reading this far, for your continuous support of me, and for your love. I appreciate each and every one of you so much. I literally could not do this without you. Thank you. <3
Photo members: click here to view the full photoset with Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn in Tacoma Washington
Video members: click here to view the BTS video
First Look members: click here to view the photoset of me taken by Mandy Darling in Olympia Washington -
Canyonlands Self Portraits
Photo members now have access to:
- blog post with the story behind this self portrait photoset that I took in Canyonlands during my solo cross country road trip this summer
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91 image complete photoset
Video members now have access to:
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everything above
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8.5 minutes of BTS video
First Look members now have access to:
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everything above
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75 image complete photoset of Pure Rebel next to a river in a Washington rainforest
- 29 image complete photoset of me taken by Pure Rebel in the same place
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18 minutes of BTS video
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Canyonlands Self Portraits
The place where I spent the most time during my cross country road trip (click here for the huge post I made about the whole trip) was southern Utah. I visited for the first time ever in 2016 and absolutely fell in love, so when I was planning my trip I knew I wanted to spend a lot of time there. Most of June 2019 was spent traveling around southern Utah’s National and State Parks. I have never felt the way about any other place than I feel when I’m in Utah. Everything is so vast, colorful, and alive, even if it doesn’t seem like it from the surface. It’s an incredibly spiritual place for me.
After all the hardships of late 2018 and early 2019, I was in an emotionally rough place (though I didn’t fully see it when I was living it), and I spent a whole day in Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park on a day that had a lot of complicated significance to me. I wanted to take back my favorite place as MINE, instead of only having memories of it shared with another.
The day before, I had created 10 self portrait sets in Colorado National Monument and the desert outside of Moab Utah (those sets are coming soon!). I took them in a different way than I usually did, and it opened up a whole new world of possibility. Those self portrait sets that I created shook something up inside of me. It’s as if taking self portraits allows me to come back to myself over and over after self-abandonment, whether abandoning myself is intentional or a subconscious survival mechanism. It is becoming crystal clear to me that being in my body and feeling my emotions, which is exactly what self portraits help me do, is so incredibly healing for my body, mind, and soul.
I’ve been reading an incredible book called The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk (trigger warning for anyone wanting to read it, it’s difficult to read) which has been opening my eyes to the way our brains work differently after trauma, our bodies literally hold onto trauma, and the ways that we can rewire our brains to heal and come back into alignment with ourselves. He describes several different healing modalities and how they assist in healing for trauma survivors such as EMDR (Eye Motion Desensitization and Reprocessing), yoga, psychomotor therapy, IFS (Internal Family Systems therapy), and neurofeedback. A major component in a lot of trauma healing is the ability to be present in your body and acknowledge what you’re feeling without judgment. This is much easier said than done.
At the time, I was still so confused about myself and what I was feeling, but I knew I could let go of my thoughts and just MOVE and FEEL when I took self portraits. I didn’t question what came up, I just allowed my body to move in whatever way felt right. I moved energy in, around, and through myself, and what better way to begin healing than nude in the desert with my feet on the earth.
This is the only self portrait set I took on that emotionally significant day, and it was especially healing for me.
Have you ever done something differently than your normal that shifted something in you?
