From Passion to Profession

My path to professional creative was anything but straight and narrow. It might, in fact, resemble a birds eye view of a river where dozens of tributaries converge and flow into the sea.

*If you are hoping to read a how-to guide about building a successful career this is not that. However, if you are interested in reading about my journey through the creative space, where I share how I am currently making money, and the strange stories that got me here, then please, keep reading :)*

When I left Florida [almost six years ago] my cross-country move was entirely inspired by Ashtanga yoga, and deepening my personal practice through Mysore. At the time, I had just graduated my 200 hr YTT, was working full time at an Italian restaurant and had almost no social life, due to my staunch focus on figuring out my future. Mind you, I never attended college, apart from the first semester I enrolled in purely literature classes only to drop out when I felt my money could be better spent once I had honed in on what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The concept that teenagers should have their entire life plan and career path decided upon graduating high school still baffles me. 

My younger brother & I working together at ‘That’s Amore’

Morning yoga in my loft. Pincha Mayurasana, or forearm balance.

Somewhere on hwy 10, on the maiden voyage in my van.

Creating art has always been an outlet I used to express myself. During my teen years I would sketch a lot. Line-work really intrigued me, and I would tend to keep one page of drawings to the same theme. When I finally got a cell phone with a camera (I think it was the iPhone 2?) I would take photos of plants and shells around town that inspired me, sometimes spending an absurd amount of time making a single image ‘perfect’ in my mind (thank you, OCD).

One of my earlier expressions of art.

Sacred geometry has always inspired me. (I now have that daisy with outer stitching, sans heart tattooed on my forearm)

Plants & shells are still my favotire subject.

If you’ve read my About Me then you know that after initially arriving in San Diego and finding my community, I didn’t stay long before hitting the road in my ‘83 Vanagon. I spent the following 2 years traveling both internationally and throughout the western portion of the continent with my dog Koda, documenting through iPhone photos + lengthy Instagram captions. Along the way I happen to meet several other established photographers (who were also travelers or vanlifers) that I assisted (unpaid) on backcountry photoshoots for apparel brands or magazines featuring journalistic pieces. The idea that I could monetize the lifestyle I was already living began to intrigue me. 

The Wave, Arizona

Salento, Colombia

Captain Kodabear, in Mammoth, Ca

Something that I feel is important to mention is that unlike a lot of the ‘travel photographers and influencers’ who took to traveling in the movement of Instagram, my priority was always experiencing. I live for travel. If Instagram, or digital marketing were to vanish, I would still be traveling full time and simply find another way to create an income. I was living in a van before it was cool, and I feel like that’s why working on the road has always come naturally to me. Which I suppose is a good segue into how I was making a living at the time…

In those first two years I really lived up to the stereotype of ‘hippie chick in a VW van’. I worked seasonally in the redwood mountains of Humboldt County trimming marijuana. My first year was honestly the last lucrative year before legalization and the entire industry changed. I met people from all around the world (known as Trimmigrants) who had traveled to the Emerald Triangle to work in the greenhouses with the plants, potting, pruning, harvesting and lastly trimming. In that first year I made over 10K in just three months, learned so many time-passing brain games (some of which I still play with friends today) and unknowingly dove head first into a journey of growth and development (spend countless hours sitting in silence, fixated on a single task and just see how many times a day you digest your own brain).

As a vanlifer the cost of living is so minimal, which is what draws so many of us to this lifestyle today. After three solid months of work (7 days a week, from sunrise till around 10 pm) I would spend the following nine months traveling, living minimally, enjoying the fruits of my labors from driving circles around the continent to a handful of international trips as well.  As I traveled, gaining experiences, learning from humans of all walks of life, I was also falling more in love with photography and writing (most of which never saw the light of day, simply because I wrote for me). At this point I invested in my first DSLR (Nikon D3200) and finally began pursuing photography in the form of branding work in the apparel and food and beverage space. Product photography is a great way to sharpen your skills because the subject is inanimate. You can play for hours, without any pressure, changing composition, lighting, foreground, etc, which can be super helpful when initially finding your groove. 

Koda bear at Lake Louise in Banff, Canada.

Yosemite Valley, one of my first photographs on a DSLR.

Still to this day, a lot of how I successfully create relationships with brands and clients is: first identifying what constitutes a brand I am willing and interested in working with (for me this means sustainability, message / representation from the brands owners, similar aesthetic as my own, etc). Then, knowing what I want, I spend A LOT of time researching to find brands that align with my desires, and finding a form of contact (sometimes an email to the company at large, sometimes finding someone who specifically works there, and even sometimes just a good ole fashion slide in the DM’s). 

