(CNN) In a single day Londoner Jacqui Kenny continent-hops from Sun City, Arizona to Naryn, Kyrgyzstan -- and back again. <\/p>\n
Kenny's travel itinerary is unconstrained by the usual limits of money, transportation or logistics. That's because she travels the world without leaving her house -- via Google Street View. <\/p>\n
Kenny suffers from agoraphobia -- an anxiety condition that makes real world traveling very difficult. <\/p>\n
The project came about by accident -- but she now has over 35,200 followers. <\/p>\n
Kenny began exploring the world via Google Street View in early 2016. <\/p>\n
\"I thought it was a little bit magic, Google Street View, it feels like a parallel universe, frozen in time,\" Kenny tells CNN Travel. \"There's all these billions of images that are yet to be explored.\" <\/p>\n
The project began early 2016. Kenny was in the process of closing down a company she had co-founded a decade previously. It was a difficult time and her explorations via Street View were comforting -- and provided an outlet for her creativity. <\/p>\n
\"I wasn't really ready to go back into the world,\" she recalls. \"So I thought, I needed a creative project, so that I can still be doing something creative and keeping myself focused.\" <\/p>\n
Initially the New Zealand native was exploring blindly -- unsure what aesthetic she would be drawn to, but it didn't take her long to realize she had a knack for spotting striking settings. <\/p>\n
Her images depict arid, desert landscapes. Sporadic pops of color bringing the photos to life. <\/p>\n
\"I realized pretty quickly that I really liked those kind of extreme environments,\" she says. \"That might be connected to the fact that due to my agoraphobia, these are places that I would never go to in real life.\" <\/p>\n
Kenny's images have a specific look that has proved popular with Instagram users. <\/p>\n
Kenny's Instagram feed is a visual smorgasbord of scenes from across the world -- all presented in Kenny's carefully framed aesthetic. <\/p>\n
Buildings are low-roofed, often half the image is taken up with blue sky. Colors burst through the otherwise minimalist scene. <\/p>\n
Only occasionally do people appear in her images. When they do, their blurred faces add to the photos' otherworldly appeal. <\/p>\n
The overall look is more akin to a scene from a Wes Anderson movie than real life. <\/p>\n
But the images aren't carefully directed scenes -- but real life moments recorded by Google and captured by Kenny. <\/p>\n
Kenny makes no effort to hide the reality of her images. <\/p>\n
She embraces the Google Street View car's intrusion into the scene. Her penchant for desert scenes is in part because of the effect the car has on the dust. <\/p>\n
\"I love the dust,\" she says, \"Because the Google car kicks up the dust it adds another layer -- something that feels a little bit surreal.\" <\/p>\n
She avoids the oddities that can be spotted on the digital platform. \"I try to be as respectful as I possibly can, I always think about that,\" she says. <\/p>\n
People rarely appear on Kenny's Instagram feed, which is carefully curated and framed. <\/p>\n
As Kenny embraces her project's unconventional digital roots, she's also learning to embrace her agoraphobia. <\/p>\n
\"I've always wanted to do something about mental health. But I was never sure what to do,\" she says. \"I'd never really told anybody about my agoraphobia, I mean I've had it for many, many years and the only people I'd ever told were my family and my close friends.\" <\/p>\n
Kenny initially worried about telling her followers, but soon realized her fears were unfounded. <\/p>\n
\"When I put it up on Instagram, it was amazing,\" she says, \"Obviously there's still so much stigma attached and I thought people were going to judge me, but I've had nothing but support.\" <\/p>\n
Kenny is constantly getting messages from other agoraphobics -- and people who suffer from other mental health conditions, thanking her for getting the word out. <\/p>\n
\"I get people contacting me pretty much every day, especially over the past six months, and I've built this really amazing community,\" she says. \"But it's not just a community of people who are going through similar struggles, it's also a creative community too.\" <\/p>\n
Kenny is considering hosting an exhibition of her images. <\/p>\n
Kenny's work has even attracted the attention of Google. <\/p>\n
She says she's been chatting to the company about upcoming projects. <\/p>\n
With all the buzz, she has even been considering tackling her issues head on and visiting some of her favorite locales in real life. <\/p>\n
\"I feel quite a connection now to some of these places that I immerse myself in. When I get a town I really, really love, I'll spend quite a lot of time there,\" Kenny adds. <\/p>\n
There has been talk of exhibitions and events in some of these spots. <\/p>\n
\"I think I would go to these places if there was a reason to go to them,\" she says. \"I would love to have an exhibition in the places that I travel to the most. And that would give me enough reason to go.\" <\/p>\n
The photographer acknowledges it would be incredibly difficult -- but rewarding: \"It would be very, very hard for me, to do it [...] but for something like, I would.\" <\/p>\n
In the meantime Kenny is excited to see where the project goes -- she is considering branching out into virtual reality and other new technologies. <\/p>\n
\"It's kind of amazing how spending a lot of time at home on this project has actually really opened my world,\" she says. <\/p>\n
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Meet the woman photographing the world -- via Google Street View ... - CNN International<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (CNN) In a single day Londoner Jacqui Kenny continent-hops from Sun City, Arizona to Naryn, Kyrgyzstan -- and back again. Continue reading