Kyle Kotajarvi
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Kyle Kotajarvi
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Kyle Kotajarvi

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@kylekotajarvi

Kyle Kotajarvi
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A year ago today at my favorite backcountry hut in New Zealand.

We drove up the west coast a few days after @harrisoncandlin and @madison.younger got engaged (✨), and ate at my favorite café on the lake before getting attacked by sandflies on
Some beautiful moments from the past few weeks out on the Oregon coast.

It’s been nearly five years since I was last here, and it was all too easy to forget how dramatic and wild this landscape is.

Even the little cabins nestled in town have
From one of the best mornings I’ve ever experienced as a photographer - 

It was around -40°C and I couldn’t feel my hands or my toes. It was laughable and we could only leave the car for 10 minutes or so at a time ☃️

But as Lake Min
Washington is a winter wonderland 🏔💕
Had the BEST time playing in the snow with @reneeroaming and friends recently up north in the mountains. I still can’t believe after all these years living here that places like this are only a short drive away.

Also, it looks like we might ge
From one of the rainiest days in recorded history at Milford Sound - with waterfalls cascading down the side of every mountain. So beautiful ⛰💦
It’s strange to think about life before the pandemic and how much we took for granted the little things - like walking into a coffee shop and sitting down without the fear of dying.

I just miss taking pictures of my friends - especially the on
Social media is not reality. Not everyday is some grand adventure. And while I really love these photos taken last summer from atop my favorite peak in the North Cascades...

Truth is, I’ve hardly left my dark apartment these past few days and
TW: Depression⁣ // Last summer, after coming home from being stuck overseas during the early parts of the pandemic, the light went out in my life.⁣
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Home didn’t feel like home anymore, I couldn’t see my friends or family, I had lost all
One year ago today I got off a plane in New Zealand for what “should” have been a four-week-long trip.

But then the world changed. My flight home was cancelled. And I found myself living in Queenstown for four months - mostly under lockd
From a beautiful summer morning in the North Cascades - surrounded by a sea of peaks, looking out at a mountain I had stood on the evening before.

It’s too easy to miss times like these amidst the cold and gloom of PNW winter. And honestly, I
Mount St. Helens has always been one of the most hauntingly beautiful places in Washington for me. 

From it’s Icelandic-looking landscape where forests of evergreens once stood, to the massive crater on its north face from when it erupted 41 y
#ad Story time with @columbia1938: Growing up snowboarding in Minnesota, we definitely had plenty of snow and cold, but not much in the way of mountains. We had hills - tiny hills - but somehow spent more time on the lifts than riding. Still, we love
Beautiful summer days in New Zealand spent cruising around Mount Cook in a classic Defender looking for rivers to mob through 🤘🏻
Window views from 10,000 feet above the southern Alps in New Zealand. An absolutely perfect morning, and a memory I often revisit 🏔
This year I got stuck in New Zealand for four months, then came back home to a changed world. 

I lost all my work for the summer, protested in the streets, and went viral in support of a movement I believe in.

I didn’t sleep well for months,

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Kyle Kotajarvi

Kyle Kotajarvi is a Commercial & Wedding Photographer based in Seattle, WA.