A Garden Variety

I have a giant love for flowers, which we all know by now, and though I started photographing flowers in a studio I loved the joy of getting to let it flow from in the studio, (abstract photography, dried flowers) and out into nature, and back to the studio again. I would spend most of my days outdoors if it were a real option, hiking out in nature, discovering great beauties all around us like wildflowers in the spring or the stunning beauty of our National Parks. So, I don’t know when to say I started working on the series A Garden Variety but it began from really feeling who I am deep down inside when I am out in the middle of nature. I think that is what we are all searching for, right, that feeling of knowing I am in the right place.

Unstoppable/A Garden Variety

Never knowing what types of flowers you will find while out exploring is yet another reason why I have enjoyed this series. All sorts of different flowers are found in different states and getting to capture a type of flower that doesn’t grow near you is an amazing opportunity!

Magnetic Calm/A Garden Variety

I LOVE photographing flowers outdoors and thinking about the experiences that came with those photographs. For example, last year I got to go for a hike with my cousin, a friend, and my family to see Showy Lady Slippers in Minnesota. These flowers are the state flower, and cannot be picked, so the only place to photograph them is right where they are. My cousin and friend knew right where to go and were delighted in getting to show the kids and me these spectacular flowers tucked just far enough away that if you didn’t know where they were you would go right past them! That trip and seeing those flowers is something that is a memory I love to revisit not only in my mind but looking back at the photos as well!

Blake Garden Ranunculus/A Garden Variety

January 2023 Calendar

Happy January! The holidays went way too fast! We have had lots of time to sleep in and a bunch of family time and now it is time to get back on the normal schedule. Last month I suggested a new series in the making for the calendar but it isn’t to the point where I want to show that work yet, so, I will continue to work on it until it is ready to share with you all.

January’s calendar features an Arizona poppy!

So Sweet/A Garden Variety

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

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Saguaro National Park East

Over the last couple of years Byrce and I have started a tradition of going to Tucson for the weekend when I go for my other work. These little getaways are fun because it is just the two of us and we get to go on adventures to new restaurants, museums, and both years we have gone to Saguaro National Park.

These two years couldn’t have been more different weatherwise. Last year, right at the same time of year, we went to Saguaro National Park West and it was a warm December day, tanktop weather really. This year the weather was cool and rainy. In fact, it rained almost the entire time we were gone from Phoenix, which never happens!

The park is divided into two parts and the two parts are about an hour away from each other and in the middle is all of Tucson. Since we visited the west side of the park last year we wanted to try out the east side of the park this year. Both sides are stunningly beautiful! I love getting to walk around surrounded by saguaros, which only grow in the Sonoran desert and only in certain parts of it, knowing that these cacti have been around longer than I have been alive.

Getting to see this park in cool and rainy weather was such a contrast from last year. The grey clouds hung over us and almost every time we got out of the car it would start to rain all over again! This was so enjoyable because it doesn’t rain as often as some of us would like. So Bryce and I wandered down this path and then that path all the while getting rained on and hiding my camera away so the rain wouldn’t wet.

As always, it was a wonderful trip and it was so much fun to get to experience an Arizona National Park in the rain and with interesting weather. I loved that we have gone twice and had two totally different experiences. I included my reel from Instagram to show you some of the beauty of Saguaro National Park!

December 2022 Calendar

December is here and with that, it means the year is wrapping up! 2023 is sneeking up on us and it makes me wonder what it will hold! This year I focused on the series Pointed Elegance for the desktop calendar to share with you every month and with January not super far away I am thinking ahead to what series I should share next. Will it be one of the series that I have already created, and continue to work on, or will it be a whole new series? Wellllll, currently my plan is to create an example of a couple of my ideas and I hope to get feed back from you guys! Maybe take a little poll and you can vote for which is your favorite! Keep an eye out for that!

Happy holidays, my friends, and enjoy your last desktop calendar of 2022! Don’t forget to share it with your friends!

Keepsake/Pointed Elegance

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

Would you like to have a reminder delivered by email every month to download that month’s calendar? Just sign-up below with your email address!

