Valerie Hayken Photography
she climbs, she scubas, she takes amazing photographs
I'm really digging this while "home-owner" thing. Making the place our own, and putting our personalities in it. Our front room is a combination of the two of us. It's got/going-to-have a lot of Indian inspired things, some Trinidadian things, and now some Southwest-y Utah-ish things. In particular -- these GREAT photos that I just bought. I absolutely love them.
I met my friend Valerie a few years ago when we both worked at EMS. We started rock climbing together right around the same time she left to pursue her own business, Valerie Hayken Photography. Val takes amazing photos: some beautiful underwater stuff and some really great landscapes.
After we bought the house, I was having a hard time deciding what color schemes to choose for all our rooms, so I asked Val to bring by her portfolio and hoped that I'd be able to use some of her work as inspiration. Well, one year later, I've finally made some decisions and got some of her photos on my wall.
The room is VERY orange, with one purple wall to accent things (sounds weird, I know... but I like it). I found an Indian sari at a store nearby and decided to chose the colors off of that. Once I get my act together a bit more, I'm going to hang the sari above the fireplace and across the ceiling.
I loved all the oranges and purples that Val's southwest slot canyon pictures have and thought that a small collection would look great. Being the artist herself, there's no one better to select the photos, sizes and orientation better than Val, so I asked her to mock-up a few different layouts. I absolutely love what she put together. The largest photo is from Upper Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona. The two smaller photos are from Lower Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona (Page is a Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, very close to the Utah border.
I love it when people come over, and after they comment about what great photos those are (which they all have so far) I get to see "Oh, thanks! Val took those!" They're all VERY impressed, and so am I.
Valerie Hayken's slot canyon photo's in my very orange front room.