#ProofFrontierProject || Jillian Lukiwski

I'm not much of a planner, I prefer to approach life and work from a place of intuition.  In point of fact, I rarely stage shoots, my choice is to photograph on spec for companies I freelance for.  I never go places to get photographs.  I go places to go places, to explore, to adventure, and the photographs I take are a byproduct of living and a byproduct of my lifestyle choices.  Something I value more than anything else in life is my freedom and I do my best, most genuine work when there are no expectations and no boundaries to work with.  Another detail that is specific to my camera work is self-portraiture.  I've been practicing self-portraiture since grade seven and not because I'm vain or think I'm a splendid beauty, but because more often than not, I'm on a solo adventure and there's no one else to put in the frame except myself.  I suppose I could commit myself to shooting landscapes but I think adding a human being to a spectacular vista gives land and sky scale and the added human element to a landscape can give a wild space meaning and context.  Self-portraiture is one more way to document the feel of a time and place, for me, it's like journaling which is something else I've always done.

I live beneath the West Bench here in Pocatello -- my house sits directly across a field of sagebrush from the City Creek Trailhead which is well known for wonderful and diverse single track.  I run this trail system every single day and consider it, to a certain degree, my front yard.  Jade, the curly haired beauty in these photos, is one of my best friends and her house is exactly next to mine in our neighborhood.  On this specific evening, I just wanted the two of us to go out for a walk with our dogs, pick some wildflowers and watch another beautiful Idaho day burn down over the ridge lines we know and love.  Sometimes keeping it simple and real is best!

I chose this area for this shoot because I really love living in the Portneuf Valley.  Pocatello gets slammed a lot by folks who live in other parts of the state of Idaho and I always think it's because they haven't taken the time to explore the area.  Stopping for gas in Chubbuck on your way to Jackson is not the same as going to Pocatello!  I think Pocatello is going to hit critical mass some day and really boom as a gateway mountain town and I do all I can to help it in that direction by photographing the rugged beauty of the hills and mountains here and my adventures therein.

In the meanwhile, we always say this town is convenient enough to not be inconvenient -- and I never have to deal with crowds on the trails or rush hour traffic, which I love.

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