ABOUT ME
Hi, I'm Alisha!
Or Leesh, Leeshy, and Loco Leesh. I'm a barefoot nutty health nut who'd rather spend her money on a plane ticket than a handbag. I grew up swimming in Minnesota lakes and scaling Colorado mountains. Adventure is in my blood. And so is travel. I was bitten by the travel bug before I left the womb (my mom is a flight attendant). My first trip on a plane was when I was two weeks old out to visit my mom's side of the family for the first time ever in Colorado. My desire to discover new places and cultures run deep. The pictures above are a perfect summation of me, happiest near the beach with tangled hair, bare feet, zero makeup, and in some place new. I'm a big follower of Jesus and believe my purpose on earth is to love people as much as possible, no matter WHO THEY ARE OR WHO THEY LOVE. Period.
On a scale from 1-10 how passionate am I about what I do? Can I answer 15, 20 even? Let's make it a solid 100 because I'm that obsessive. I LOVE my job. I'm an artist who loves capturing the love and light between two souls. On top of capturing wildly in love couples on their elopement days, I am also a copywriter in the ad industry, and like to brew booch in my basement. I own an adorable dopey hound dog named Opie (true SOA fans will know) and have been with the love of my life for 8 years. We met in the army, it's a cool story.
LET'S BE FRIENDS
CLICK THE ARROW
TO SEE EACH
ANSWER
this or that
dog
OR
cat
sneakers
OR
sandals
morning person
OR
night
owl
night in
OR
night out
ocean
OR
mountains
kombucha
OR
wine
french press
OR
drip coffee
city
OR
nature
winning the
lottery
OR
finding your
soulmate
barefoot
both
Finding your soulmate IS winning the lottery
barefoot
both
finding your soulmate is winning the lottery
I Wouldn’t Be a Pisces if I Didn’t Give You the Full-ish Story
I grew up with my body in Minnesota and my heart in Colorado. I think I knew I always belonged near the mountains, because I grew up living there part time, and my parents working for the airlines only fueled that. Minnesota might have been unbearably cold for most of the year, but it still cultivated my deep love of the outdoors. Family camping trips and road trips. Girl scout troop adventures and horseback riding. After-school sports and learning how to watercolor paint from my second grade teacher. I told my parents I saw angels all the time. I frequently danced in the rain and ran around topless (oops). My parents say I was basically a nudist for the first 6 years of my life and one day they had to sit me down and say I had to wear a shirt when I went outside. What can I say? I was born FREE. Or maybe it was because I grew up around all boys and thought I was one of them? Whatever the case, I always did things different. I often spent time causing trouble with my boy cousins on our yearly trips out to Nebraska and Colorado. Running through sprinklers and down the streets of a small town in the middle of nowhere.
My imagination was the highlight of my childhood and I was good at it. I dreamed dreams and had a million different visions for my life. Cowgirl, spy, storm chaser, spa owner, magazine designer, national geographic photographer, actress, artist, paleontologist, filmmaker. I wanted to do everything and try everything. And so I did. Equal parts angsty and emo (we ALL had that phase, and it’s questionable if I outgrew mine). I basically lived in Zumiez and Hot Topic in high school. But loved to run long distances and hike 14ers. I was a goody two shoes but dyed my hair black with a box from Walgreens my senior year and got my tongue pierced. How did I survive this? I wrote down my feelings and captured photos, no seriously my computer had 16,000 photos from highschool.
So How Did an Artistic Barefoot Hippie Join the Army?!
College. They got me with the free college. After spending 19 years in Minnesota. My yearning to move to Colorado became unbearable. I chose to do something that would alter my life forever by joining the Colorado National Guard. A week before I moved out to Colorado I raised my right hand and took an oath. With everything I had packed into my parents minivan I drove out west knowing no one, but knowing this was where I belonged. All the while journaling and capturing photos.
I Love a Man in Uniform????
Of all the places to meet my soulmate, God thought it was funny to have it be in the army. I met Paul. He was calm. I was energized. He was analytical. I was creative. He made me laugh. I made him dream. He made me feel safe. I made him feel loved. It felt so real. Then we (YES we) deployed to the middle of nowhere across the world. For 9 months I endured the most difficult experiences of my life. With Paul by my side we moved around with nothing but the clothes on our back and a bag, overcoming platoon drama, homesickness, and even combat. We came back changed but embraced each other nonetheless. And survived. We got a dog, I finished college, we bought a house. And I picked up my camera again, for real this time. We’ve seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and I love the love we have earned through it all.
LEESH STATS
Countries visited: 20
States visited: 30
Tattoos: 8
Languages: 1 (but if you add up the Spanish, Japanese, and Italian I've attempted to learn it would be a solid 2)
This is the impact I want to make
You can trust me because my passion is in serving others.
I want to serve you in order to give you not only amazing photos but the best elopement experience ever!
I want to create an experience specifically curated to my couples that feels authentic to them. An experience that is riddled with purpose, meaning, and intention, that directly points back to the couple and their story.
I want to create a safe space for couples to feel like themselves because that’s what love is in its rawest expression is comfortability and vulnerability.
