As these photos came through a story began to form.. Once upon a time there was a Albertan Princess that wanted a child of hers spawned by no man but the essence of nature. The child would grow up strong because it’s mother was a warrior that faced many great challenges to in order to deserve and create such a thing. She faced demons, trolls, loneliness, hunger, scaled mountains, swam the ocean and braved the northern deep freeze. Learned to lead, survive and endure the harsh conditions of the world. She even nearly died a few times along the way.

She was told in a dream that her final test to bring about this child was to go alone into the frozen waterfalls of the Kananaskis Country. She must go before the break of the sun and scale the icy walls of the frozen blue curtain. At the first strike of dawn she must reach the top and if she was successful in following these seemingly simple instructions she would return with a full belly of a child to be the next chosen Albertan Warrior and she will finally be gifted by everything she deserved.

The Albertan Princess suddenly opened her eyes as if woken from a storm and began to prepare. She had only hours before the sun would rise. She donned her magical robe of ivory and cherry blossoms, given to her by the ancients to protect her from the cold and heat and rain. She packed her trusty steely blue Mammut infinity 9.2mm dry rope, a rope only used to send the hardest projects, her seemingly old and worn ice boots, which carried the speed and agility of the God of Kijiji, her ice tools and 3 boiled eggs.

By the time she arrived at the base of the waterfall there was only moments left before the sun would rise. Thanks to all her years of training her ability to manage time and work under pressure was a magical power all on its own. The first 10meters went smoothly with each pick striking the ice on point. Then after one particular swing over the first bulge, water began to pour from the top of the frozen water wall.

The sun had begun to melt the top of the waterfall and a flood of water rained down upon the Alberta Princess. Her face was blinded by the surge of glacial water and when she tried to continue her ascent she couldn’t move. The flowing water had frozen her rope the ice. She had to decide I either freeze here and die and never return with my Warrior child or I must cut the rope. She quickly cut the rope and with the focus of a thousand tigers she raced to the top just as the sun broke the top of the waterfall.

She had done it. Her belly and heart had became full.

Upon her descent a man appeared. He had been watching her from the beginning and was captivated by her strength skill and determination.

When she asked why he did not help her he said most men would have thought she could not do it alone and tried to help her or do the task for her. He knew this was something important and knew she needed to do it herself for it to come to fruition. He watched as she struggled through each step but knew in his heart she would prevail. He believed in her and fell in love with her. He knew if he tried to interrupt her challenge he might loser her forever, so with bated breath he watched.

It was this moment that the Albertan Princess realized what the dream meant when it told her that she would be finally gifted with everything she deserved. For the first time she met a man that let her be herself. A man that was capable to follow her path but supported her dreams to be achieved at her own hand. A man that knew being strong for a woman doesn’t always mean doing things for her because they think she’s not strong enough to do it herself. She found the one man that was willing to wait for her.

In that moment she said “You. You will be by baby daddy.”

And he said “Mine.”

The Beginning.

Photos by at Callan Field