MY NAME IS KIRSTEN

I’m a freelance travel photographer and blogger based in Los Angeles. I’ve worked in more than 60 countries on 6 continents. Scroll down and let’s connect, Shop my Store or Learn more…

Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason that the eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts.

– WALKER EVANS

Instagram Kirsten Alana

Follow my posts to see where I am and what I’m currently working on! I also provide travel tips and historical details in my captions so you can use my feed like your own personal guide book.

Last night, I enjoyed time with the Slovenian Tour

Last night, I enjoyed time with the Slovenian Tourist Board. I learned a lot about this underrated country in Europe bordered by Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary. In 2023 I visited its Lake Bled area for a day but all it did was make me long to return and explore more. So I was excited to continue to get to know Slovenia better while meeting Slovenians, trying their wines, and sampling Potica (Povitica) pastries.

Did you know that Slovenia…
- has 60% forest coverage
- is a land of beekeeping where beekeepers are so knowledgeable that they actually teach other countries in Europe how to better tend to their bees
- has plenty of wellness centers and spas, some of which allow you to drink Slovenia’s fresh spring water right from taps in the spas
- takes the right to water so seriously that it’s enshrined in their constitution
- named their “Julian Alps” region [where Bled is] for Julius Caesar
- has created the largest walking zone with no gas cars in Europe in the capital city of Ljubljana where the Triple Bridge by architect Jože Plečnik is recognized by UNESCO and the city’s Art Nouveau and Baroque architecture are a draw for visitors like me who love those styles
- prioritizes the environment by preserving the forests and ensuring its vibrant turquoise rivers and lakes stay clean and clear (wow are they colorful!)
- has nine wine-growing districts within three major wine regions and the country makes delicious Orange wine which I was able to sample last night. They do not grow enough to widely export now, so when you visit you need to leave extra room in your luggage to bring bottles home!
- is not to be discounted as a culinary destination with Slovenians such as Ana Roš, chef-owner of Hiša Franko in Kobarid [awarded three Michelin stars and a Green Star for sustainability] putting it firmly on the map

All of this makes me long to @feelslovenia in depth. It’s calling to me and I hope I’ve helped pique your interest too. Would you visit? Or have you visited? And if yes, what did you think?

🇸🇮 #ifeelsLOVEnia #mojaslovenija

🕊️ I’ve been thinking of how to move forwar

🕊️ I’ve been thinking of how to move forward on this acct in a world of ever increasing darkness. It’s coming from multiple directions as our tech grows increasingly bent against us policy-wise and in the US our government makes it clear that they are not for all people, by all people.

How do I bring the light, the color, the hope? I’ve always believed travel does that. It did do that for me. The moment I left my country, it wasn’t just a planet that opened up to me. It was my mind and heart that opened. I understood for the first time that the environment I’d grown up in was but a drop in the bucket of what humanity is. And the greatest thing about humanity is the diversity of it. The color, the sound, the taste, the depth, the history, the heart… it’s what makes us great. And I think when we don’t experience that for ourselves, we’re bound to feel a sense of fear of it. Fear of the unknown. It’s why travel has been for me not just a job but a sort of, mission. For lack of a better word.

So I think I’ll continue to post about travel. Not because I don’t see what’s going on around us. But because I see what’s going on around us. And I hope I can find ways to do so that show I’m on the side of all humans. Always. 🤍

📷📍 Cuba, 2016

By now you probably know that literal deadly wildf

By now you probably know that literal deadly wildfires are burning around Los Angeles. Sunset Fire was so close to our home I could feel the heat on my face & we were forced into mandatory evacuation not knowing when, or if, we would have a home to return to. I took this photo from the safety of our roof on the 1st morning we had made it through a night of 90-100mph winds that helped spread & turn these wildfires into the nightmare they have become. [For reference: tropical storms start as low as 39mph, tornadoes 65, & hurricanes 74!] Photography is a way I cope when fear threatens to incapacitate me. And it’s a way I catalog what happens because I am a visual person who cannot remember without it. This scene will haunt me to the end of my days no matter how long I live. And yet I also thought that if light could make it through a cloud that black & thick, surely hope could too?

I’m sharing this so you know
- Dante & I are ok. Many are not, I want to help them.

- My linkinbio has resource pages at the top.

