Nicolette Wagner

10/10/2020

Van life shows me how to slow down. We’re adjusting back to the pace of things and absorbing every moment. My look on things is a bit different this trip around. I haven’t been getting up and working from sun up to sun down on slow days like I normally would. I lay in bed just a bit longer to think through my dreams. I’ve been making more tea. I’ve spent more time outside & chatting with new friends verses cutting things short to go get caught up on work - a never ending list that I am so tirelessly trying to complete. I went to a yoga class where an older version of me would have came up with some excuse as to why I couldn’t go. I’ve been sitting with myself more - massaging myself, rubbing balms & oils on parts of me that need it. I cannot wait to get to the wide open spaces of the desert to pick up star gazing & memorization. I’m slowing down with the season of change. As the leaves are changing colors, I’ve realized I need change too. The pace I was working at was on a path towards burn out. My creative drive was suffering from it as well as my relationship with my partner. Time for yourself is so important and while everything in my body resists it, I actually move at a faster pace than I would have before. When I slow down, I have time for conversations, brainstorming & visualizations - something I would do, but not as effectively as I should have been. Slower is better and it’s been a journey to retrain my brain to think this way.... but we’re getting there. Right now, I’m focusing on being present. Because the present doesn’t last long. And i want to remember this forever. @ Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona

10/06/2020

On a beach in the middle of Nebraska. Who would have thunk.

When we shoot together, I try so hard to always take you some place new to you. Our sessions become much more than just standing and taking photos, they become an experience! An experience worth remembering! ✨✨ @ Nebraska

09/30/2020

09/26/2020

While on a session with me....expect to get a little dirty and probably get wet if there’s water nearby. I try to always take you someplace new, weather that be in your own backyard or on an adventure out of state. Expect to giggle a lot and snuggle in with your loved ones. And I strive incredibly hard to make our session relaxed, intimate & just like you’re hanging out with a old friend. This isn’t like the old days with the man in the studio and the right lights. We run around, dance in sand and sometimes I’ll make you howl at the moon. It’s all a part of the experience. The raw experience. 🍃

09/25/2020

Quick trick I wish I would have learned SO LONG AGO! You will need adobe photoshop to do this or there might be another program I’m not aware of, but same general idea. 🍃

09/25/2020

✨Another quick photo trick I wish I would have discovered a LONG time ago!! You will need adobe photoshop to do this trick. There might be other programs I’m not aware of that you can do this in too! 🍃 hope you enjoy!

09/23/2020

We’ve had our van for a little over 2.5 years now. We didn’t move in right away. We didn’t finish it right away. It wasn’t even complete before we did our first road trip in it. We haven’t lived in it consequently for more than a few months at a time before hunkering down at a friends, parents or mixed in with international travel.

But what it has allowed us to be is nomadic, free and kept us out of a rental lease.

Our “rent” becomes fuel and van maintenance. And that’s something we get to control... sometimes! If we hunker down somewhere like the parents for the month, we become rent free. If we decided to stay on BLM land for a couple weeks and don’t move the van we become rent free. If we want to travel to 4 states in a month.. well that becomes like very high rent 😂 if we breakdown that’s a whole other story!

Our van life might look different to other van lifers.. and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Some have showers or bathrooms and others use camping stoves and bouldering mats as their bed. Some are super nice and some are a metal shell. And that’s the beauty of this life. It’s customizable to you.

I guess my moral of this story is the van life has allowed us the freedom we’ve desired and we are so grateful for that.. and regardless of what you see on the world of Instagram everyone’s van life experience is different and unique to them.

If you’ve been eyeing the road life but have been discouraged because you can’t have these luxurious rigs or whatnot, here’s your reminder that the dirt bag life was the OG van life. Just get out there and do it regardless of what it looks like or even if it’s just for a short time. Your rig & your life will evolve & grow with time as it’s supposed to.

09/22/2020

Be the energy - ✨I’ll admit. Sometimes it hard to not take things personally in this career. I can’t even express to you how many times people will reach out to me to photograph their wedding or what not, ghost me and then I follow up to hear that they chose a different photographer without even letting me work with their budget or fulfill their needs.

But I know it’s not their fault. I know it’s not because they didn’t like me. It’s money. And money is awkward and people hate disappointing people in the subject of money.

But that’s what makes those clients who do align with me extra bittersweet. I can’t please everyone no matter how engrained that is in me. And I can’t photograph everyone’s wedding or life moments no matter how bad I want to!!

A very important life lesson I am learning is, the people that are supposed to be in my life will be.. and if it doesn’t workout.. it wasn’t meant to be.

Everything in life is exactly how it’s supposed to be. And the more I put myself out there through positivity & gratitude and get clear on my vision, the more I attract back into my own life - whether that be friends, jobs, adventures, money, health, karma etc.

You are the energy you wish to receive. Embody that energy completely.

09/21/2020

- an adventure wellness workshop Nov 13-16th in Sequoia National Forest. Climb, meditate, hike, breathwork, hot springs, yoga, cold plunge & delve deeper within! More info to sign up in the link in bio!

09/19/2020

Words can’t even begin to describe what an honor it is to document moments like this. Surprising us both, Jake proposed at the end of the shoot. I am so utterly grateful to be involved in so many of my friends life moments. How did I get so lucky? And now I get to photograph their wedding!!!!! Congrats Jake & Emily!!! ✨ @ Lake McConaughy