When Bethany reached out to book an Untamed Portrait session for December, 2025, we started to discuss what that might look like for her. The goal with every Untamed session is that it orients around the individual's connection with nature, play, and wonder. This means that each session is completely unique in how it unfolds. As we planned for Bethany, she knew she wanted to incorporate hiking, which is an activity she does frequently. I had an intuitive feeling that being on a very dense trail near water might be a draw for my fellow Taurus babe, and suggested a few. I was not surprised that she was drawn immediately to Latourell Falls. It's a magical place in the Columbia Gorge, OR, with old growth and a feeling that you might stumble across fairies around any corner of the trail.
It's important to me that the sharing of these sessions includes both visual and written storytelling, so I invited Bethany to share her perspective for this post. You can read her words below and then meander through the images, which include landscape shots that felt as equally critical to the story.
From Bethany:
"River made a social media post to her stories about an untamed outing with another woman. This particular woman wrote about the profound difference this experience made for her. I am currently in my first year of being a single mother and have chosen a year of deep and concentrated healing. River has been a friend of mine for decades. Her loudly sharing her healing journey gave me a person to turn to who I knew would understand the predicament I found myself in. River has been an integral in my healing journey from the start.
After seeing the epiphanies this other woman had from her experience, I knew in my heart that my healing journey needed to have one of these adventures. So I reached out. At this time, I was wanting to get more in touch with my sensuality. I had some general ideas of being in nature and getting feral with another feral woman. What actually occurred was much more subtle, grounding, and a magic all of its own.
The first thing that occurred is that I got to be reacquainted with on of my favorite people and oldest friends. This in and of itself in an absolutely beautiful thing! The second thing that occurred is that I got to share my story, my healing journey, and my ongoing struggles with someone who can hear and feel the nuances in what I say and understand all that is not able to be expressed. And the same occurred when River would share her story and experiences.
During the last year in my healing journey, nature has a played a central role. It is where I have found my grounding, where my soul was welded back together, and where I walked into a new me. Nature is an essential component of my being. When I look at the photos that River was able to capture, that's the story I see. That I am at home with nature., that we are symbiotic, and that I am at my best while out in it. River was not able to keep the landscapes out of the story of our journey because my story is unable to be told without nature. I am not complete without it. Some of the magic of our journey together is that River has the ability and presence to reach the heart of the story, the truth of the subject, and draw it to the foreground."