I’d love to hear about it, feel free to comment below or send me an email at bunnyluna@pm.me <3
Photo members: click here to view the self portrait photoset that I took in Canyonlands during my solo cross country road trip this summer
Video members: click here to view the BTS video
First Look members: click here to view the photoset of Pure Rebel next to a river in a Washington rainforest, click here to view the photoset of me taken by Pure Rebel in the same place & click here to view the BTS video -
Portraitmami & Rhivnnun on a Stormy Hillside
When Rhivnnun visited Charlotte last year they stayed with Portraitmami and the three of us met up for a creative day of photographing each other! We are all primarily photographers but we all model occasionally so we took turns shooting each other at Portraitmami’s apartment and ventured out to this grassy hillside off of a main road to take these photos. The sky was brilliantly stormy and we even got rained on at the end of the shoot but it was so worth it because of the fantastic light and dramatic sky! We even saw a wild turkey in the field nearby! haha
CURRENTLY: I’ve been taking aerial yoga classes, not to be confused with aerial silks because they’re totally different things, but I LOVE any chance to be in silks! I absolutely live for swinging, being upside down, and playing in silks, and aerial yoga has been a great alternative to aerial silks, which I miss a lot but it’s more expensive and further away from home. Now I REALLY want to convince my dad to let me rig up some silks in our living room or something. He’s not super into the idea but of course I’m super into it… hopefully I can convince him that it’s a worthwhile thing to do and it shouldn’t be in the way because we can just drape them into the upstairs hallway when I’m not using them! I have this somewhat thought out already, if you couldn’t already tell haha =]
I’ve been working really hard on finally going through my self portraits from this past summer. I took over 20 different sets and I didn’t touch them at all for so long because it was more important to me to get photos back to other models first. Plus I was kinda overwhelmed and needed to get to a place where I was mentally and emotionally ready to go through them all instead of just forcing myself to do it when it wasn’t the time yet. Well, I’ve officially organized ALL of them and I’m in the process of editing them! YAY! Most of them I won’t even edit because even though they’re digital (WHAT?! WEIRD, I KNOW RIGHT?!) I’m really happy with how they came out without needing to edit them. Some of them really do need edits though, such as the Cave Entrance set I took at Colorado National Monument because the light kept changing. In case you’re wondering, I shot all digital self portraits this past summer because of time and where I was. In National Parks and other public places, as you could imagine, I needed to be really quick with the amount of time I spent nude (sadly). It takes me about 2 minutes to take 50 digital self portraits. It takes at LEAST a half an hour to shoot a 36 exposure roll of film. This is why I shot digital self portraits this summer: time/speed/ease. I’m really excited to start sharing them with you soon!
Video editing is next on my list of backlogged content to go through. I’m really looking forward to being fully caught up! I’m getting closer all the time!
Photo members: click here to view the full photoset of Portraitmami & Rhivnnun on a grassy hillside before a thunderstorm
Video members: click here to view the BTS videos
First Look members: click here to view the photoset of Quinn Sanguine & Megan Ayn & click here to view the BTS video -
Portraitmami & Rhivnnun on a Stormy Hillside
Photo members now have access to:
- blog post with the story behind this photoset of Portraitmami & Rhivnnun on a grassy hillside before a thunderstorm
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25 image complete photoset
Video members now have access to:
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everything above
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9+ minutes of BTS video
- 21 cell phone videos
- 9 BTS photos
First Look members now have access to:
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everything above
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34 image complete photoset of Quinn Sanguine & Megan Ayn
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16.5 minutes of BTS video
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Doubles with Singingsiren44
Photo members now have access to:
- blog post with the story behind this film double exposure photoset of Singingsiren44 in the Rocky Mountains
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37 image complete photoset
Video members now have access to:
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everything above
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8+ minutes of BTS video
- 30 minute nude yoga video for this month
First Look members now have access to:
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everything above
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50 image complete photoset with Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn in Tacoma Washington
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24 minutes of BTS video
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Doubles with Singingsiren44
I met Singingsiren44 through Instagram and met up with them in person in Denver Colorado during the first part of my cross country road trip this past summer. They were so generous and offered for me to stay for a couple of days in their apartment and during one of those days we took a day trip to the Rocky Mountains to spend some time in nature and take some photos. They drove til we found a spot off of the road that seemed like it would be a good place to explore, and it just so happened to be mountainous woods next to a river! We spent the better part of a morning and early afternoon there relaxing, talking, taking photos, and exploring the woods. I shot two rolls of them, this double exposure roll (doubled with the woods we were in!) and a regular roll, and we even made a creator interview video! I’ll be releasing that sometime soon. I shot most of the roll of just them, and then at the end of the roll I took some self portraits with them!
CURRENTLY: After the first of the year I’ve started going back on Instagram VERY sparingly, basically just to check my messages and look at only certain people’s pages to see what new stuff they’ve been sharing. Once I get the notification that I’ve been on there for an hour I shut it off and don’t go back on for at LEAST a day or more. I’m much happier with these stricter boundaries for social media, I want it to work for me, not me working for it. I still have some more figuring out to do in terms of finding out what boundaries work for me so that I can both be productive and share my work but also not spend much time on it. I still haven’t posted anything, and that’s okay.
