No better way to launch this series than with the beauty who helped me kick it off!

(intro email can be found here: True GGEMS)

Meet Natasha.

March 2022 💎 Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

An accomplished athlete, academic, and soulful writer..she is effervescent, smart, curious, and kind.

We met in early March, when she was staying in the ‘treehouse’ behind our casita.

On her first night - before we’d had a chance to meet - a coconut fell from the tree above and shattered her rental’s windshield. The next day I was happy to offer her our driveway - given we (unfortunately + regrettably) didn’t have a car this was such an easy offer. After a brief chat - parking woes, the treehouse’s resident iguana, and the new fan she’d just bought in town to help alleviate the confronting heat - two things were clear:

I wanted to know her better

and

if I was going to make this project happen I was going to have to quash my nerves and actually invite women to participate!

I texted Natasha describing the work I do at home, the project I was hoping to embark on, and - with a deep breath to bolster my conviction - asked if she might be willing to participate. (why this is so hard I do not know… but it is hellu’hard!)

I was so grateful when she texted back ‘yes!’ 🤗

With only a brief window of time before Natasha would leave on the next leg of her travels; we hatched a plan to meet super early two days later. A time that would allow us to capitalize on the beautiful jungle-morning light and to have the property essentially to ourselves (aside from the troop of Howlers that called our mango trees home!)…. annnd, because Lady Universe is divine, it also happened to be International Women’s Day! ✨

At 4:45am I wandered - barefoot and with just my camera + two lenses - to the treehouse where Natasha was waiting: fresh faced, in her favourite travel kimono, and with an open + willing heart… one of my favourite starts to a shoot ever! 🌴

Our time together included shooting on her balcony and beside our pool; discussion about what portraiture means - especially when considering those we’ve lost; and many laughs + tears as we shared insights into our own journeys - where we’ve been and where we might be heading.

Thank you, Natasha, for so generously sharing this morning with me… I LOVED IT! 🦋

xo Lori

PS for those who have been following along on our personal account; it was this wise beyond her years friend who suggested, ‘Maybe it’s not that you want to read Walden, but rather that you want to have read Walden.’ #SoTrue 😂 With that, it seems fitting to include one of my favourite quotes from this book I have yet to finish…