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MY NAME IS KIRSTEN

I’m a travel photographer based in Los Angeles! I’ve worked in more than 50 countries on 6 continents but I’m not done traveling yet. The biggest passion that drives me is using my skills to tell visual stories that are socially conscious and environmentally responsible. 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 daily 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.

Because of personal and professional events, I’v

Because of personal and professional events, I’ve managed to schedule almost two months of time in Europe late this Spring and into early Summer starting with a visit to the country featured in this photo, the Czech Republic. It’s a prospect that fills me with such joy that sometimes it, plus an upcoming return to Scotland, are the only things I need to keep going in a day. Knowing these trips are on the horizon. The last time I was able to do more than a month at a time abroad was pre-2013, when I was still nomadic. I still have almost a month of time to finish scheduling and I don’t know what Europe will even be like with virus news and an EU in the throws of Brexit and just, you know, life. It’s actually a ways off and making plans this far in advance for the first time in this long, can be frightening. But I’m taking the leap all the same because the one thing I believe more than anything in 2020 is: nothing is ever guaranteed. Take the leap anyway, work hard to make things happen believing that hard work will be rewarded. Sitting at home and worrying just won’t help or change a single damn thing 💥

I had a very German day here at home in LA yesterd

I had a very German day here at home in LA yesterday, reminding me of moments from past trips to 🇩🇪 like this one in Königsberg. It started with @dante.vincent making delicious Schnitzel [like a pro I might add because his father taught him and his dad was the best cook], followed by an evening with @germanytourism We gathered @rockenwagnerbakery to see how their various ovens and dedicated employees produce millions of delectable pretzels, loafs of bread, pastries and more to be sold all over the city and So Cal. The smell was divine, there are few foods I ❤️ more than 🥖🍞🥐 so to be surrounded by so much, coming straight out of the oven, was almost torturously fun!
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Owner Hans Röckenwagner is originally from Swabia in Germany and kindly spent his Saturday evening teaching us how to make Bavarian-style pretzels. They’re one of my favorite treats when I’m in Europe and to know I can now get them here in Los Angeles makes it a little easier to be so far away from my favorite continent. I always love learning and it was so fun to get hands on with the dough and try our hand at knotting, twisting and pulling like the pros do. It’s a lot harder than it looks!
.
Bread plays a very important role in German culture. The world-famous and popular German bread is sold in over 3,000 different varieties and I’ve never had a meal there that some type of bread wasn’t a part of. So it makes sense that the culture of German bread was awarded the status of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2014. I left our get together with a bag full of the pretzels we made & a recipe for home. But you too can experience what we did wherever you are, when you use the #GermanBrotzeit Amazon Alexa skill. (I share the link in my Story Highlight: 🇩🇪🥨) It allows you to bake 16 regional German bread specialties & the Bavarian pretzel is included. Why 16? For the 16 states that make up the country of Germany.
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Thank you @kelleyferro for inviting me. I was required as a member of the Voyagers Club to share either Stories or a post in my feed and I’m doing both because I enjoyed it all so much 😍🥰🤩

The Disney Concert Hall is a popular place to take

The Disney Concert Hall is a popular place to take photos in downtown LA. And for good reason. It’s stunning. Like all of Gehry’s designs, I marveled at it from afar long before I got to see it up close. And since moving here, I never tire of visiting the site. While so many people capture it pulled back, with the entire building in frame, @dante.vincent and I share a love of getting up close and personal with the gleaming, swaying forms of the outer walls. At times they look like the ocean on a gray day. Other times I think of the sails of ships if they were rendered in metal or sand dunes seen only in black and white.
.
This spot in particular, I adore visiting. You’ll have to do so yourself to find it 😉 That’s half the fun!
.
I like this little corner so much, I’ve photographed it during the day and at night. Which do you prefer?
.
The first image was taken on my iPhone and the second on my Sony with a wide angle lens. Are you curious about gear? Want me to discuss that more in the future? I sort of got away from doing that because I felt it doesn’t matter. That a great photographer should be able to make a great photo out of any type of camera and so what i shoot with isn’t important. But I also want to share and help people learn and I want this to be about community.
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Happy weekend to you wherever in the world you find yourself as you read this 😘

Hello from Los Angeles! Wow it’s been a minute..

Hello from Los Angeles! Wow it’s been a minute... I need to get into a routine of posting again. Once I fell out of it with all the chaos that happened in our lives this winter, it was difficult to get back in the habit of being active here.
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Like anything though, just start. Right? If you never start, you never get anywhere.
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So it’s a new year. What are you up to? Where are you planning on traveling? What’s on your mind and heart?
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What can we accomplish together in 2020? How can we change the world through this app and not just look at pretty photos? That’s what I’m ruminating on the most...

