Baltic and Amsterdam Voyage with 3 days in St. Petersburg
I’ve had the great pleasure to host tours for Departures Travel and Niche Women’s Tours for many years now. This is one of the first, that I’m hosting, that isn’t for women only. Book now for this fabulous trip and consider spending some extra pre or post trip time exploring this wonderful part of the world.
We begin our cruise in Stockholm, Sweden, home to impressive palaces straight from the pages of childhood fairy tales. We’ll cross the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia before sailing to historic St. Petersburg. Extravagant palaces, shimmering golden domes, lavish churches—we’ll need every minute of our three-day stay in St. Petersburg to take in the architecture alone. Next up, the charming city of Helsinki, followed by a rejuvenating day at sea before our arrival in Berlin. We sail on to Copenhagen, a city of spires, and Fredericia, a fortress town flanked by emerald green fjords. A gentle cruise through the Kiel Canal takes us to our final destination, the Venice of the North—Amsterdam. Meals and gratuities are included onboard!
More To Explore
I love to share the beauty I see around me in my travels. It brings me a great deal of joy when people tell me they live vicariously through my imagery. If you’d like to see more of the world through my lens, please like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram.
The photo above was taken during a Niche Women’s Tour in Italy that I had the great pleasure to host. One of the joys of having our own driver and vehicle, is that I can request the occasional stop on the way to our destination. In this case, we were travelling through the awe-inspiring Tuscan countryside, when I spotted this beautiful field of poppies. Being able to take the time to stop and literally smell, and photograph, the flowers, was a highlight for the entire group and resulted in everyone going home with picture-perfect memories.
Bravo & Bravocados
Great food, company, surf, sun and a stunning location all add up to a winning combination.
Lise Richard is someone I’ve known to always be up to something amazing, so it was no surprise that she was not only serving up some of the most satiating vegetarian food I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste, but the next day was on the winner’s podium receiving a medal in an international surfing competition at Wickaninnish Beach in Tofino.
When she’s not surfing, Lise and Head Chef Dave Thielmann, are finding ways to reduce waste, plastic and support local farmers and gardeners at Bravocados, Tofino’s hottest new vegan restaurant, which is owned by Port Alberni Mayor, Sharie Minions and her husband.
While Chef Dave is Italian trained, his expertise is what is bringing Bravocados the success to satisfy even the most ardent ‘meat-eaters’ palette.
Elizabeth May and John Kidder Wedding
What an honour to be a guest at Elizabeth May and John Kidder’s wedding on Earth Day at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, BC. Having photographed more than 600 weddings in my career, it was truly different to be a guest and, not the official photographer.
It was the first time I’ve arrived to a wedding without a camera and just my iPhone to capture these moments. This was one of the most touching, romantic and unique weddings I have ever been to.
The photo with the bike helmet and flowers says so much. It was a wedding fit for royalty, but better, as so many of the people I respect and admire were all in the same place sharing in the joy of two people very much in love. Despite a massive guest list, the atmosphere was intimate and relaxed at both the wedding and reception.
Inspiration Plus!
Thanks to everyone who came out in support of the Earth Day event I organized Monday evening for the Creatively United for the Planet Society and dropped by to say “hi” and volunteered at their table at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific’s Earth Day event earlier in the day.
The line up of speakers for Monday evening was incredible and included:
- Jack Anderson, one of western Canada’s leading green building design experts, urban planners and community design visionaries;
- Arno Keinonen, local owner and resident of the world’s most revolutionary green home;
- Times-Colonist columnist, Dr. Trevor Hancock;
- Michael Tacon, Transition Sooke/Harbourside Cohousing advocate;
- District of Highlands, Mayor Ken Williams;
- Youth organizer Antonia Panquin.
Check out Creatively United where every day is Earth Day!
Soulfully Inspired: Forest Bathing & Creativity Retreat
It’s easy to fall in love with the Wildwood EcoForest in the Ladysmith/Cedar area. This magical 77-acre property was the perfect location for this past weekend’s Soulfully Inspired workshop.
Thank you to everyone who attended and for all the volunteers and supporters of this very special and precious place that serves as a reminder that we need to SLOW down and enjoy the forest and the trees.