November 2022 Calendar

I have found on the days that I am completely overwhelmed that getting myself out of the house and into nature can change everything. This last week I took a trip to the Botanical Garden, here in Phoenix, and was amazed at how many of the cacti were in bloom in October! You know the saying, April showers bring May flowers, and in Arizona, the same can be said during the monsoon season, monsoon showers bring cactus flowers. Monsoon season is typically from June thru September when we have many rain storms. October was a surprise this year filled with rain and that brought on a whole new batch of flowers blooming from many cacti! I have enjoyed the extra rain and especially love the unexpected cacti blooms!

Fall Heirloom/Pointed Elegance

A photograph of a fish hook cactus.

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

Botanical Garden in the Fall

There are some days that seem super heavy or overwhelming and for those days the best pick-me-up that I have found is to get out in nature. I have known it for a long time but really leaned into this when Bryce and I were in graduate school. It was just the two of us in a new place and I felt lost in a big city where I wasn’t spending any time in nature. Soon enough I was able to turn that around once I started photographing flowers. I know I have shared before that my studio was covered in fresh flowers, ones that had passed their prime, and of course the flowers I had hanging to dry. All of these flowers created a little oasis for me at that time.

Now we live in Phoenix and I am still always looking for that nature escape! Last week I took a morning trip to the Botanical Garden after I dropped the kids off at school. I like to go when they first open because there are times that it can feel like it is just me in the desert with no one around. As the morning goes on more and more people show up but you can always find those moments where it feels like the entire garden is yours alone.

These trips take me away and give me a moment to breathe and stop thinking about all the things that need to be done. I find inspiration in the cacti and gardens filled with flowers. As I walk around I find that the garden is filled with soooooooo many types of cacti that I have never seen, which inspire me to learn more about that type of cactus, and then I question if that would be a good cactus for my growing cactus garden.

They change up the art installations at the Botanical Garden, I’m guessing around every six months or so, which is an extra reason to go there. Earlier this year they had Chuluy in the Garden, check out this blog post from earlier this year to see Chuluy art, and now Playing in the Garden: Rotraut. Her art is large bold colorful sculptures that are both abstract and yet give you a feeling that you know what it is about at the same time. When I first walked in there was a little girl telling her mom, “That one looks like a G.” Her mom told the garden attendant that everything looks like a G because her name starts with a G and she associates everything with that right now. I loved overhearing that moment and knowing that these sculptures have a different meaning for every person.

A photograph of a Ferocactus glaucescens cactus.

Have you been to the Botanical Garden in Phoenix this fall? What was your favorite part? Is it the art, getting to walk around, the plants, or is it a little bit of all of it?

Digital Desktop Wallpaper

Over the last week, I was driving Myles, my son, across town over and over again for a virtual reality research study. I really want both kids to get great opportunities to earn money for themselves. This driving time gave me a lot of time to sit and think about things that bring joy into life, I’ll tell you that driving in Phoenix traffic is not one of them, and how I can bring joy into other people’s lives as well. Throughout this year I have created Facebook and Instagram stories that have little positive messages or thoughtful quotes alongside my photography. I have found that these serve as a positive reminder that I need in my own life and that someone else can benefit from them as well!

Well, I was thinking about that and how I would love to create a little reminder that I could see every day! So, now I get to show you the new desktop wallpapers that are available! There are even more in the shop so make sure to stop on by!

I am super excited to get to share these with you guys! I am starting off with images from Pointed Elegance and will be adding more from other series. Do you have a favorite image from a series that you would like to display on your desktop? Do you have a thought or a quote that you would like to be a gentle reminder for you every day? Send me a message and I can work on getting that added in!

October 2022 Calendar

Well, here we are, it is officially fall! October is that beautiful part of the year when the weather starts to cool down in Phoenix and when we can go back out and enjoy nature! When I can’t be out enjoying nature in all of its beauty I love to be editing the photos to share with you all! This month features the splendid glowing yellow flowers of an aloe vera bloom.

Splendid Radiance/Pointed Elegance

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

Would you like to have a reminder delivered by email every month to download that month’s calendar? Just sign-up below with your email address!

Metal Magnet

I am excited to share a new product with you! You have seen the metal prints that I offer now this 4x4 metal magnet can bring a pop of art can be added to your kitchen! Metal magnets are going to be just like the metal prints, which you can read more about here, in the way that they are taken care of but they are versatile because they can be displayed on magnetic surfaces.

Center of it All / Pointed Elegance
A photograph of a cactus.

Where would you put your new metal magnet? Currently, mine is brightening up my filing cabinet in the office.

Center of it All can be found here.

