Her name is Lira.
She is 7 years old and she is my oldest daughter. Lira was born in Russia in Saint-Petersburg but when she was 3 months old our family moved to Dahab in Egypt. We lived there for 5 years, our place was facing the Red Sea. We spent everyday on the beach playing with water and sand.

One day, at the lifeguard station Lira found a pink octopus toy inside a lost and found box.
She was about 3 years old and from that moment on octopuses became her life. She started to love the underwater world and her first word was “shark”! She had many toys representing marine creatures, but of all, the octopus was her favourite. It was not easy for me to satisfy her passion and find toys, stories or colouring about this curious invertebrate! But because of that also, these objects acquired a great value for her. They were rare, special and her passion grew stronger and stronger.

Now we live in Canada in a beautiful place in the mountains and she continues to absorb marine life information voraciously : drawing, sculptures, videos, stories and she talks and talks about it all the time. She is a lucky girl, here amongst mountains and forests she met a beautiful friend who also loves the Ocean and is happy to share with her. They love each other. Sometimes I tell Lira “Hey, learn to swim so one day your friend will show you this beautiful underwater world that you love so much!”

Her love for the Ocean and specially for octopuses is curious and interesting. In reality she hasn’t spent much time in the water when we were in Egypt and she still can’t swim. But somehow she just loves it from the shore…so far 🙂

* While writing this I am staring at Lira playing with her octopus toys on the carpet nearby. On the kitchen table in front of me there is also a small pink octopus that Lira has left. I am sure that if I head up to the bathroom or to the bedroom, I will found more of them lying around!

Yulia is from Moscow in Russia. About 7 years ago when her oldest daughter was born, her and her husband decided to move to the Dahab by the Red Sea in Egypt. They lived there for 5 years and afterwards in a few of other places abroad for a short period of time with their second little girl Dinara. In 2012 they ended up in Canada, in a beautiful mountain resort called Whistler. Inspired by a friend and the vibrant Whistler lifestyle she decided to turn her passion for photography into a professional career. You can take a pick at her beautiful work at: yuliagladyshevaphotography.com
Her wish now is to one day start taking underwater pictures 🙂