If you would like to know more about Wildwood and why my workshop was a fundraiser, check out this video.
Original post and event details below:
A Wildwood Ecoforestry Experience/Fundraiser
Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7
Noon – 4 pm at the Wildwood EcoForest and Homestead in Ladysmith, Southern Vancouver Island.
Join me for an incredible soul-charging weekend (or day program) guaranteed to leave you feeling lighter, happier and fully inspired.
Through laughter, movement, journaling, photography, collage and creative exploration, participants will enjoy a fun, deeply grounding and relaxing experience.
No art experience is required.
The incomparable beauty of Wildwood will form a stunning backdrop for this wonderful opportunity to unleash your creative genie, relax and have fun!
Be prepared to enjoy yourself!
Warning: Participation may cause euphoria!
Retreat Details
Surround yourself in the glory of a 77-acre private nature reserve and feel yourself uplifted by the fresh fragrance of a spring forest, light sparkling and dancing on a pristine lake surrounded by majestic trees swaying to the rhythm of nature, songbirds singing in delight, spring flowers emerging and emerald green mosses begging to be touched.
Let the worries and weight of the world go as you joyfully immerse yourself in these beautiful surroundings and experience soul charging at the deepest level. Enjoy relaxed time in nature and the opportunity to explore your creative genie through mixed media and collage, photography (phone or camera), journaling, connection and laughter led by Frances, a Wildwood forest lover and creativity expert.
Here’s your chance to immerse yourself in the beauty of Wildwood’s stunning surroundings and try new and fun approaches to expressing yourself through a variety of creative explorations and reflection.
No experience is required. The only prerequisite is an open mind and willingness to enjoy yourself. Each day will provide unique feel good experiences that will leave you both relaxed and recharged.
Indoor activities will take place in the property’s Homestead, a beautifully renovated log home filled with natural light in the middle of this private sanctuary.
Playshop Fee
$165 per day or special weekend pricing for both days $295
Supplies, snacks and beverages included.
Limited registration for a unique experience so be sure to book now!
A deluxe three night on-site accommodation package is available (see below).
Artist Statement
My intention is to provide a deeply satisfying soulfully enriching experience that brings joy and peace to each participant. This retreat is an opportunity to deepen or to begin the journey to reconnect to your innately whole inner self.
I believe everybody is creative at some level of their being. Given the opportunity to express it can be a wonderful journey of self-discovery. I can say this because I never knew I was creative until I explored art and photography in my twenties.
Ever since then, I have blossomed into the individual I was meant to be, not who I was brought up to be. I have been fortunate to make a 35-year career from my creativity and want to share it. – Frances Litman
For my bio please click here.
About Wildwood
Wildwood is a 77-acre ecoforest nestled along the shores of Quennell Lake just north of Ladysmith, British Columbia. It lies in the traditional territories of the Stz’uminus and Snuneymuxw Coast Salish First Nations.
A rare and unique working demonstration ecoforest, Wildwood is home to a good many old-growth Coastal Douglas-firs, representing a vanishing ecosystem once abundant on Vancouver Island. These ancient trees stand among a profusion of western red-cedar, bigleaf maple, flowering dogwood and arbutus trees, and bring an amazing presence to the forest, stately in their towering height and size.
The trees of Wildwood have been selectively harvested since 1945 in a manner that respects the needs of the forest and its species. Yet, Wildwood represents a fully functioning ecosystem that provides purified air, water filtration, carbon sequestration and other services in an ongoing cycle of life. There has never been a need to plant replacement trees for those that were harvested – enough seed trees are always retained, and natural regeneration is another one of those free services offered by Mother Nature.
Wildwood also boasts a richness of wildlife, including a rare and protected colony of Little Brown Bats, giant anthills, banana slugs, eagles, osprey, pileated woodpeckers, great horned owls, great blue herons, wrens, warblers and towhees. Many indigenous plants also enrich the forest, including coralroot and rattlesnake plantain orchids, wild roses, oceanspray, salal, Oregon-grape and salmonberry, along with myriad mosses, lichens and fungi.
Accommodation Booking Details
Get Fully Immersed
BOOK NOW! Only two on-site rooms available, one twin and one queen.
Enjoy the convenience of a three night stay at this incredible property.
