living and traveling in 180 sq ft
Hi, I’m Michele. I live on the road full-time and photograph mountain weddings for a living. This is my personal blog where I share my thoughts on living simply and intentionally with less stress and more joy. Want to follow along? Sign up below to receive new posts straight to your inbox.
You can find my wedding and portrait work at www.oncewest.com.
Thanks for stopping by, I’m really glad you’re here.
In my opinion, there are few things in life more awe-inspiring than standing on top of a mountain or on the shoreline of a high alpine lake. High altitude environments, where the climate is so unforgiving and oxygen so little that trees no longer are able to grow, have an enigmatic quality to them. If you time your hike just right, standing on a 13,000′ peak can feel like paradise. The sky...
It feels like a big statement to say that this was the best summer of my life…but I think it might have been. We make a living photographing destination weddings throughout the Colorado Rockies. In summers past, we would photograph 1-2 weddings every weekend for 18 weekends straight. During the week we would edit and manage the business. We never saw our friends, we very rarely went...
It was mid-April when we made our way back to our property. We hadn’t been since late October when we closed escrow and spent two quick celebratory weeks before migrating south for the winter. We were eager to get back, to get to know the area and the property itself more, and to see if this place would be everything we hoped it would be. Spoiler alert: It was. What we were hoping for was a...
{Photo of the day: Seth & Drea are our nomad neighbors for the week.} One of the primary factors why the full-time RV lifestyle is working so well for us this time around is because we’ve learned to slow down. Years ago we never could have imagined staying parked for two weeks or more in one place, now it’s our norm. It was our friend’s Seth & Drea that intrigued us with...
{Photo of the day: On the way home to our property after a day in the city.} I’m currently reading a fascinating book, “The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion” by Jonathan Haidt. It’s one of those books that bends your mind in a way that allows you to view life and humankind from a totally different angle. It contains some complex ideas...
{Photo of the day: Southeast Utah is the place to go to disconnect.} Today concludes my digital detox. What was supposed to be 7 days without internet turned in to 10, and it was absolutely glorious. Here’s what I learned… 1. I love mono-tasking. Multi-tasking is over-rated. I experience far more enjoyment and am way more productive when I focus on one thing at a time. We think...
{Photo of the day: Yoga time.} Mackenzie, our 21 year old niece, is currently wading thru one of life’s existential crises. The “what do I want to do with my life” dilemma that I remember all too well. I think I might remember it so well because, for me, that feeling has never completely gone away. Mark & I so badly wish we had answers for her, or a roadmap, anything to help ease the...
{Photo of the day: The first light to hit the buttes as seen from bed.} We managed to get a pretty sweet campsite here at Valley of the Gods. We had an okay spot for the first two days we were here but when the guy left the site we’re at now, we jumped on it and moved the mile or so down the road to snag it. We’re perched up on a hill, at the base of Rooster Butte, with panoramic...
{Photo of the day: Our current address.} Eastern Utah. It’s a desert utopia for Coloradans that are sick of the snow. When we got our truck camper 9 years ago, it became a given that March and April were the time to leave the mountains for a Utah getaway. Moab, Comb Ridge, Valley of the Gods, Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, the destinations for campers are endless. Each a vast...
{Photo of the day: Rock climbers on top of Rooster Butte.} I was reading a book when I heard voices, faint and small in the distance. I looked up at the giant sandstone monolith who’s shadow I was sitting in and saw two tiny little humans beginning to scale the rock face. Not 30 minutes prior had the same couple walked past our camp with large backpacks in tow. An hour later...
Hi, I'm Michele, a nomadic wedding photographer and lover of the great outdoors. I live on the road full-time and document my adventures daily. This is my personal blog where I share and record my thoughts on living simply and intentionally with less stress and more joy. Check out my wedding and portrait photography at http://www.oncwest.com