This is a special CX post for me because it’s from our trip last year to Wales. We got to dip our toe in Wales back in 2016 and I’ve been dying to back and explore more ever since! The people were fabulous, the landscapes breathtaking, and the pubs exactly what I want after a day of exploring.
CX 146 in Snowdonia
What are these CX posts? They’re me putting myself in front of the camera (on average, once a month over the last ten years!) to keep sharp on posing, generate brand new ideas, and constantly remind myself what it’s like to be in your shoes.
CX 148 in Dyffryn Ardudwy
My great-grandma was Welsh, so this trip was extra special because we rented a car (yikes!) and made our way to the small town of Penygroes where she was born. Before we left, my grandparents gave me an album of their trip with the same purpose in 1985. We immediately knew it would be our mission to re-create all of their photos with me standing where they did 33 years earlier (I know…I get a little emotional just thinking back to it)! It’s been one of the most meaningful photo projects my husband and I have collaborated on and it will forever be one of my favorite trips!
First recreation in Penygroes!
We didn’t have any addresses, but we still found every place we were looking for!
I loved getting to see how things changed from 1985 to 2018
In the midst of all of that, we still took time to do several editorial shoots of me and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to share the results.
CX 149 in Brecon Beacons
And I still push myself out of my comfort zone, too! To prove it, here are a couple of the nude pictures I did on the Welsh mountains! From what I’ve read and been told, public nudity is perfectly legal in the UK so long as nobody takes offense…which seems like a perfectly rational approach. I am a strong believer that the human body is a beautiful thing, not something we should all be so ashamed of.
CX 146 (yes, it was cold…)
In case you were wondering, shooting nudes on a rainy mountain in another country is not as glamorous as it sounds…the landscape was beautiful, but my hiking pants were around my ankles (hiking boots still on…waaay too muddy to take them off), I was shivering in the cold, and the mist just kept getting heavier. If you are a Friends fan, imagine Ross trying to get his leather pants back on and you’ve got a pretty good picture of my situation on a Welsh mountainside as I tried to get re-dressed.
CX 148 – Oh yeah…I also posed naked on the beach!
BUT beauty is not always so evident in the moment, and the images were so worth it! So, take comfort in the fact that if you are in a pose that feels awkward during your shoot, I have been right there very recently 😉
CX 149 in Brecon Beacons