I hopped on a plane last week.
Yes, a bit weary from the end of summer and all that the fall holds.
Yes, a bit overwhelmed at all the t0-do’s I have to do.
I hopped off that plane and let go of all of those things. Unintentionally. Blissfully.
First stop in the unexpected week of soul-nourishing was the one place that always lights me up with all its colour and vibrance.
Clarion Alley in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Valerie (my dear friend I was staying with) cracked me up later in the day saying “You are the only person I know who would hop off a plane and go directly to an alleyway” and its true (but feel free to confess if you’ve ever done the same)!
A few years back I had the chance to stay in the Bay Area for a few months. It was around the time I had just emerged from my depression and was finding my way back to myself through photography. The California light, the palm trees, the murals everywhere, the colourful houses…it was amongst them I found myself brought back to life and to joy…and to a large degree where my self-portrait journey really deepened…and where I realized that my story (and yours) was worthy of being told.
I try to come back every year, but it had been more than a year since I was last there and so much had happened in that time. I felt in a way like I was coming home, full circle.
So the first stop, of course, was one of those places that so lit me up and that I don’t think I’ll every go a trip without visiting (its an alley around 17th and Mission that is full from one end to the other, wall to wall with gorgeous murals).
I have some other tales from this trip I’m going to share as I was there for the Wise Bodies, Wise Hungers retreat run by the amazing Rachel Cole & Anna Guest-Jelley and it was absolutely incredible!
But to begin, here is Clarion Alley and all its magic….