Recently I’ve been making a few videos that are different from the videos I typically make, and I want to continue making videos of all kinds. Mostly for my website and youtube, even though I can’t share anything nude on youtube… it’s just this massive platform and I want people to be able to find me on there. Youtube is the second most used search engine in the world after Google, so it would be silly if I made videos and didn’t use it. You can subscribe to my channel here! I have 3 videos on there so far but I’ll be adding more, don’t worry. =]
I’m still in hibernation, and probably will be through February at least. I don’t plan on shooting or traveling until March or later. Yes, I have enough content that I’m still working on from 2019 that I don’t need to start shooting again for a while and also keep up with sharing new content with yall every week! It’s been really extremely nice to slow down and not have the stress of feeling like I’m constantly going and doing and accomplishing and and and…
If you have a chance to slow down, I highly recommend it. Especially during the winter when a lot of nature is also hibernating. It’s the natural time of the year to slow down and go within, so why not follow the cycles of nature? You are part of nature, after all. <3
Photo members: click here to view the full double exposure photoset of Singingsiren44 in the Rocky Mountains
Video members: click here to view the BTS video & click here to view the nude yoga video for this month
First Look members: click here to view the photoset with Quinn Sanguine by Megan Ayn in Tacoma Washington & click here to view the BTS video -
Summer 2019 Cross Country Road Trip
OVERALL ROAD TRIP STATS
-69 days on the road (ALL of June & July)-9 states visited
-29 National Parks, National Monuments, and State Parks visited (+ many other natural areas)-10,000+ miles driven-41 nights spent in my van-20 nights spent with friends
-7 nights spent in airbnbs
-16 photoshoots as either the photographer or model
-18 rolls of film taken of other people
-20 rolls taken of landscapes for double exposures
-29 self portrait sets taken
-140 video blogs taken (I only missed 2 or 3 days the entire trip!)CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF MY DAILY VIDEO BLOGS AND TRAVEL PHOTOS FOR FREE!!!
I wrote weekly trip updates for my mailing list while I was on the road this summer. I’m going to share with you what I’ve already shared with them, that way you’ll have more details from when it all was fresh on my mind!
Click here, scroll down, and enter your email to join my free mailing list! I periodically share free stuff, blogs, upcoming events, travel notices, casting calls, and other awesome stuff!UPDATE 1
I’m currently at Ignite! A small burn (think Burning Man but a LOT smaller – like 600 people) in the Virginia mountains. This is my second year in a row coming here. Last year was transformative and I’m excited to see what kind of experiences I have this time around!I get home from Ignite on Monday and I’ll have 3 days to unpack, do laundry, repack, say goodbye (for now) to loved ones, then I’m leaving on the 31st for my first solo cross country road trip!!!!I’ve been dreaming of visiting ALL of the National Parks for so long, and this summer I’m going to visit a BUNCH of them! First I’m heading straight over to Denver Colorado. I’ll be there for a day or two, then I’ll be off to Utah for a week or so before I make my way through California, Oregon, and Washington.I’ll be sending out regular updates so you can follow along on my journey!Here’s a list of the places I’m hoping to visit throughout June & July:McInnis CanyonsArchesCanyonlandsDead Horse PointCapitol ReefBryce CanyonZionCastle MountainsJoshua TreeSequoiaKings CanyonDeath ValleyYosemiteLassen VolcanicRedwoodCrater LakeNorth CascadesMt RainierOlympicI’ll be spending most of my time in June by myself in the desert. I’ll be taking a lot of self portraits, video blogs (vlogs), and creating courses (more on that soon!). I’ve never spent more than a week or so by myself so I’m really looking forward to getting to know myself better, and spending a LOT of time outdoors.In July I’ll be meeting up with creatives in Seattle and Portland, I’m so excited!
