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Kurt O'Kelly

@kurt_okelly

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🏔️ Adventure • Landscapes • Storytelling
📍 Colorado 📸
🌍 Explore more. Create more.
👇 Follow my adventures

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A city of steel and shadow, where history meets the horizon and every street holds a story.

Chicago is a study in contrasts, towering architecture and hidden corners, restless energy and unexpected stillness, the familiar and the extraordinary.

There’s something about this city that draws you in. Maybe it’s the skyline, the character of its streets, or the way the light transforms even the most ordinary moments into something unforgettable.

The more you look, the more there is to discover.
Chicago, beyond the skyline.

What is it about a city that makes you want to keep exploring? taken in Chicago, Illinois by @kurt_okelly

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8 days ago

The jungle fades into darkness, but between them, the light endures. In a world that can be wild and uncertain, a mother’s embrace is special.

@sonyalpha a7RIV | FE 100-400mm GM taken in Krabi Thailand by @kurt_okelly

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a month ago

No crowds. No schedule. Just mountains, open roads, and a little bit of getting lost.

Sometimes the best adventures are the ones you don’t plan the roads that disappear into the trees, the views that stop you in your tracks, and the moments when you realize you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

There’s something about leaving the pavement behind and following the road wherever it leads. 🌲🏔️

Would you keep driving? taken in Colorado, USA by @kurt_okelly

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2 months ago

We carry the weight of the world in our pockets.

Work follows us onto the trail, into the woods, right into our sleeping bags.

Every empty second echoes with the thoughts of other people. And now, the thoughts of machines.

But the fire has a strange gravity.

Around it, phones disappear.

Attention returns.

This is your reminder. Keep carrying the fire. by @kurt_okelly

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2 months ago

Sometimes golden hour just hits differently! 🤌🏼

There’s something about watching the last light move across a place like Split that makes you want to stay just a little longer. Maybe it’s the Adriatic, maybe it’s the centuries of history, or maybe some places simply have a way of making you feel completely present.

Dramatic lighting always makes photos pop but I go back and forth on which sunset lighting is my favorite. Do you prefer gold or blue light? taken in Split, Croatia by @kurt_okelly

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2 months ago

New gear, same campfire vibes.

This past weekend could’ve looked a lot different with the fire ban in place, but the @howlcampfires R3 came through and completely saved our camping trip. 🔥🏕️

We still got to gather around the “fire,” swap stories, enjoy the evening, and soak up that camp atmosphere without worrying about breaking fire restrictions or getting too cold.

If you’re camping during fire season, this might just be the best piece of gear you can pack.

Who’s ready for the next adventure? 🌲⛺🔥

@sonyalpha 📸 A7RIV | FE 20mm f1.8 G | 4 sec by @kurt_okelly

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2 months ago

Adriatic dreams from Split

Save this for your future Croatia itinerary. 🇭🇷 taken in Split, Croatia by @kurt_okelly

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2 months ago

The tide returned. The tree remained. I was only passing through.

📸Sony A7RIV | 24mm | f2.8 | 1/800 sec by @kurt_okelly

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3 months ago

7/3/2023 - Three years married, countless adventures, and a lifetime still waiting for us. Through every mountain we’ve climbed, every unexpected detour, and every challenge life has thrown our way, there’s no one I’d rather have beside me.

@michele__okelly Thank you for being my greatest adventure, my compass, and my strongest supporter. Happy anniversary, my love. Here’s to wherever the trail takes us next. 🌊🏔️✈️🌲

@georgy.shishkin 📸 taken in Oregon Coast by @kurt_okelly

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3 months ago

Of all the ways to build a home, someone chose an airplane. Of all the places to leave it, they tucked it deep into an Oregon forest. An airplane has no business being surrounded by towering evergreens, and yet somehow it feels exactly where it’s meant to be.

Equal parts engineering, and imagination it’s proof that the most unforgettable places are often the ones that challenge every expectation. by @kurt_okelly

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3 months ago

Some stories aren’t buried, they wait for the tide.

The Peter Iredale ran aground here in 1906 after being caught in heavy winds while trying to cross the Columbia River Bar. Powerful currents, shifting sandbars, and Pacific storms have earned this stretch of coastline the name “Graveyard of the Pacific”.

More than a century later, its steel ribs still rise from the sand, weathered by the tides but unwilling to disappear.
Some stories are carried away by the sea. Others become part of the shoreline. taken in Wreck of the Peter Iredale by @kurt_okelly

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3 months ago

The night stretched endlessly around them, vast and untamed, but what lingered wasn’t the darkness or the stars, it was the quiet comfort of one beside another.

A gentle reminder that even in the immensity of the world, there is something profoundly beautiful about not walking the journey alone.

Tag your adventure partner in the comments! by @kurt_okelly

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4 months ago