We don’t always get the whole story…
It takes more than what’s visible from the surface
A desire to know
To see
To ask
There lies within each of us a story
A soul
Heartache
And love unlike anything we could have imagined
It demands an ability to see such a soul within ourselves
To not look to another and demand they heal something in us they didn’t break
It demands we listen for the story between the silence
The way their eyes meet our own
How quickly they smile
Or if they wait to see if you can first
The full picture is a work of art
One forged from years of allowing ones heart to be known
At times broken
It is art that causes a tear to fall
A tear that releases joy and relief
A sense of being known
I am beyond honored to shoot with my friends, to be trusted to at times ask them to be uncomfortable and for the combined joy in bringing something to life
Renata, you are a stunning soul inside and out, to know you and see all of you, in your laughter and your gentle heart, it is a gift I do not take lightly
I think being told that love demands work, sacrifice, and effort is a partial lie…
I’ve known love to be sacrifice and demanding of parts of myself
I’ve known it to be compromise and have felt when one carries it as the other cannot
But I think the lie comes in how we hold love with a partner…
I’ve known love to be free
To not demand I let go of the parts of me that make me feel alive
I’ve known it to feel like coming home
Like the world disappeared
I’ve known it to feel like safety and being seen fully without fear or hesitation
And so I think the lie is in love being defined by one type of relationship
In limiting it to what it means to love and be loved by parent by how we love a child or even a friend
Love in a partner should never be sacrifice of who we are
Never demand work that feels like work
It should feel like coming home and like a smile refuses to leave you
Like you are discovering more of yourself
It should be days of excitement to share what you both love
And mutual admiration for who you get to share life with
It should feel like living
Like breathing
Like laughter
I think the lie comes in being told it cannot be effortless
And so we settle for something that feels like it causes loneliness to leave us….
But what if it was effortless
In frame @_______francesca@alberto_swain
The first time I looked out on the salar I felt like I was standing in a dream, like I had been transported to the heavens some how and been given a chance to just exist in a place untouched by the human hand
These were from possibly my favorite set I’ve ever taken on my last visit to this place
These photos represent so much more than beauty, they show power, grace, and hold the reality that, “we don’t always know what we can’t see”
The reality is, it was cold, the ground made up of millions of tiny sharp salt crystals, and even the slightest movement causing the reflection to shift
This set is what happens when there is hard work both behind and in front of the camera, trust and willingness to do what it takes to bring something to life, and of course a beautiful natural canvas
Any day I get to create art with you Esther, I know it will produce something I’m proud to be a part of
What do you think of this set?
For every time I’ve loved and lost
There are a million more moments that make being known worth it
I can’t think of what life would be like without the silence and peace of moments like this in the water
Or even less what it would be like without the ones that feel like peace no matter where I am
But I’ve known both and to know life as it is is something I’ll never regret every risk or fear it took to get here
Even if some days I’m not really sure where “here” is
Missing the water and my favorite model and human 🫶🏼 see you soon @soy.renatta
#underwaterphoto #femalephotographers #freedivephotography
There is no shortage of magic in the world
No shortage of chaos either…
But I believe there really is a something within us guiding us
A voice that gets stronger when we listen to it
One that knows us better than anyone else
It isn’t flashy and doesn’t dangle temptation in front of us…
It doesn’t distract us with constant changes
It waits…
Patiently and confidently as we sort through the noise
And when we do…
The way the world opens up
And the way so many pieces fall apart
And the way it all falls into place
Going through some old footage and looking at how much has happens in a year, how much life changes, and how it all gets to be beautiful even on the days it can feel hard
It isn’t meaningless…
We do not simply exist to be studied, to have others look upon us and wonder what causes us to feel
Or to look out on a world as if it were created to simply be observed
We were meant to touch and feel
To let the wind cause our hair to dance
To feel so deeply that we would go to war for a human life
To feel so deeply that we would close our eyes and just breathe what it is to exist
Life in all its action and all its moments of rest
If beauty and art exist in all of us then each one of us is priceless, valuable beyond our wildest dreams, and deserving of being treasured by those who truly see our worth
Day 7 of this project and I am simply so impressed and honored by the willingness, effort, and kindness of a stranger; by the trust and value of another in connection and creation of what matters most