Colorado National MounumentUPDATE 2
My 2 month solo cross country road trip has officially begun! I left NC Friday the 31st and drove to southern Illinois, stayed with Tiffany Nacke for the night, photographed each other and hung out the next day, then I continued west and made it to Topeka Kansas late Saturday night. Sunday I drove all day and made it to Denver before sunset! I’m really proud of myself for making the trip from Charlotte NC to Denver CO in only 3 days. WHEW!Monday I stayed with my new friend Singingsiren44 and on Tuesday we drove into the Rockies and took photos in the mountain wilderness. On Wednesday I drove to Colorado National Monument, stayed the night, and explored more on Thursday (and almost got in big trouble with a park ranger but I am privileged and LUCKY AS FUCK and didn’t). After the ranger incident I decided to go ahead and head to MY FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH Moab Utah. I’ve been here since Thursday evening and I’m SOOOO happy to be here again. I’ve taken 11 self portrait sets (10 of them in 1 day), visited Canyonlands, Arches, Dead Horse Point, Castle Valley, and the La Sal Mountains.Yesterday and today I’m relaxing because I’ve been going non-stop and need a break!I’m making daily vlogs about my travels, click here to watch them! (And find out more about the park ranger situation haha)
Dead Horse Point State ParkUPDATE 3
I’m on day 22 of my road trip and whoa… out in Southern Utah amongst several National Parks it’s pretty difficult to find reliable internet and facilities. It’s been nice being semi off the grid (sometimes I get 4G on my phone so I can post to IG, answer emails etc), but now I have a BUNCH of computer work to do and there aren’t a ton of places to do it. I’ve been able to find showers and laundry easier than I’ve been able to find places with free wifi. Small town coffee shops so far have worked best for me, but they’re not in every town.I’ve been having a wonderful time exploring so many bucket list places since my last update: Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase – Escalante, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Valley of Fire, and Red Rock Canyon. I took a bunch of self portraits at Goblin Valley, Bryce Canyon, and Valley of Fire and I’m so excited to look through them!I’m currently in Vegas, even though I originally planned to skip it entirely. I’d rather be in nature than in big cities, but my body and mind needed a BREAK and I found a great airbnb for pretty cheap, so I’m here for 2 nights and it’s WONDERFUL. I took a SHOWER for the first time in a week, I did LAUNDRY, I’m sleeping in a bed that’s not in the back of my van for the first time in 2 weeks. It feels so gooooooooooood to be in a climate controlled house, in a big bed, on my computer getting stuff done. Also relaxing. Bigtime relaxing. Doing heavy emotional work on myself. Celebrating the fact that I still have over a month of road trip adventure left on this trip and I’ve listened to myself and my BODY when I needed a break from the constant go go go.If I can find a place to work for like, one day a week, I feel wayyyyy less stressed. I have a lot of stuff I can do on my phone with 4G, but there’s a LOT of stuff that I need my laptop and wifi to do, like this newsletter and uploading videos etc and if I wait for over a week to do anything I start to get really stressed out because I see the work piling up on me. I am here and being productive and also RESTING and RELAXING at the same time and ohhhhhh it feels great. <3I’ve continued to make at least one vlog every day so you can follow along on my journey, click here for the entire gallery of videos! There’s a LOT.
Valley of Fire State Park
UPDATE 4Officially one month on the road and I’m exhausted, but very happy.Since my last update I…-Spent a few days at an amazing Airbnb in Joshua Tree with some friends and made some AWESOME art (coming soon to my website!)-Got a stick n poke tattoo-Spent an afternoon in Joshua Tree National Park-Spent 2 days driving through and exploring Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (holy shit Sequoias are huge and old, wow such energy)-Spent 3.5 days driving north through the Eastern Sierras, visiting Alabama Hills, Sabrina Lake, Mammoth Lakes, June Lake, Silver Lake, Mono Lake, and Lake Tahoe-Had a few days of freaking out because I took the saniderm off of my tattoo too early (late night bad decision that I REGRET), and was scared that I got it infected which turned into me feeling like I’m not taking care of myself and like I’m a failure (it’s healing better now but I’ll probably need to get it touched up)-Learned that I should probably not get tattoos while on the road-Had my first experience since being on the road of having trouble finding a place to sleep… a couple nights ago I went to FIVE different places before finally settling down at the SIXTH place. Drove around for an hour and a half trying to find a place I felt safe to sleep. Whew. Glad that’s only happened once so far.-Spent a lot of time next to rivers, lakes, and waterfalls. If you’re ever at Lake Tahoe I HIGHLY recommend Eagle Falls! It gets busy really fast so go early morning!-Decided to skip Yosemite because the main road into the park doesn’t open until after the timeframe I’ve planned to be in that area. Plus, I believe Yosemite deserves more of my time than just 2 days. I want to come back next year for at least a week. Apparently there’s a Vipassana center there?! I REALLY want to do a Vipassana and OMG how amazing would it be to do one in YOSEMITE?!-Am FINALLY spotting on day 45 of my cycle!!!! Last time I went on a road trip my body did this… waited a LONG time before bleeding. I guess it’s the extra stress on my body from all the traveling.July is when ALL THE THINGS happen! I spent pretty much all of June completely by myself, but July is when I’m being hosted by model friends, having a bunch of photoshoots, and hopefully doing even more hiking!I serendipitously scheduled myself to be in Portland on the same weekend as the Oregon County Fair and I’ve heard about how amazing it is so I plan to go at some point during that weekend. =]I’m currently at an airbnb outside of Reno for the weekend so I can do a TON of computer work, shower, and DO LAUNDRYYYYYYY! Clean sheets and wifi are such a luxury.