- If you need aid: follow @mutualaidla; use the code CAFIRERELIEF25 for 2 rides up to $25/ea this week @lyft; download Watch Duty app, check air quality @ Fire.Airnow.gov; @wckitchen is feeding those who r displaced & those helping fight 🔥; find other free meals at 47+ LA restaurants & growing via bit.ly/LAaid; YMCA Centers = free child care for children in TK - 8th grade; find shelters for animals at bit.ly/LACFAC; @planetfitness = free access 4 wildfire-affected residents & first responders until 1/15 inc’ing use of showers, locker rooms, Wi-Fi, & electrical outlets; find relief accommodation @ hotelassociationla.com; visit 211la.org; register lacounty.gov/emergency; get fed gov help @ disasterassistance.gov

- If you want to give aid: @wckitchen, @calfund, @lafdfoundation, @westsidefoodbank, @defydisaster  
- Follow these sources for news: @jacobsoboroff, @thesarahpilla, @FirePhotoGirl, @bdelossantos1

Fellow LA residents: wear an N95 mask outside. The smoke & chemicals in that smoke from what’s burning is very dangerous.

Thank you for being the community you are. I’m grateful for you & for all the messages of support you’ve already sent. 🙏🏼🫶🏼

❄️ Now that solstice has passed, in the Northe

❄️ Now that solstice has passed, in the Northern Hemisphere longer nights give way to blessedly longer days at last and we’ll have more time to explore and enjoy places like… Yellowstone!

Before I visited in winter years ago for work I’d never have thought to explore @yellowstonenps in the “off season” but seeing bison covered in snow expelling great clouds of steaming breath from iced-over nostrils shaking out dark fur as ice crystals flew over the planes of white crystalline snow was extraordinary. And then seeing the park look like photos I’d previously seen of Lapland without the long haul flight was so delightfully surprising it’s hard to quantify the joy! We also saw wolves, bald eagles, and had the geysers all to ourselves. I wanted to put it on your radar for the months of winter still to come. If you get flight gift certificates for the upcoming holidays or if you’ve gotten them as a gift this month, you’ll need to think of where to go and I’m pretty sure Yellowstone *in winter* is one of those places you could book a little more last minute. Check out accommodation @ynplodges

Oh! And if you’re a cross-country skier that was some of the most enjoyable skiing I’ve done in my life. Make sure it’s an activity you include in your trip as well. The silence that will surround you, broken by nothing but the sound of your breath and your skis cutting through the snow… it’s cheaper than therapy and twice as fun.

✨🎄 Happy Holidays to you and yours! And safe travels! 🎄✨

🎄✨ What’s on my Christmas wish list? 🎅✨ A @vw of course!! *not sponsored but hosted*

The Dream: the ID. BUZZ EV I test drove in San Francisco
The Reality: it’s the newly redesigned 2025 Taos that probably fits in my low-ceiling’d Los Angeles-sized parking garage and our super small parking lot spaces 😂

But those who know me well know that no matter which weekend it is and which Volkswagen I’m driving, I’m probably a happy camper. It’s VW I love and getting in one feels like coming home! 🚘

During my latest test drive of the Taos, I was lucky to get to drive with Asia, founder of @blackgirlshike_ and we had the. best. time. Lots of laughs were had and lots of popcorn was consumed as we put the car through its paces and talked race car driving. I promise we stayed under the speed limit, VW 😉🥰

Stay tuned for a blog post review with more info about the actual car. 😉 #VWTestDrive #VWTaos #VW #vwlover

In my last post I talked about a recent VW test dr

In my last post I talked about a recent VW test drive in San Francisco. And anytime I talk about the city I just want to keep talking about it. It’s gotten a bad rep in the press these last few years but it remains one of my favorite places to be, or to visit in the USA. 🇺🇸 This photo is from one of the longest walks I ever took in San Francisco. It was after I wrapped an event with @explorecanada and my flight wasn’t departing for quite some time. So I just walked. And walked. And walked. And I found Ina Coolbrith Park. Which I somehow hadn’t yet known about. It happens every time I visit. I discover something new. Because San Francisco is like an onion. Yes it has the Pier 39, the Ferry Building, the bridge, Golden Gate Park, Lombard Street, the Painted Ladies, Chinatown, street cars and Alcatraz.

But the real gems are ones found in the layers deep in the onion. The ones you discover your 4th, 5th, 6th time visiting.