Thank You @eva__wilhelm you are a treasured human life, a smile that could calm a storm, and a light that cannot be dimmed
It was an honor to shoot with you sweet girl
It might not seem like a big deal to you but for me…
The way you said I love you when dropped me off at the airport
How you said you wouldn’t let me walk home alone
How I sleep when you are next to me
…how I feel safe with you
The way I don’t think about what anyone else thinks when you are around
How you offer me whatever’s in your fridge
How you smiled when you took my photo
The way you pause even in a crowded space to say hello and be sure I’m ok
How you walk into my apartment like you’ve been waiting all day to sit on my couch
How you don’t look at me different after seeing me cry
The way you aren’t afraid of the ways I’m strong
…how you never made me feel less for my weaknesses
How you told me to rest
The way you tell me I can handle more
…how you smile when I believe you
How you notice when I’m afraid
The way you pushed me without pressure to conquer what scared me
How you made me feel seen
How you confided in me and shared your dreams
The way you let me know you
How you know me
It might not feel like much to you but to me it meant I was home
I am the sentimental type
I’m the one who will remember what you said
The kind that feels everything and can tell when you aren’t ok
I’m the one who will feel more deeply than I think I should…
But I think life was meant to be felt
I think we were supposed to have friends that know us more intimately than a lover
I think we were meant to be known and not fear what it is to care deeply for another
I think happiness is something we get to know in this life
Something we get live in
And these words are moments shared with my friends
Moments that I think of and smile
Loving others….
It’s caused me heartbreak many times in my life, but only before I trusted myself
Only before I loved and accepted fully who I am and who I wanted to be
I just arrived in Spain and will be traveling the next 5 months but looking back on my camera roll and just how much I love my life
If you are ever not sure…. Happiness is enough of a reason
I think there is a place that holds our soul
A part of nature where we feel most at peace
I think there is a part of us that fights our existence when we are apart from where we were meant to be..
As if our body knows before our mind, or even our heart that we belong beside the sea
I remember walking here with friends and just picturing the way the light would hit these rocks
How it made me feel the way the sea does, at peace, yet settled in the strength of the waves that consumed the shore
There is something to life when my friends are willing to be a part of my side quests and art
Something I treasure and am so grateful for, to live in a world where my excitement makes my friends smile and say yes to bringing these moments to life
Thank you @eros_maio for sharing these moments and somehow looking at peace while laying on sharp rocks ☺️🫶🏼
Maybe we fear intimacy and love because we are told it should be hidden away
Something to feel shame when it is seen…
Maybe it makes us uncomfortable because we have not known its touch
Maybe we fear seeing, because what we have settled for no longer… or never did set us on fire
But what if you weren’t afraid
Afraid to believe that such passion exists in the world
Or afraid to let it find you
There is something intimate in capturing the way two people feel beside each other
How they are not afraid to be seen and the power I believe it gives others to not fear the depth of being known
It was a pleasure to shoot with you two 🤍
We are the sum of every little moment we allow ourselves to exist
We are a collection of soft smiles and meeting another’s gaze
We are whole and complete in all of life
In a soul there is beauty and kindness
Strength and softness
In a single human life there is value beyond comparison above anything else ever to exist
Day 6 of turning strangers into art and being blessed as these strangers become friends
These continue to be such beautiful moments and opportunities to create something with someone and I’m so grateful for the way they continue to be a part of my art
Thank you for the trust and time you shared with me Yazid
And so it continues….
Day 5 of what is quickly becoming a project that is bringing me so much joy and allowing me to continue to connect with humanity
To allow art to speak when words fall short and connection both in how it is created, and how it is witnessed
I will forever believe that beauty exists within how we allow others to see us and humans like this one allowing me to interrupt her time
To not only share moments with me but also to have another’s trust in capturing how I see them
Houda, you are a queen, soft and strong, what it is to be a woman in this life
Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me and allowing me to create art with you 🫶🏼
I think we forget often the power that resides within us
To change the way another feels by our presence
How our words
A touch of the hand
Intentionality to listen…
How it feels like the sun
How it cannot be stolen….
How we get to show up in the lives of others
In frame @emilysatil_