Getting to Know Me

Hello, my friends! I hope that I am not the only person singing “Getting to Know You” by Rogers and Hammerstein from The King and I. The chorus says, “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you."” If you don’t know that song I highly recommend you go listen to it! It was one of the classic movies that I grew up watching.

I love getting to know more about the person that I am following and thought you might enjoy that as well!

1. Do you have any nicknames?

I’m not really a nickname kinda girl. My favorite nickname is mom.

2. Are you named after anyone?

I am named after my great-aunt Anna. I love that about my name and I always thought that was so fun to have a relative with the same name.

3. Do you have any siblings?

Yes!! I have two older sisters. They are pillars in my life and are always there when I need them. I do remember them teasing me quite extensively but they also probably have memories of me teasing them! Throughout all of the thing in life, I feel very lucky to have had these two to grow up with and to have both of them living nearby. We have always had amazing times together with many more food times to come!

I am also blessed to have my chosen family - a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law. They might not be related by blood but I feel so lucky to have them in my life and that I can call on them for help any time.

My sisters, Laurie and Mindy, and myself at my wedding.

4. Where did you grow up?

I have spent the majority of my life between California and Arizona. I spent my early years in California and from my teens until I met Bryce in Arizona. Once I met Bryce we moved to California for graduate school and then we had our son, Myles, and realized that we needed the village of family support so we moved back to Arizona. Around half of my life has been spent in Arizona, wowie!

5. What other countries have you been to?

I have spent time in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Canada. There is so much beauty in being in different countries in learning about places and cultures. There is so much art history in Mexico that I would love to experience.

When I was 23 I was able to go to Costa Rica for five weeks,  I was there to study Spanish, and I was there all on my own with the school that I had picked out, and that was a huge growing experience. I took many tours and saw both dormant and active volcanoes.

I also got to take a trip to Canada with my oldest sister. We took a tour of gardens in Vancouver and I have always wanted to go back again to photograph it, someday!

Me in 2003 at the Poás volcano in Costa Rica.

6. What do I remember from the early years of my life?

I grew up in Southern California and my extended family lived in Minnesota. Every summer we would drive across the country to spend time with all of them. We would stay at my Grandma’s house on those trips. She had a good-sized raspberry patch and whenever my middle sister and I were hungry we could just run outside and pick as many raspberries as we liked. To this day whenever I smell raspberries I think of my Grandma.

7. Who is the most interesting person you know?

Oh, wow, that is a hard one! The list is about as long as the number of people that I know! I will narrow that list down to both of my parents. My mom would tell us interesting stories and adventures that she had throughout her life. She was always an amazing person who could tell you about our family history without having to look any of it up! She would often tell us about the great-great (I’m not sure how many greats) grandpa who was left on a doorstep in Sweden. My mom was an amazing woman whom I miss every single day.

My dad tells the most interesting stories about how when he was young he decided he wanted to go Marti Gras and just hopped in his car, in Minnesota and started driving. He also worked in the mines in Minnesota and he has shared near-death experiences with us. You just never realize the amount of experiences that the people who raised you also went through. My dad has a new interesting story all the time!

Photographing cacti at the Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

8. What do I do to unwind?

I have always loved to sit and read a good book, so I try to do that often! Almost daily after dropping off the kids at school, I go for a run. It gives me a bit of time to focus on myself and it gives me great exercise. Where I go running is near the edge of a desert area and there are many wildflowers that grow there. So not only do I get the daily exercise I crave but I get to see flowers and see what new flower is going to come along every season. Oh, and of course, I am always planning when I can come out and photograph them!

9. Who am I?

I am a fine art photographer who loves to photograph nature, especially flowers. I am a sister, a daughter, a friend, a wife, and a mother of two. I am a person who loves to be at home and work in my garden. I am someone who has big dreams of traveling all around. I am a mom who doesn’t get enough sleep and uses coffee as a crutch to get me through the day. 

10. Do you prefer country or city living?

I have lived in Phoenix for the majority of my life, so I am very used to city living. I dream of living in a smaller town and having a bit of land to plant a giant garden, can you imagine how many flowers would be in my garden?! I would love to live with nature all around me. I like to think I could be happy in both places.

And now, my friends, I would love to know more about you as well! Feel free to either email me or drop a comment in the comments area. Also if you have more questions about me feel free to ask them there as well!