Friday-Sunday, April 5-7, 2019
For information on this and nearby accommodation, please contact: info@ecoforestry.ca
About The Homestead Accommodation
The Homestead sleeps six in three themed bedrooms with premium mattresses and soft, organic bamboo sheets. In every room, you’ll experience a showcase of innovative design and value-added wood creations – from hand-built bed platforms using lumber milled on site, to live-edge headboards, arbutus branch legs on the kitchen island, an arbutus chandelier and tree slab table.
Check in: 4 pm Friday. Check out: 11 am Monday
Booking Fee
$400 per room for 3-night stay, includes full kitchen and cleaning fee.
Added bonus (optional): Morning and evening light yoga stretching time with Frances, plus shared evening meals.
(Bring your own food, beverages, journal and yoga mat.)
Disco Dance Party with Tight Hair Disco Band
I love to dance. I’ve decided to put together a dance party for my birthday on Friday, April 12th with one of Victoria’s best dance bands, Tight Hair. Fronted by powerhouse diva vocals and backed by rasping saxophone, sweeping analogue synths and raucous guitar riffs, the Tight Hair seven-piece band will send you back to 1975 and the days of Studio 54 in a glitter covered whirlwind!
This group features many of Victoria’s top musicians and does disco better than disco itself. The music is so upbeat, you’ll want to dance the night away. Plus, it’s a great workout too! After all, how often do many of us get a chance to go out and boogie the night away?
This special event will be at the Ambrosia Center on Fisgard Street, across from the Fisgard Parkade, where parking is free after 6 pm. Doors open at 8 pm for socializing, the band starts at 8:30 pm and will play until 11 pm with one break.
Enjoy a fabulous big dance floor and bring on your boogie! The best and only gift required is for you to have a good time.
Get your tickets here
Friday, April 12, 8 – 11 pm
Ambrosia Conference & Event Centre, 638 Fisgard Street
Alcohol-free event
Creating Resilient Green Built Neighbourhoods
Join me for Creatively United’s special Earth day event at the Church of Truth, 111 Superior St., from 7 – 9 pm. Featuring Jack Anderson, one of western Canada’s leading green building designers, urban planners and community design visionaries; Harmless Home pioneer Arno Keinonen; community health advocate and columnist, Dr. Trevor Hancock, plus special guests.
Learn how individuals and communities can build more affordably, efficiently and sustainably. Admission is a sliding scale of $10-$15 at the door.
Community Art Show
I will be joining more than a dozen local artists and artisans for this community art show and social. Please drop by on Sunday, March 31st from 1-3 pm at the Church of Truth, 111 Superior St. There will be live music as well. Admission is $2 at the door.
Celebrating Italy in June!
A rare opportunity exists to enjoy scenic Tuscany and the stunning Cinque Terra this June. Two spots have become available for this luxurious trip that includes our own guide, driver and the best of Italy. Join me on this fabulous Niche Women’s Tour and enjoy a trip of a lifetime where all you have to do is show up.
Tree Talk
Join me Wednesday, February 27th from 7:30 – 9 pm at the Church of Truth, 111 Superior St, for an inspirational and informational evening featuring a talk and photography by myself, local author Jane Warren Campbell reading from her book Conversations with a Tree, a meditation and sharing. Admission is free!
A Real Treat!
Tis the season. Working with Ashley, Josh and their dog Kya to create these images for their Christmas cards was a treat. Talking about treats…be sure to have lots on hand if you want to get shots like this over the holidays.
Thank you so much! These photos are absolutely beautiful. We love them and I’m sure that my clients will too.
-Ashley
Guest Blog on Sierra Club BC: When Compassion & Passion Meet
I love the work Sierra Club BC is doing to ensure where we live, work, play and study remains beautiful and resilient. When they asked me to write about my passion for the natural world and how CreativelyUnited.org came to be, I submitted this. Having been out of country and deeply involved in work and numerous volunteer activities, I completely missed seeing this published.
Click here to read my submission.
If you aren’t already following Sierra Club BC on Facebook then please consider it if you are interested in relevant and important information on timely topics that impact us all.