Oh, hey! Now that I have your attention with my ph

Oh, hey! Now that I have your attention with my photo of a cute 🐨 and since Australia still needs our help, here’s a list of organizations we can support and donate to that are doing important work now and will do the work of recovery and restoration for people and animals once all 🔥 have cleared: @rspcaqld, @nswrfs, @ifawaustralia and @action4ifaw, @cfsfoundation & @foodbankaus
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Puerto Rico needs our help as well and @wckitchen continues to be a great org for the island whenever help is needed but I also love what the @hispanic_federation Unidos Program is doing and if you speak Spanish there’s even more to dig into with them 🇵🇷
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For you travelers, don’t cancel your plans to visit either of these. They need our responsibly-spent tourism dollars. Go where it’s safe to go and be a customer of businesses who keep their profits in the community. 🧳
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While we’re talking about orgs worth supporting, here are a few evergreen ideas for human rights and the environment ‼️ @350org @immfamtogether @raicestexas @urgentactionfund @humanrightswatch @allhandsandhearts @mercycorps @projecthopeorg @beclimateneutral @rainforestcoalition‼️
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Whenever I can give, I start with @charitynav to vet where my money goes and how it’s used.
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If all this just seems too heavy, check out @goodgoodgoodco. They’re sharing the news of all the people, ideas and movements that are changing the world for the better. Good Good Good [my words here ➡️] comes from an all important place of positivity to remind us that though the world can seem like one never ending disaster, hope is not lost. Hope is never lost unless we simply choose to stop having hope.
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Look for the good!! ❤️

Getting back on here for 2020 a little late but be

Getting back on here for 2020 a little late but better late than never, yeah? Happy New Year!
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Do you have any travels planned yet? With all the talk of a “new decade” it can seem like a lot of pressure — to have big trips on the calendar and to be thinking big with regards to travel — but if you’re like me, it’s better for mental health to not compare yourself to others and to do what feels right for you.
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For me, that means less trips overall but more meaning in the travel I will do. If there’s a resolution for my 2020, it’s don’t do anything just to do it.
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Wishing you and yours good health, happiness and peace in the coming months! 🙏🏼♥️

This December and holiday season has been one of t

This December and holiday season has been one of the most difficult in memory and December has a history of being difficult in my life. Even though I can’t be with those I love most for this holiday, I can keep them close thanks to the Nest Hub from @GoogleNest which is the perfect digital photo frame. Live Albums take the work out of updating the photos on my Nest Hub display by letting me create an album that automatically adds photos of those who matter to me most. For me that’s a mix of friends and family all around the world, some of which I’ve shown in this carousel from past holidays. Nest Hub even makes it easy to see vertical photos because it automatically pairs two to fit the screen or displays horizontal photos by themselves. I think Nest Hub is the perfect holiday gift because it helps preserve memories all year long and helps keep family and friends close even when you’re apart like I am from mine this year. If you use it like I do, it’s a live frame constantly keeping important people and moments close.
🎄
And I’m glad to partner with Google to host a GIVEAWAY where you could receive one too:
• Like this post
• follow @GoogleNest
• & tag someone you’d like to gift this to
... for a chance to win a Nest Hub on which you can re-live and enjoy all your precious Holiday memories like I do. ❤️ Giveaway winners will be chosen by the sponsor. #giftfromgoogle

I heard a rumor that there’s only a day or two l

I heard a rumor that there’s only a day or two left before the @secondhome_la Pavilion closes at La Brea Tar Pits here in Los Angeles. So if it’s something you’ve seen or heard about and you were waiting to go to, don’t wait anymore. I recently had the chance to see it when my dear friends @mumhad1ofthose & @descurran were visiting from London, and I was relieved to find it is free to enter. I’m always a fan of art that’s free for all to experience because it’s one of the most beautiful things in life. And while I understand it can’t always be free, when it is, it removes that barrier to entry and gives everyone the chance to be inspired in the way art can be inspiring and entertaining.
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Anyway, the #secondhomela pop up “tent-like” structure designed by SelgasCano known as an art sculpture is part of Second Home which is a socially responsible British business with a belief that diversity makes creativity stronger. They create spaces that bring diverse groups of people together and that’s something I admire. While it has been here in LA, it has hosted live music, performance art, talks, dances and screenings. Their hashtag is #lovelettertoLA but they might as well say it’s a love letter to humanity and what can happen when we come together in a safe space where differences are celebrated and community is valued.
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That being said, the co-working and private offices spaces that Second Home offers which are permanent are not exactly affordable. But this is a feed about travel and that’s another conversation for another day. If you’re traveling around Los Angeles this weekend, stop by the Pavilion before it closes and let me know what you think of it.... 😉💛
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#kaguideLA #discoverLA #publicartwork #publicartinstallation #selgascano