So I want to open the comments up to YOU to ask questions. And to those who know and love San Francisco. If you’re willing to share tips for visitors, what would you tell them to do when they visit? ⤵️

I’ll start with just a sampling of my favorite ideas: SFMOMA, Palace of Fine Arts at Sunrise (that timing is key), Tonga Room in the basement of @fairmontsanfrancisco for cocktails, Ina Coolbrith park with a sack lunch and a book or just enjoy the view, ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery, and take a tour of The Mission with @sfcityguides.

There’s no brand I have more fun working with -

I went to Michigan and all I got was…. too many

I went to Michigan and all I got was…. too many food photos 😂

Here’s the photo dump. It was the quickest trip. But then again, they’re usually too short no matter how long they are. Between trying to catch up with alllll my family, and endeavoring to hit all the places that have opened since I was last in The Mitten, there’s just a lot to pack in. Some highlights from the past and this time:

A stay at Detroit’s Foundation Hotel. Can’t recommend more highly.

Dinner at Le Suprême where the Mac & Cheese, the Bibb Lettuce salad, the Steak Frites, Oeufs Mimosa, their wine list, and more were DIVINE. This was the best French restaurant dinner I’ve had in the USA.

The X.R. Cyser cider by St. Ambrose. The addition of cinnamon is truly a revelation.

Finnish pasties. Our family has gotten them from the Finnish Cultural Center since I was a little girl. They have meat, carrots, and rutabaga inside. And like the “hand pie” staple of so many countries, they may be simple but they’re truly delicious when done well. My mother eats hers with ketchup, my brother with barbecue sauce and I just add a little salt. Mine paired well with the delectable Blake’s Triple Jam hard cider.

Smashburger-style burger from Rolling Stoves brick n mortar location in Farmington, or their food truck if you see it out and about.

I’ve got a thousand other recs if you’re ever visiting @puremichigan so don’t hesitate to ask for tips when you’re planning your visit! I don’t work for the state tourism board but after living there for 18 years and then visiting annually - I’ve got a LOT of knowledge to share. 😃😋🫶🏼

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Last night, I enjoyed time with the Slovenian Tour

Last night, I enjoyed time with the Slovenian Tourist Board. I learned a lot about this underrated country in Europe bordered by Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary. In 2023 I visited its Lake Bled area for a day but all it did was make me long to return and explore more. So I was excited to continue to get to know Slovenia better while meeting Slovenians, trying their wines, and sampling Potica (Povitica) pastries.

Did you know that Slovenia…
- has 60% forest coverage
- is a land of beekeeping where beekeepers are so knowledgeable that they actually teach other countries in Europe how to better tend to their bees
- has plenty of wellness centers and spas, some of which allow you to drink Slovenia’s fresh spring water right from taps in the spas
- takes the right to water so seriously that it’s enshrined in their constitution
- named their “Julian Alps” region [where Bled is] for Julius Caesar
- has created the largest walking zone with no gas cars in Europe in the capital city of Ljubljana where the Triple Bridge by architect Jože Plečnik is recognized by UNESCO and the city’s Art Nouveau and Baroque architecture are a draw for visitors like me who love those styles
- prioritizes the environment by preserving the forests and ensuring its vibrant turquoise rivers and lakes stay clean and clear (wow are they colorful!)
- has nine wine-growing districts within three major wine regions and the country makes delicious Orange wine which I was able to sample last night. They do not grow enough to widely export now, so when you visit you need to leave extra room in your luggage to bring bottles home!
- is not to be discounted as a culinary destination with Slovenians such as Ana Roš, chef-owner of Hiša Franko in Kobarid [awarded three Michelin stars and a Green Star for sustainability] putting it firmly on the map

All of this makes me long to @feelslovenia in depth. It’s calling to me and I hope I’ve helped pique your interest too. Would you visit? Or have you visited? And if yes, what did you think?

🇸🇮 #ifeelsLOVEnia #mojaslovenija

🕊️ I’ve been thinking of how to move forwar

🕊️ I’ve been thinking of how to move forward on this acct in a world of ever increasing darkness. It’s coming from multiple directions as our tech grows increasingly bent against us policy-wise and in the US our government makes it clear that they are not for all people, by all people.

