Today we continue our Ambassador series with some gorgeous words and photography from Ambassador Sunshine Saldivar. We’re so used to seeing Tahoe’s vivid blues and greens, but Sunshine’s b+w photos show beauty and vividness as unique as she is. Read on as Sunshine tells us what inspired the series…
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.”
― John Muir, Our National Parks
We have lists and love interests, we have work and competing wants. So we learn a balancing act, where our wants and work can function in harmony. Desiring the “American Dream” or a certain lifestyle, many of us find ourselves consumed by the journey of achieving our goals, no matter how noble they may be. Often, our work fights for our energy and our best hours. Leftover time is all that’s left to enjoy our hobbies and foster creativity. So we look forward to using vacation time while living many of our days exhausted or unchallenged. While this rhythmic lifestyle may work for some, I choose to pursue a different paradigm. I choose to constantly disrupt my space and perspective by leaving, and usually I head to beautiful Lake Tahoe. In the mountains and at the Lake, work and worry do not exist. There is only room for peace, for fresh air and for wildness. The untamed beauty of nature can often move us past schedules and stress, if we let it. That is, if we take time to “go” when we really cannot afford to. When we choose to pursue wildness in our daily lives, it changes us and it changes our work.
The truth is, my life does not look like my Instagram account. I do not spend every day in the mountains, on the lake or on a road-trip. I am a law student, so as you can imagine I spend most of my time in class or at coffee shops. During the week, I am usually working indoors. But on the weekends, I make time to wander. I do it for my mind, for my spirit and for my creative abilities. I leave with my dog, with friends and without a plan. I go for goings sake. Lake Tahoe is not far from where I live and study, but it is far enough where work feels distant and I can return home with a fresh perspective and renewed energy. I have found that within a chaotic schedule like mine, stillness matters. In nature, the stillness of the lake and the stillness of time outdoors facilitates clarity. As a result, when I return home refreshed, my legal work also improves. So if you are in need of a break or simply desiring fresh air and freedom, head to Lake Tahoe and experience stillness when everything else demands busyness of you.
One creative outlet I have fallen in love with is photography. I see it as a way to capture what I experience. Photography is powerful and my favorite medium to help push us all past ordinary ways of seeing and thinking. Lately, I have been obsessing over black + white photography. Mostly because it is simple, yet it has a timeless quality about it.