My name is Gabrielle Veronica Van Wyck.
I am a story teller.
Humor & stories are my love languages.
Rainy days are my sunny days.
Wind is always preferred.

I grew up on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley, barefoot and berry-picking until the dinner bell summoned us home. The perfect base for traveling with my family of 10.

I've fallen down castle stairs in Ireland at the age of 8, I've nearly fallen off a ride at the Oktoberfest in Germany at the age of 9. At the age of 10 I got lost in the city of Assisi and I ventured around on my own until I decided it was time to make my way back. At 11 I was attacked by a wild boar in the Amazon. I've maneuvered around mopeds in Vietnam at 14. I wound through back streets in Spain at 17.

At 19, I discovered the windy weather and rolling hills of England and Scotland - they reminded me of home.

I am absolutely inspired by travel & adventures. I'm a full-time daydreamer. I build playlists - soundtracks for my life. Even just a hike on my own land is made to feel romantic. Whether it's that dramatic scene in the rain, or running in the bright dew on the tips of grass. Mountains, plains, rivers, oceans, woods, fields. I love the simple, the complex, the small things, and the big. After all that travel, I still come home to these Virginia mountains, and have found a new love for them all over again with photography.

I'm a hopeless romantic. Not always when it comes to love, but the romance in everyday life, in the fog and rain and glowing sun between the trees. I grew up watching Jane Austen and those beautiful images of love. Those details, looks, that soft touch of someone you love that sends shivers. 

I believe photography captures all of that. 

Trust me when I say I'm lazy and enjoy a good movie as I sleep on the couch with blankets and tea, and I think those times deserve beautiful pictures as well.

about the name

In 2012 I went to England and saw the Cliffs of Dover for the first time.

In 2013 I took the month of December off from school and work (to use all the money I had saved up from four jobs) and traveled through Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, and surrounding countries. I called my brother up the week before I left and I asked him to accompany me - he asked when, I said in 7 days, he said yes. We traveled together for 10 days before I met up with my sister in Germany. I spent Christmas with she and her wee family and she got me the book "The Scarlet Pimpernel". It just so happened that the White Cliffs of Dover play a part in this book. I loved that book so much as I read it and traveled alone in London. That whole month, that entire trip, did wonders for me. I remember every detail, every feeling I had in every place.

There was something about that December gloom. The constant fog, the snow over bright green grass. It spoke to my romantic heart, all the intertwining of the book, the cliffs, the feelings I had in Scotland & England. The Scarlet Pimpernel will always remind me of an evening I spent reading in one of the most beautiful hostels in London, cuddled with a blanket & tea against a rain-beaten window.

In that book, there was a quote "with white sails set, was gently dancing in the breeze”. When I read that quote, and thought of it over and over, it was with this feeling I could do anything. I was so blissfully happy from my trip - cuddling on that couch, I wrote that quote down instantly, knowing it would be a part of my photography.