How do I bring the light, the color, the hope? I’ve always believed travel does that. It did do that for me. The moment I left my country, it wasn’t just a planet that opened up to me. It was my mind and heart that opened. I understood for the first time that the environment I’d grown up in was but a drop in the bucket of what humanity is. And the greatest thing about humanity is the diversity of it. The color, the sound, the taste, the depth, the history, the heart… it’s what makes us great. And I think when we don’t experience that for ourselves, we’re bound to feel a sense of fear of it. Fear of the unknown. It’s why travel has been for me not just a job but a sort of, mission. For lack of a better word.

So I think I’ll continue to post about travel. Not because I don’t see what’s going on around us. But because I see what’s going on around us. And I hope I can find ways to do so that show I’m on the side of all humans. Always. 🤍

📷📍 Cuba, 2016

By now you probably know that literal deadly wildf

By now you probably know that literal deadly wildfires are burning around Los Angeles. Sunset Fire was so close to our home I could feel the heat on my face & we were forced into mandatory evacuation not knowing when, or if, we would have a home to return to. I took this photo from the safety of our roof on the 1st morning we had made it through a night of 90-100mph winds that helped spread & turn these wildfires into the nightmare they have become. [For reference: tropical storms start as low as 39mph, tornadoes 65, & hurricanes 74!] Photography is a way I cope when fear threatens to incapacitate me. And it’s a way I catalog what happens because I am a visual person who cannot remember without it. This scene will haunt me to the end of my days no matter how long I live. And yet I also thought that if light could make it through a cloud that black & thick, surely hope could too?

I’m sharing this so you know
- Dante & I are ok. Many are not, I want to help them.

- My linkinbio has resource pages at the top.

- If you need aid: follow @mutualaidla; use the code CAFIRERELIEF25 for 2 rides up to $25/ea this week @lyft; download Watch Duty app, check air quality @ Fire.Airnow.gov; @wckitchen is feeding those who r displaced & those helping fight 🔥; find other free meals at 47+ LA restaurants & growing via bit.ly/LAaid; YMCA Centers = free child care for children in TK - 8th grade; find shelters for animals at bit.ly/LACFAC; @planetfitness = free access 4 wildfire-affected residents & first responders until 1/15 inc’ing use of showers, locker rooms, Wi-Fi, & electrical outlets; find relief accommodation @ hotelassociationla.com; visit 211la.org; register lacounty.gov/emergency; get fed gov help @ disasterassistance.gov

- If you want to give aid: @wckitchen, @calfund, @lafdfoundation, @westsidefoodbank, @defydisaster  
- Follow these sources for news: @jacobsoboroff, @thesarahpilla, @FirePhotoGirl, @bdelossantos1

Fellow LA residents: wear an N95 mask outside. The smoke & chemicals in that smoke from what’s burning is very dangerous.

Thank you for being the community you are. I’m grateful for you & for all the messages of support you’ve already sent. 🙏🏼🫶🏼

❄️ Now that solstice has passed, in the Northe

❄️ Now that solstice has passed, in the Northern Hemisphere longer nights give way to blessedly longer days at last and we’ll have more time to explore and enjoy places like… Yellowstone!

Before I visited in winter years ago for work I’d never have thought to explore @yellowstonenps in the “off season” but seeing bison covered in snow expelling great clouds of steaming breath from iced-over nostrils shaking out dark fur as ice crystals flew over the planes of white crystalline snow was extraordinary. And then seeing the park look like photos I’d previously seen of Lapland without the long haul flight was so delightfully surprising it’s hard to quantify the joy! We also saw wolves, bald eagles, and had the geysers all to ourselves. I wanted to put it on your radar for the months of winter still to come. If you get flight gift certificates for the upcoming holidays or if you’ve gotten them as a gift this month, you’ll need to think of where to go and I’m pretty sure Yellowstone *in winter* is one of those places you could book a little more last minute. Check out accommodation @ynplodges

Oh! And if you’re a cross-country skier that was some of the most enjoyable skiing I’ve done in my life. Make sure it’s an activity you include in your trip as well. The silence that will surround you, broken by nothing but the sound of your breath and your skis cutting through the snow… it’s cheaper than therapy and twice as fun.

✨🎄 Happy Holidays to you and yours! And safe travels! 🎄✨

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DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | WEBSITE BY FURTHER BOUND | Portraits of Kirsten by Danté Vincent | COPYRIGHT © KIRSTEN ALANA 2008-2025