Joshua Tree National Park
UPDATE 5Since my last email I’ve visited Lassen Volcanic National Park, Arcata CA, Redwoods National & State Parks, and (briefly) Eugene OR. I had an overnight camping and half day shoot adventure with a photographer in Lassen, which was a trip! I was NOT expecting it to be as cold or for THAT MUCH SNOW to still be on the ground! There were sections of the park that were still under about 6 feet of snow… IN JULY! A couple of lakes were still ice and snow covered, with just the tiniest bit of BRIGHT BLUE water peeking out underneath. The campground we stayed at was not in the snowy area (thank goodness) but there was definitely a fair amount of snow still on the ground in the forest nearby. Lassen was definitely on the more extreme side of landscapes to model in. I scraped my body up posing on sharp pine needles, rough tree bark, and even inside of a burnt-out tree!I spent a couple days with friends in Arcata CA, and I fell in LOVE! <3 They live NEXT TO A REDWOOD FOREST so of course I took a walk in the forest every day I was there. It was incredible, I wish I lived close to a space like that. Ferns as tall as I am, clovers as big as my palm, and Redwoods towering above. It’s magickal in there. Not only is Arcata beautiful forest-wise, but it’s also only a few minutes away from the Pacific Coast. They took me to Moonstone beach and my first time seeing/touching the Pacific ocean did NOT disappoint. There were huge rocks, lush green caves, and TIDE POOLS! My first time seeing tide pools, too… such a beautiful mini-ecosystem.After I left Arcata I went through Redwoods National & State Parks, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. I spent most of the day driving through groves of enormous trees and happened to park at the trailhead for Big Tree which is 286 feet tall, over 23 feet in diameter, and estimated to be about 1500 years old. All of the parks were wonderful, but I think my favorite was Howland Hill Road through Jedidiah Smith. It’s a really narrow 2 way dirt road that’s 10 miles long and takes you through a big chunk of the park and has lots of places to stop along the road. There are a few places where the massive trees are growing so close together that only one vehicle can get through at a time. I did part of the Boy Scout Tree trail which was GORGEOUS, but it was almost sunset and I ran out of time to walk the whole trail. I definitely want to go back and spend more time there in the future.I just got to Portland (after a very brief stop in Eugene for food and sleep), and I’m in a coffee shop getting some computer work done until I can meet my friend at his place after he gets off work. I have an exciting few days coming up! I have a half day shoot with a photographer outdoors somewhere, and the next day I have a modelographer group shoot at a nude beach! AHHHH so excited!As always, I have lots of new daily travel vlogs for you to watch! click here
Columbia River GorgeUPDATE 6
Oregon is GORGEOUS, y’all!I’ve spent the last several days here in Portland and I’m LOVING IT! I’ve had a shoot every day, including the nude beach gathering group shoot a few days ago which was SUPER FUN! By the end we had a naked cuddle pile of 8 people on the beach while a photographer photographed us with their drone! AHHH! I am SO EXCITED to see all of the images from that day, I got a sneak peek of the drone shots and OMGGGG <3If you’re ever in Portland and want to see lots of gorgeous nature stuff, go to the Columbia River Gorge area. Just… wow. I’ve spent 2 days there this week and I’m in LOVE. Beaches, waterfalls, forests, mountains… it’s all there.I’m heading to Seattle soon for another week full of photoshoots. I’m meeting up with some friends I’ve shot with before and also meeting several new people I’ve followed for a long time, so I’m looking forward to creating lots of art. As always. =]
Mt Rainier National ParkUPDATE 7