One of the in-house team-building projects I was assigned to create was a ‘movie poster redesign’, where the employees voted on their favorite. I redesigned ‘Frozen’ with a Game of Thrones twist.

Around the end of my second year traveling I built myself a modest website through Squarespace. At the time I only had an iPad which is what I did all of my photo editing, emailing and website creation on. Having a website or digital portfolio increases the likelihood that someone will hire you ten-fold, no matter how minimal the content is. I began receiving emails & inquiries via contact forms through my website shortly after, though because I am still a small fish in an incredibly large pond those requests are few and far between.

In a world of communication and perpetual growth networking is the key to success. So many of my opportunities throughout the years have been due to a connection I’d made either in person, at a job or an event, or online, on Social media or elsewhere. By success I mean, the opportunity to experience a trip, make friends, get a job, find a place to rent, etc! Whatever your personal goal is. The older I get, the more important having a community and solid group of like-minded individuals around me feels evermore important. 

Through a friend of a friend I was introduced to the owner of a large Ad agency in San Diego who was looking to hire a social media specialist. At the time I’d just journeyed down from Alaska where I was working as a Sea Kayak Guide and ended up becoming the resident adventure photographer, yoga teacher, blog writer and social media manager. I felt like this was the perfect opportunity to take my knowledge and experience and apply it on a large scale. I spent a total of eight months in what I would truly call a stint of ‘furthering education’ where I worked alongside some of the most talented strategists, and learned a wealth of knowledge about branding, marketing, design and communication at a high level. 

This was the only time in the past six years that I hadn’t been on-the-road full time, so the need to wander was growing to the point I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I resigned from the agency to return back to freelance life, which, unfortunately the timing coincided with a global pandemic. Speaking of a pandemic…. *segue*... I want to fast forward to today and share all of the many tributaries that make up my river.

In addition to my personal Instagram, I am currently involved with three other social media brands that I work for on a range of positions from full management, to branding strategy and design to engagement and marketing tactics. 

While my partner, Travis, and I were ‘stuck’ in New Zealand I built him a new website that brought his brand presence to a new level. Subsequently, our friends who own a small campervan company who had so generously lent us one of their vans during our stay, hired me to build them a website as well. (If you’d like to see either, here is Travis Burke and Big Little Campers) Since then I have also designed a site for my girlfriend in Florida who has a Yoga Equine experience shala in Orlando. Check it out here: CabaYoga.

Throughout these years my database of clients & partnerships I have has grown to a place I feel I can call myself a professional photographer (I know that term gets thrown around a lot, by anyone who owns a camera, so I tend to not label myself, but i’m working on owning my talents a bit more these days). Some of those connections include brands who I have an agreement of monthly deliverables and some negotiate per image, and some that have just been one off, semi seasonal jobs. 

This is one of my favorite shots from my first trip back on the road. I have a blog about getting back to my roots, which you can read here.

As social media advertising continues to grow I am open to and have already worked with a few brands to promote on my page, though in that space I am extremely selective and will only collaborate with brands that I am comfortable representing (circling back to the list previously mentioned, they must be sustainable, have a conscious purpose or product I support). This is a tricky job for me because ideally social media would be simply that: social. I sat with this for a while before I ever shared any kind of promotion on my page, and ultimately decided that when there is an opportunity to share a brand that I have vetted with a community that trusts me, then I am blessed to be able to earn a paycheck for that. 

This might be my favorite photo of 2020. New Zealand’s Mount Aoraki in the side view mirrors.

When I envision my career in the future, I don’t desire having one specific label that adorns me, rather an umbrella title of Creative that can encompass any expression of art that suits me at the time. I love creating vision boards to help manifest my dreams (you can set it as your computer / cellphone background or put it somewhere in your house you’ll see often) and right now my vision board has a photo of a girl (metaphorically me) in the jungle taking photographs of women in remote civilizations, studying and documenting their way of life, while also bringing resources and healthcare products to them. My board also has a tiny house that I want to build, that will ultimately give me a permanent home and cut overhead which will enable more traveling and giving back. 

My path has always been an unconventional one, and I love it that way. I sometimes think of where I might have been if I’d pursued my creative passions earlier in life, though I would never want to forgo the grassroots route I took, and all of the beautiful life lessons I learned along the way. Ultimately, I am most grateful for the community of support I have had throughout the years, from the friends who have been so supportive and encouraging, to the brands who took a chance on me and hired a green-photographer instead of a seasoned professional.

My dad always said, “Instead of picking a career and then building a life around it, pick a lifestyle you want to live, and then find a job that supports that vision.” 

I know that was a little longer than I’d intended, so if you made it this far thank you SO much for reading, and if you have any questions leave them in the comments below and I will answer them. x