New Office Space
Coast Capital continues to grow. In addition to photographing a number of their staff for various ads and publications, I’ve had the pleasure of doing interior shots of their fabulous new and expanded offices. Here are just a few shots that capture some of the interior and exterior features of their newest downtown Victoria space.
Sumptuous South Africa
If you ever want to experience the best of South Africa, I can highly recommend booking a tour through Cathy Scott and her team at Departures Travel. I had the great pleasure and honour to host a Niche Women’s Tour where we experienced the magic of a three day safari in the Simbavati Nature Reserve in Kruger National Park and traveled south to Cape Town experiencing the food, culture and sights of this amazing continent. with more than 2500 images from my DSLR and another 1500 from my phone (shown here).
Vancouver Island Time Interview
Thanks to Jane Johnston of Vancouver Island Time for the opportunity to be interviewed about Esquimalt, my photography business and CreativelyUnited.org. Jane did a great job capturing the many aspects of what makes this area special and why I’m passionate about living and working here.
City of Victoria Honorary Citizen Awards 2018
What a huge honour to receive a City of Victoria Honorary Citizen Award today at the Victoria Conference Center with so many lovely and well-deserving people as:
Marika Albert, Mark Ashfield, Fiona Bramble, Diya Courty-Stephens, Denis Donnelly and Siobhan Robinsong, Terry Farmer, Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, Alan Lowe, Rob Reid, Patti Stockton, and brother and sister team Rupert Yakelashek and Franny Ladell-Yakelashek.
Mayor Lisa Helps and councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe led the official part of the program and it was great to see so many Victoria councillors there as well.
A big thank you to my nominators, the lovely Jack Barker and JennaMarie Tremblay. I was completely surprised when I found out they nominated me and blown away that I was among the recipients. And hugs and kudos to CreativelyUnited.org board member, Doreen Webb, for her continued support and all the volunteer contributions who make this world a better place.
Creating a One Planet Region Livestream Event
It was an honour to coordinate and emcee an evening for the Creatively United for the Planet Society, featuring more than 20 presentations in less than two hours.
Everyone wondered how that would be possible, but we did it!
Inspiring stories of innovation, collaboration, community and creativity were shared with both a live and livestream audience worldwide around the theme of Creating a One Planet Community.
If you love where you live, and live where you love, you’ll want to watch and share this link. Most of the presentations range from 3-5 minutes long. Hear from individuals, couples, businesses and organizations who are leading the way creating a world of beautiful possibilities.
This livestream event was made possible by the 2020 Vision Stream of Consciousness Grant.
Yellowknife Photo Tour 2019
It may be hard to think of ice castles and amazing snow art now that it’s summer, however, this short getaway to see the magnificent Aurora Borealis is perfectly timed to also take in a one-of-a-kind event with giant ice sculptures that defy description. I’m honoured to host this fabulous trip March 7-11, 2019.
In addition to seeing the Northern Lights, I’ll also be hosting a 2019 tour to the gorgeous Cinque Terre in Italy. Stay tuned for details or check out nichetravel.ca.
These tours are perfect for women who want to travel but have someone else look after all the details. Cathy Scott and her team at Niche Women’s Tours, a division of Departures Travel on Oak Bay Avenue, put fabulous trips together that include great accommodation, sights, meals, local guides, drivers and what women travelers love!
Join me October 1st for an information evening at Departures Travel. Click here to learn more.
Artist In Residence
At the invitation of Reynolds Secondary School teacher extraordinaire, Bradley Cunningham, and thanks to an ArtStarts grant, I had the amazing experience to be an Artist in Residence this past January to June.
What an incredible experience to come back to the high school I graduated from and be in the same classrooms that I had known 39 years previously. I can say with certainty, the Grade 9/10 students I had the great pleasure of meeting and working with, were light years ahead of what I remember of high school and my former peers.
I can also attest that I’ve never seen teachers so dedicated as those that I collaborated with. Here is one example of how the time spent with these amazing students blossomed into a magazine cover coming to life, featuring the art of Hailey Macpherson.
The inquiry-based program I developed and led, explored the connection between health, happiness and the environment. This program gave Grade 9/10 Reynold’s students an opportunity to work with and mentor kindergarten students from Braefoot, culminating with a school-wide display of their projects.
I look forward to posting more images and some video in the near future.