I’ve been spending the last 2 weeks with a shoot just about every day, and they’ve all been wonderful! The shoot that I’m most excited to tell you about is the nude beach group shoot I organized outside of Portland.None of us knew everyone, most of us knew one or two people, and some of us had never even met anyone… and we all came together with creativity and love. We spent a decent amount of time just hanging out at first, then once most of us were there we all got in a circle and introduced ourselves and said what we could contribute to the group (photographer, model, assistant, BTS etc). I led us through a really short group meditation, then we talked about what we all wanted to do first, made some vague plans, then started shooting! The group morphed and changed, smaller groups broke off from the whole, people moved from group to group, and by the end of the day we had an 8 person nude cuddle pile while Jake took drone shots of us from above!It was an incredible experience and now I’m more excited than ever to start planning more in-person creative gatherings.
Glacier National ParkUPDATE 8
Holy moly why have I never made a trip to Montana or Wyoming before?! It’s GORGEOUS here!!!Since my last newsletter, I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Tetons National Park! After I was in Tacoma for about a week, I went back to Portland for another last minute shoot, then I headed East for the first time in about 2 months. I drove from Portland to Glacier, spent a couple nights there, then a couple nights in Yellowstone, drove through some of Grand Teton, and now I’m in Thermopolis WY staying with friends of the family for a couple nights. I’m doing as much computer stuff as I can today while I have wifi, and this evening I’ll probably go check out the hot springs in town! I’ve been near a lot of hot springs on this trip but I have yet to get in one… hopefully I’ll have experienced a natural hot spring for myself before my next newsletter!I probably won’t be doing these newsletters every week (like I have been) once I’m back home because I won’t have as much to talk about. I plan on locking myself in the house and going through the THOUSANDS of photos I’ve taken on this cross country adventure and getting them ready to share with members of my website. I’ll probably do newsletters every 2 weeks or once a month in the future.*If you follow my instagram and watch my stories regularly, you’ve probably seen that I’ve been going through a lot of emotional stuff lately. I made a really vulnerable vlog about what’s going on with me personally that’s in there with my other daily vlogs. If you’re curious what’s been going on with me, that video explains it really well.*click here for the daily travel vlogs I’ve been making for this trip!
Yellowstone National ParkUPDATE 9
I got home on August 7th after 69 days on the road. This is by far the longest trip I have ever been on, and the longest time I’ve been on my own in my entire life. It changed my life, honestly. I now enjoy spending time by myself, and look forward to it! I never wanted to be alone before. I care even LESS what people think of me, which is really awesome because now I have a lot more room in my brain for much better things like what I want to eat and where I want to explore next! hahaI have complete faith in myself that no matter what life throws at me, I can handle it. It might be hard and uncomfortable, but I am capable. I have a large support system of wonderful family and friends and if I should falter, I know they will help pick me back up. I am so grateful.Since July 1st….I’ve visited: Lake Tahoe, Lassen Volcanic, Arcata, Redwood, Portland, Tacoma, Mt Rainier, Bainbridge Island, Olympia, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Thermopolis, and Bloomington! (California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Illinois)I had 13 photoshoots. I organized a nude beach gathering with 8 other people. I went to 2 different nude beaches. I drove over 5000 miles. I stayed with friends for 20 nights and slept in my van 17 nights.I saw the Pacific ocean for the first time, saw tidepools for the first time, and had my first natural hot spring experience!I became single, by choice, for basically the first time in my life. I’ve learned that solo polyamory and relationship anarchy feel the best for me in terms of relationship at this point in my life.Now I have 18 rolls of film to get developed… OH MY GOSH I’ll have SO MUCH to share with members of my website once I get all of my photos back and in order! I so look forward to sharing all of this wonderful nude art!!!
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Arches National Park