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Because of personal and professional events, I’v

Because of personal and professional events, I’ve managed to schedule almost two months of time in Europe late this Spring and into early Summer starting with a visit to the country featured in this photo, the Czech Republic. It’s a prospect that fills me with such joy that sometimes it, plus an upcoming return to Scotland, are the only things I need to keep going in a day. Knowing these trips are on the horizon. The last time I was able to do more than a month at a time abroad was pre-2013, when I was still nomadic. I still have almost a month of time to finish scheduling and I don’t know what Europe will even be like with virus news and an EU in the throws of Brexit and just, you know, life. It’s actually a ways off and making plans this far in advance for the first time in this long, can be frightening. But I’m taking the leap all the same because the one thing I believe more than anything in 2020 is: nothing is ever guaranteed. Take the leap anyway, work hard to make things happen believing that hard work will be rewarded. Sitting at home and worrying just won’t help or change a single damn thing 💥

I had a very German day here at home in LA yesterd

I had a very German day here at home in LA yesterday, reminding me of moments from past trips to 🇩🇪 like this one in Königsberg. It started with @dante.vincent making delicious Schnitzel [like a pro I might add because his father taught him and his dad was the best cook], followed by an evening with @germanytourism We gathered @rockenwagnerbakery to see how their various ovens and dedicated employees produce millions of delectable pretzels, loafs of bread, pastries and more to be sold all over the city and So Cal. The smell was divine, there are few foods I ❤️ more than 🥖🍞🥐 so to be surrounded by so much, coming straight out of the oven, was almost torturously fun!
.
Owner Hans Röckenwagner is originally from Swabia in Germany and kindly spent his Saturday evening teaching us how to make Bavarian-style pretzels. They’re one of my favorite treats when I’m in Europe and to know I can now get them here in Los Angeles makes it a little easier to be so far away from my favorite continent. I always love learning and it was so fun to get hands on with the dough and try our hand at knotting, twisting and pulling like the pros do. It’s a lot harder than it looks!
.
Bread plays a very important role in German culture. The world-famous and popular German bread is sold in over 3,000 different varieties and I’ve never had a meal there that some type of bread wasn’t a part of. So it makes sense that the culture of German bread was awarded the status of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2014. I left our get together with a bag full of the pretzels we made & a recipe for home. But you too can experience what we did wherever you are, when you use the #GermanBrotzeit Amazon Alexa skill. (I share the link in my Story Highlight: 🇩🇪🥨) It allows you to bake 16 regional German bread specialties & the Bavarian pretzel is included. Why 16? For the 16 states that make up the country of Germany.
.
Thank you @kelleyferro for inviting me. I was required as a member of the Voyagers Club to share either Stories or a post in my feed and I’m doing both because I enjoyed it all so much 😍🥰🤩

The Disney Concert Hall is a popular place to take

The Disney Concert Hall is a popular place to take photos in downtown LA. And for good reason. It’s stunning. Like all of Gehry’s designs, I marveled at it from afar long before I got to see it up close. And since moving here, I never tire of visiting the site. While so many people capture it pulled back, with the entire building in frame, @dante.vincent and I share a love of getting up close and personal with the gleaming, swaying forms of the outer walls. At times they look like the ocean on a gray day. Other times I think of the sails of ships if they were rendered in metal or sand dunes seen only in black and white.
.
This spot in particular, I adore visiting. You’ll have to do so yourself to find it 😉 That’s half the fun!
.
I like this little corner so much, I’ve photographed it during the day and at night. Which do you prefer?
.
The first image was taken on my iPhone and the second on my Sony with a wide angle lens. Are you curious about gear? Want me to discuss that more in the future? I sort of got away from doing that because I felt it doesn’t matter. That a great photographer should be able to make a great photo out of any type of camera and so what i shoot with isn’t important. But I also want to share and help people learn and I want this to be about community.
.
Happy weekend to you wherever in the world you find yourself as you read this 😘

Hello from Los Angeles! Wow it’s been a minute..

Hello from Los Angeles! Wow it’s been a minute... I need to get into a routine of posting again. Once I fell out of it with all the chaos that happened in our lives this winter, it was difficult to get back in the habit of being active here.
.
Like anything though, just start. Right? If you never start, you never get anywhere.
.
So it’s a new year. What are you up to? Where are you planning on traveling? What’s on your mind and heart?
.
What can we accomplish together in 2020? How can we change the world through this app and not just look at pretty photos? That’s what I’m ruminating on the most...

Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get social by following me on these platforms but make sure to engage so I can get to know you back!

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DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | WEBSITE BY FURTHER BOUND | Portraits of Kirsten by Danté Vincent | COPYRIGHT © KIRSTEN ALANA 2008-2020