Anne McKinnell

Hello! I'm Anne and I have a new life. I traded in a traditional career for a new life as an outdoor photographer and writer. I live in an RV and travel around North America photographing beautiful places. I write about travel, photography, and how changing your life is not as scary as it seems. When I first started photographing 20 years ago I lived in a darkness. My images were journalistic in style and focussed on problems in the world, sad stories, homeless people and I even had a whole series on graveyards. It is as if I lived in a world full of only bad things. I gave up photography for a long time as I focussed on my first career in software development and when I picked up a camera again my view of life began to change. By nature, I see all the negative things in the world. That comes easy. I have to put effort into seeing the good so I made a decision to only photograph beautiful things. When I see a scene I try to find what is good here? What is beautiful here? And slowly I started to feel like I was coming out of the darkness. I changed. Using photography to guide what I focus on every day is changing my outlook on life. Now I see the goodness and beauty in the world and it makes me a happier person. Six years ago I took another leap. I gave up my home in Victoria, BC, Canada, closed my software consulting business, bought an RV and hit the road for the life of a nomadic photographer. I wanted a happier more fulfilling life. I wanted the life I dreamed about. People tell me I am brave and they wish they could do what I did. For me, it felt like the only option that was right and good. I hope my story and images will inspire other people to change the way they view the world and the way they live their lives. Changing your life is not as difficult or scary as it seems! What is scary is not doing it. Today I am a successful photographer, author and teacher. I have a popular photography blog and I teach photography courses online. My work has been published in instructional photography books, children's books, and several magazines including Canadian Geographic. I am the author of seven photography eBooks.