Meet Tessa Marianne

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tessa Marianne.

Tessa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve taken pictures since I got my first camera phone in the 7th grade. I was always the one taking candid photos and videos of my friends’ shenanigans; I loved capturing moments and knowing that I could keep them forever. My parents gifted me my first DSLR camera when I was 16, and I was drawn particularly to detailed nature photos: shots of my mother’s garden, dewdrops on leaves, flashes of light and color through trees and grasses. My stepfather taught me astrophotography and long exposures, and I spent many chilly nights standing next to my tripod and watching the sky as the camera shutter echoed into the darkness.

I studied at Colorado State University, learning subjects unrelated to photography, but kept shooting and improving. I wandered around campus after rainstorms and pinpointed tiny water droplets on flower petals. I walked to City Park on warm summer evenings and snapped vibrant sunset reflections at the lakeshore. I drove around Horsetooth at night, scouting out dark sky views. Sometimes new acquaintances would join me on these adventures, and through these opportunities to be still and present, I solidified many great friendships.

After graduating from CSU in 2015, I kept working for a couple of years in great local restaurants. I loved Fort Collins, and I felt so fortunate to live there. But after a while, I began to feel terribly depressed. Although I didn’t recognize it at the time, I was floundering. I had no real purpose, no greater life vision. I had vague ambitions – to travel, to take photos, to learn about the world – but I didn’t have any plans. I spiraled into bleakness. I had thrown around the idea of a national parks road trip for a long while, but I didn’t move forward with it until my mother – gently, but firmly – told me to get my butt into gear and make it happen.

So I did. In the summer of 2017, I spent three months exploring 20 national parks. I drove 12,000 miles through 9 states, up over the Canadian border and back down into Montana. All this was accomplished alone in my Nissan Rogue that my stepfather and I had converted into a camper. It felt like the trip of a lifetime. I hiked hundreds of miles, camped under the stars, and shot tens of thousands of photos. I encountered black bears in California and grizzly bears in Montana dropped my camera in Lake Tahoe (and miraculously revived it a week later) and made connections in hostels and campsites from Nevada to Alberta. I felt revitalized and incredibly capable. I found myself unexpectedly in love with Lake Tahoe and secured a photography job there later in the year for the winter ski season.

As if all of this wasn’t enough of an odyssey, two weeks after returning home, I embarked on another enormous venture: a trip to Australia to visit with my dad for the first time in over a decade. I would spend one month making my way around this beautiful new country, and then I would return back to the States to start my shiny new job in California.

Spoiler alert: this is not what happened.

An unbelievably fulfilling month passed. I met people from all over the world, living out their dreams in their personal and varied ways. I connected with musicians, artists, other photographers and videographers, gardeners and nomads and athletes and entrepreneurs, and eventually, the idea worked itself into my head – this was a place where creating your own version of life was possible. It was tangible in a way that didn’t feel tangible back home, where “success” and “careers” and “practicality” ruled over taking risks. Why couldn’t I do it too? What was stopping me from staying and making my dreams happen?

On the day of my flight back to the States, I decided to be bold. I decided to make the leap into the unknown, to open myself to the universe and see what happened. I made the most terrifying decision of my life: I stayed. My flight home came and went without me. With the suitcase and backpack I had, I stayed.

It’s been nearly three years since that day, and the journey has been altogether magnificent and formidable. I have faced incredible beauty and misery, in people and nature. I have experienced the kindness of strangers and the challenges of relationships. I’ve made wonderful and life-changing connections with people that I had to say goodbye to days or weeks or months later. I’ve become a different person: more confident, more conscious, less afraid.

Most importantly, I’ve found that I am capable of pursuing my passions. I don’t have to be small. I can take risks – and regardless of the outcomes, I will make it through to the other side, smiling all the way. A love of photos turned into a love for video: for the movement and emotion that can’t be captured in a single frame. Today, I work as a videographer and media consultant for a beautiful family guesthouse in a quietly stunning valley near Melbourne. I created this position for myself – I sent out my resume randomly to small businesses that I liked, and this one loved my art so much that they hired me to do it for them. Every day I get to do exactly what I love, and because of this energy I release into that work, I’m loved in return.

I would never have made it here if I hadn’t leaped into the unknown if I hadn’t opened myself to vulnerability if I hadn’t faced my fears and moved forward anyway. When I feel uncertain, I try to remind myself of that. It’s all a wonderful journey, and I feel gratitude for it every day.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My first and biggest challenge was overcoming my own fear. I hadn’t realized how strongly present that general fear was until I started making spontaneous life decisions. But when I placed myself in the hands of others, I realized this: the energy that you let loose into the world is the energy that’s returned to you. When I started putting my most vibrant and positive spirit before me, I started receiving it back in abundance. We tell ourselves that fear is important, that it keeps us grounded in reality. But it also keeps us from achieving our greatest heights. I have been embraced and taken care of in so many ways, from so many people, in so many places. Because I let go of fear.

This is definitely not to say that it’s all gone smoothly. I’ve been taken advantage of, falsely accused of wrongdoing, made to feel scared, and made to feel small. I’ve suffered from mental and physical health issues. I have been hurt by others and hurt others terribly. Sometimes this world feels like a very difficult place to exist.

But the ups and downs of life are completely inevitable. You crest a wave and feel on top of the world, and then you find yourself back down in the depths. Sometimes these dips are mild, and sometimes they’re soul-crushing. But I recognize that all of these things are temporary, and if I just continue to move forward – whatever that looks like – I’ll make it back up.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
Since being in Australia, I’ve gained skills and experience in videography. I still take photos all the time, but I also carefully consider the flow of a moment more. It’s an opportunity to tell a story rather than solely capturing a memory. My videography is measured and detailed, the same way that my photos have always been. I’ve filmed artists, chefs, music festivals, and the small paradises that I’ve encountered along the way. I now work for a small family-run guesthouse where I handle all of their media: photos, videos, online presence, and marketing. They find my style compelling, and they allow me a lot of freedom in the way I go about capturing their story. I’m ridiculously fortunate to be here.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
There is an element of randomness to the world that you can never really defend against. Sometimes things just go wrong. You can put forth your best intentions, and they can be demolished just with a simple, arbitrary decision made by someone else. Sometimes you lose everything you’ve worked for. Sometimes you make a mistake and suddenly the world comes crashing down around you.

But sometimes, in equal and opposite ways, you luck into the most incredible situations. You meet people that you can hardly believe you have the opportunity to sit beside. You receive gifts of love and kindness that you never even thought were possible. You get presented opportunities you might not even have dreamed of. No matter what happens, it always comes back to this: if I try my hardest, with my best attitude, with my most positive outlook, I will be alright. And most of the time, I’ll be way better than alright.

Contact Info:

• Email: tessamariannephotography@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tessamarianne
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/tessamariannephotography
• Other: www.youtube.com/c/tessamarianne

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.