MY NAME IS KIRSTEN

I’m a freelance travel photographer and blogger based in Los Angeles. I’ve worked in more than 50 countries on 6 continents. Scroll down and let’s connect, Shop my Store or Learn more…

Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason that the eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts.

– WALKER EVANS

Instagram Kirsten Alana

Follow my posts to see where I am and what I’m currently working on! I also provide travel tips and historical details in my captions so you can use my feed like your own personal guide book.

I met so many amazing women when I was in Eugene,

This VW Karmann Ghia sits in front of a 1920s inn

🛶 Would you kayak on the open ocean where you’ll see seals and brightly covered starfish clinging to the rocks? Or would you prefer kayaking a legendary stretch of river where Meryl Streep acted the part of a guide in “The River Wild”? Or BOTH!?

Whichever you prefer, if you love to be on the water like I do - Southern Oregon has you covered.

I spent an afternoon on the ocean with @south_coast_tours and couldn’t get enough of the ocean kayaking!! We saw two seals and soooo many starfish in shades of orange and purple, the sun was shining, the water was a bright turquoise or green the whole time and my spirit just felt truly fulfilled by being out in it. It felt just like the song this Reel is set to.

And then despite constantly changing weather and even falling in once, our day on the Rogue River with @orangetorpedotrips allowed me to follow in the footsteps of my favorite actress for just a bit and indulge a love of river rafting that I’ve had for decades now. Despite not getting to do it all that often, everytime I am able - I remember just how much I love it. And it’s a wonderful way to disconnect from devices and work stress to just enjoy being out in nature. A good rafting trip gives you calm moments where you can enjoy the melody of the river and the calls of native birds as well as periods of high adrenaline that make you feel alive like few other activities with a low barrier to entry can.

I’m grateful to my hosts for making these experiences possible because weeks later as I look back, I still feel the positive affects of this time spend getting to know #eugenecascadescoast in #traveloregon that was #poweredbyadventure.

Like a lot of you, I enjoy city and culture, museums and good food. But I also truly love being out in nature and that’s why I loved Southern Oregon. It has all of that! ❤️

DYK? 🤔 that the dunes you see in the first two

DYK? 🤔 that the dunes you see in the first two photos, are the same ones that inspired Frank Herbert to write “Dune” the book 📚 that inspired 🎥 @dunemovie and other adaptations?

They’re found in Southern Oregon and if you saw my Stories when I was there, then you do know that little factoid. But in honor of the people who showed us such an amazing time on these dunes: Tom @firstnaturetours & Gabriel Cruz @sandmasterpark - I had to make sure I did a post about my experience.

It’s thanks to my membership in the ATTA that I was there at all. Hosted for their conference in Eugene, that included experiences around Oregon to get to know the region. I’m so grateful for the experiences I get to have as a member of ATTA because they almost always push me just outside my comfort zone enough that I get to know destinations in ways I never would otherwise.

And that was certainly the case for Oregon’s south coast!

It is many things. And just one of them is the home of a sport that I didn’t even know existed before this year: sandboarding. It’s not wholly unlike surfing or snowboarding. And yet it feels more accessible than both of those based on the lessons we did with Gabe and his colleagues at Sand Master Park. That you can do too! If Bailey jumping for joy in the one image in this carrousel doesn’t show you how much fun we had doing this, I don’t know what will. It poured rain and the sun shined on us all in the span of time it took to do one lesson. And yet no matter the weather we had, there were sand boards that worked for the sport and there was fun to be had by all. None of us minded the rain because we’d dressed for it and we were having fun on the boards.

If you’re looking for something new to try this summer, I hope you will give sand boarding on Oregon’s south coast a try!

#poweredbyadventure #traveloregon #eugenecascadescoast

🎶 “And there’s a place that I’ve dreamed

🎶 “And there’s a place that I’ve dreamed of
Where I can free my mind
I hear the sounds of the season
And lose all, sense of time…” - Hollow Coves

That place, recently, was the South Coast of Oregon at Shore Acres State Park. It was the land of Coos & Siuslaw people and became the private property of lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson who manicured nature enough to put a tennis court on the edge of the rocks not far from the crashing surf but who left ancient, soaring trees to watch over all who visited. It’s now a state park that has a wonderful, easy hiking path both in and amongst the trees and right along the ocean where I captured these views of the Pacific Ocean doing its thing. Endless waves rolling to shore, beating against the rocks, making their mark to carve a coastline that feels intensely wild at times and yet completely comforting as well. It’s a place where I was absolutely able to free my mind for a few hours to just enjoy nature and the comfort found therein.

It’s a feeling I’ve longed to recapture these last few weeks as things around my country and within my own life have felt anything but peaceful at times.

If you need a place to escape to as well, I hope you will put Shore Acres on your list and the region of @traveloregon that is @eugenecascadescoast. I’m sincerely grateful that they hosted me so I could experience their part of the West Coast to tell you about it. 💚💙 #eugenecascadecoast #traveloregon #poweredbyadventure

I’ve had the privilege of visiting more than 60

I’ve had the privilege of visiting more than 60 countries and the things I’m most often asked when people find out I’m from the US, are always related to 🔫: “why do you have so many? why do regular citizens have access to 🔫 that should only be used in a war? why don’t you do something about the violence?”

It was mere hours after this was discussed in Iceland because of Buffalo, that I found out about Uvalde. I thought of the children that would never again go home from school, so similar in age to those in my family and parented by friends. I thought of my friends still not recovered from one trauma, now triggered by yet another.

I needed to say goodbye to my colleagues, pack my bags, get ready to fly home. To a country that seems more like the set of a dystopian novel that cannot possibly be real because those who call themselves “pro life” prove with their actions they are anything but. I curled up into a ball and wept until I passed out, on top of a pillow soaked with the salt of my tears. When I woke up to face another day, with another migraine from how much I cried, I tried to center myself in sounds of nature and so I watched this video from Oregon where I’d so recently been.

Travel has been the portal through which I have had the privilege of directly engaging with other people and perspectives that have helped me see a problem that only exists in this way, in these numbers, in the US. As I write this, we have already had 213 mass shootings since 2022 began. Two hundred and thirteen in 21 weeks. An average of about 10/week. [source: Education Week]

I’ve tried to affect change by voting, by calling and writing leaders, by marching and by donating. Other countries have proven that change IS possible. That it DOESN’T HAVE to be this way.

I share not with any answers today. It feels as if everything we have been told to do, that we have done, hasn’t worked. Rather I share for those who may feel so alone and exhausted in their grief that they wonder how anyone can post about anything else - so you know, at least, you are not alone in that. 💔 I am hugging you virtually and giving you space to grieve here, together. 🫶

From sunrise [swipe to see & hear! make sure 🔈

🙏 Thank you @historicgermany @germanytourism fo

🙏 Thank you @historicgermany @germanytourism for the opportunity to take a painting class and attempt to re-create Lübeck’s ‘Holsten Gate’.

🎨 Contact www.lawatercolorclasses.com to book your own painting class with friends! 🧑‍🎨

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I met so many amazing women when I was in Eugene,

This VW Karmann Ghia sits in front of a 1920s inn

🛶 Would you kayak on the open ocean where you’ll see seals and brightly covered starfish clinging to the rocks? Or would you prefer kayaking a legendary stretch of river where Meryl Streep acted the part of a guide in “The River Wild”? Or BOTH!?

Whichever you prefer, if you love to be on the water like I do - Southern Oregon has you covered.

I spent an afternoon on the ocean with @south_coast_tours and couldn’t get enough of the ocean kayaking!! We saw two seals and soooo many starfish in shades of orange and purple, the sun was shining, the water was a bright turquoise or green the whole time and my spirit just felt truly fulfilled by being out in it. It felt just like the song this Reel is set to.

And then despite constantly changing weather and even falling in once, our day on the Rogue River with @orangetorpedotrips allowed me to follow in the footsteps of my favorite actress for just a bit and indulge a love of river rafting that I’ve had for decades now. Despite not getting to do it all that often, everytime I am able - I remember just how much I love it. And it’s a wonderful way to disconnect from devices and work stress to just enjoy being out in nature. A good rafting trip gives you calm moments where you can enjoy the melody of the river and the calls of native birds as well as periods of high adrenaline that make you feel alive like few other activities with a low barrier to entry can.

I’m grateful to my hosts for making these experiences possible because weeks later as I look back, I still feel the positive affects of this time spend getting to know #eugenecascadescoast in #traveloregon that was #poweredbyadventure.

Like a lot of you, I enjoy city and culture, museums and good food. But I also truly love being out in nature and that’s why I loved Southern Oregon. It has all of that! ❤️

DYK? 🤔 that the dunes you see in the first two

DYK? 🤔 that the dunes you see in the first two photos, are the same ones that inspired Frank Herbert to write “Dune” the book 📚 that inspired 🎥 @dunemovie and other adaptations?

They’re found in Southern Oregon and if you saw my Stories when I was there, then you do know that little factoid. But in honor of the people who showed us such an amazing time on these dunes: Tom @firstnaturetours & Gabriel Cruz @sandmasterpark - I had to make sure I did a post about my experience.

It’s thanks to my membership in the ATTA that I was there at all. Hosted for their conference in Eugene, that included experiences around Oregon to get to know the region. I’m so grateful for the experiences I get to have as a member of ATTA because they almost always push me just outside my comfort zone enough that I get to know destinations in ways I never would otherwise.

And that was certainly the case for Oregon’s south coast!

It is many things. And just one of them is the home of a sport that I didn’t even know existed before this year: sandboarding. It’s not wholly unlike surfing or snowboarding. And yet it feels more accessible than both of those based on the lessons we did with Gabe and his colleagues at Sand Master Park. That you can do too! If Bailey jumping for joy in the one image in this carrousel doesn’t show you how much fun we had doing this, I don’t know what will. It poured rain and the sun shined on us all in the span of time it took to do one lesson. And yet no matter the weather we had, there were sand boards that worked for the sport and there was fun to be had by all. None of us minded the rain because we’d dressed for it and we were having fun on the boards.

If you’re looking for something new to try this summer, I hope you will give sand boarding on Oregon’s south coast a try!

#poweredbyadventure #traveloregon #eugenecascadescoast

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You’ll Now Have to Pay an Entry Fee to Visit Venice thumbnail

July 6, 2022

You’ll Now Have to Pay an Entry Fee to Visit Venice

Where to Stay in Southern Oregon thumbnail

June 28, 2022

Where to Stay in Southern Oregon

Grandi in Reykjavík – A Guide thumbnail

June 6, 2022

Grandi in Reykjavík – A Guide

San Luis Obispo and the Keys for Trees Program thumbnail

March 30, 2022

San Luis Obispo and the Keys for Trees Program

My Favorite Places to Enjoy Spring in California thumbnail

March 22, 2022

My Favorite Places to Enjoy Spring in California

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