As a freelance photographer for The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveller, Delicious Magazine and many other publications, I have travelled the world for over twenty years capturing authentic travel, portrait and lifestyle imagery.
In my storytelling I aim to capture a sense of place, find subtle, beautiful moments in the everyday and celebrate the spirit of everyone I meet along the way.
On assignment for Delicious Magazine in the Okavango Delta, Botswana 2016. Photo by Shannon Harley.
Photographer
Designer
In 2013, I moved to Palm Springs, CA and bought a run down apartment building. I applied the same principles of design I had developed as a photographer to renovate this building and opened as a boutique hotel called The Amado.
I uncovered a natural love of design and partnered with friends to develop a collection of boutique accommodations including The Junipero, The Ferg and The Wilk, as well as the coffee shop Ernest Coffee and tiki bar Bootlegger Tiki.
In 2016 I launched The Desert Collective, an umbrella brand for these businesses. Download our official guide to Palm Springs here and Prince Edward County here.
Being photographed at my Palm Springs home by Tom Story for Sunset Magazine, 2018.
Award-winning Author
My book Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries was published in 2006. Inspired by the thought-leaders in my community I photographed and interviewed 118 experts in the categories of social responsibility, education, arts, culture, and holistic health throughout the province of British Columbia.
The book won a Bronze Medal at the 2007 Independent Publisher's Awards, and was named a 2007 Nautilus Book Awards Finalist. The foreword was written by Dr Andrew Weil.
At a book signing for Chapters Indigo at the Vancouver Convention Center, 2007.
Educator
I have taught photography, storytelling and creativity for many organizations. A personal highlight was to lead a tour to Bhutan in partnership with Sacred Earth Journeys.
Other speaking engagements include Canon Hollywood Live Learning, Pecha Kucha Night Vancouver, Simon Fraser University’s Greenest City Ideas Slam, the Green Living Show and the City of Palm Springs Public Library.
A portrait I took of my class participants in Bhutan, 2008.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, I grew up in Ottawa and have explored various forms of artistic expression from an early age.
I earned my BAA in Fashion Marketing from Ryerson University in Toronto in the year 2000 and completed a semester abroad at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
I was extremely fortunate to work at the Santa Fe Workshops in New Mexico early in my career and learn firsthand from some of the most prolific photographers working today.
Making art in my backyard in Ottawa, Canada.
I am fascinated by psychology, health and human potential. I am a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Jikiden Reiki Master. I have studied coaching with the Co-Active Training Institute, and completed a Doula course in natural childbirth with Michel Odent.
My husband David Hoffman and I live in Los Angeles, CA with our son Sonny.