We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leea Gorell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leea below.

Leea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Moving to America back in 2002 was probably the biggest and most life altering risk I took. It was a leap of faith based on intuition. I was born with a great sense of adventure and wanderlust, so the thought of moving to a foreign land I had never been to before, was quite exhilarating. I had nothing to lose, since the only thing I owned at the time was an old film camera and a suitcase of clothing. I had a connection in San Diego, CA with an invitation to visit, so I took it. I had no idea it would turn into a lifelong adventure; moving overseas, a marriage, a career and running my own business two decades later. The journey has definitely involved a lot of struggles and rebirth, starting over many times from square one. But a camera has always been traveling with me, wherever I’ve lived.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am a portrait photographer based in Asheville, NC. I’ve been photographing people since the early 2000’s, over twenty years now. I grew up in a small town, a village really, in a country (Finland) that has some of the shortest daylight hours in the world, so cultivating imagination was a key to survival in the long winter months. Finland was also more culturally isolated back then, so there really wasn’t much of an outside influence. It was a stark and insular culture to grow up in. In my early twenties I got my hands on an old film camera from the 70s, and I could hardly set it down. I became fascinated by the myriad worlds I could escape to with it. Creating stories through images rapidly developed into a lifelong love affair, and later blossomed into a commercial photography career, when I landed in America back in 2002. I had a lot of odd day jobs in the early days here, and somehow always got into trouble with the bosses. I had no interest in working for someone else, I only wanted to take pictures, so I spent every dollar I made buying and developing film and acquiring props for my next shoot idea. I was more into artistic photography back then; creating triptychs, and series of works that involved some kind of surreal or esoteric concept. My forte was creating a story out of whatever I had available. It could be something as basic as a shoe. I created a series back in 2003 that revolved around surreal situations and shoes. My favorite one was a woman levitating on a golf course wearing yellow heels. You could only see her feet. It looked like alien abduction on a sunny day. Another one from this series was a girl floating upside down inside a clawfoot bathtub, with only red shoes showing above the water. There were many others in this series, but you get the idea.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Reinventing yourself through the art of creation, every day. There are no limits in art and anything is possible. As an artist, you can be anything you imagine. Altering life through shifting perception is something that has always fascinated me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think the goal is to know yourself better, through the mirror of the world reflecting itself back in the lens. Being a photographer is a great teacher in how perception shapes our worlds. I try to remember that everyone I photograph is a fractal of Source – a mirror of the Universe/God/Higher Self. Therefore, every image is an image of God. I am always learning through the subjects I photograph, and this is what keeps the journey interesting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildlightrising.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avl.photographer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeeaGPhoto