Balboa Park is a beautiful mix of urban and nature in the middle of downtown San Diego. This trail, the Juniper Staircase trail, is one of many trails that wind their way through this beautiful little slice of nature amidst the city. It takes you under the beautiful Laurel Street/Cabrillo Bridge and next to state highway 163. That specific stretch has always been my favorite to drive ever since I was a child as it takes you almost parallel to this same trail and under the aforementioned bridge by car. Funny that connection with my own childhood now with my own children's childhood, completely unintentional. This trail was one of our regular hikes when we lived just a few blocks from Balboa Park. 

In this blog I share the last time we traveled these paths and captured these memories. From one last tree climb there, the new steps and sign installed, one last mud puddle to get messy in, sand falling between the fingers from those paths, the sour yellow flowers from my childhood shared one last time with them and even a heart left of our love for this place, see if you can spot it. Someday we hope to go back, but they will have grown older and seen so many other adventures since , will it look the same to them, I wonder. But no matter what, these moments will be preserved forever in time, photos pressing pause on this time when they were small and what it was like then for them in this special place, on their original adventure. 

Love & Blessings, 
Anna 
 

I have been blessed with 3 children and been blesed to nurse all 3. However, I don't really have any pictures of this precious time we shared. I only have memories, dear ones, but they will fade as pictures won't. So doing these types of sessions hold an extra special place in my heart as I get to bless these mothers and their children with an extra special momento of  this all too brief time in their lives. 

For this breastfeeding photo session in Flagstaff, we climbed up beautiful Mars Hill and took in the views, the sun , golden grass and majestic pines. We relaxed and let nature surround us as I captured the natural bond between these two in the mountains of beautiful northern Arizona. 

Enjoy!

Love & Blessings, Anna 

Making this children's photo session in the art district of downtown Las Vegas even more fun, were the adorable subjects of the session. Three beautiful sisters who are from the Vegas area and with their mom were more than happy to show me around and tell me about their hometown as we talked and shot their photos in fun places around the art district, Fremont Street and Container Park. Those who know San Diego will find this part of Vegas is very reminiscent of the Barrio Logan area. They even have their very own Donut Bar in Vegas, a little piece of home, as I called it when we stumbled upon it in our wanderings. 

If there was one word to sum up this photo session in Las Vegas it would be: fun! Everyone agreed and indeed when that is accomplished along with some great photos, that is a huge plus in my book! From dancing to Justin Timberlake, to exploring, to sweet treats at the end, this whole session was most definitely a whole lot of fun.  I hope you too enjoy all the colors, funky vibes and joy this session brought as you browse through the following photos. 

Love & Blessings, 
Anna 

I had the opportunity to tag along with some great friends who came out from California for this adventure. It was their first trip there and it's such a special joy as a photographer in Arizona to share that first time visiting the Grand Canyon with others, as well as capture those moments. 

We drove along the south rim of the Grand Canyon for a full day trip. Starting off in Flagstaff we drove up and made many stops along the south rim. We saw so many things and the weather changed from sunny, to cloudy, snow (yes snow!) to the clouds parting at sunset at our final stop along the rim. 

Part one will take you from the beginning of the journey, views you will see on your way up, a glimpse of where the canyon starts in the east, desert views that include the Colorado River and some exploring at the watchtower, a unique structure you will find on the eastern side of the south rim.  Please stay tuned and come back  for part two as well, where I will share even more from this travel session! 

I hope you enjoy and start dreaming and planning your adventure to the Grand Canyon, don't forget to let me know  so I can be there to capture your special memories  too! 

Love & Blessings, 
Anna 

As a photographer in northern Arizona, I enjoy traveling as a travel photographer to capture your memories and this session was no exception. San Diego is my home so I travel there often and actually will have some limited sessions again available there in July this year. Please feel free to click on the contact button above to book your session today or for more information. I have a limited amount of family sessions, couples sessions, children's sessions as well as individual sessions available so don't wait too long to grab your spot if you're interested. I will also be able to capture 1 or 2 events while I'm there if you have one you need a photographer for during the week of July 26-30th, 2018 in San Diego, please contact me at the contact button above as well. 

This children's photo session was styled with a Disney theme. Elsa in the city was a fun little take on the character and we had tons of fun playing, jumping puddles and exploring the colorful leaves and unique neighborhood after the rain let up for a bit. As an Arizona photographer there is always an opportunity to capture stormy days and I absolutely love the way that colors pop against gray and cloudy days like this. So don't be afraid of a little rain or clouds for your session if it happens, wear lots of color and embrace it. 

Have a great day and I hope you enjoy!

Love & Blessings, Anna 

                          'Sometimes your adventure is being part of someone else's.'

     British boho bride meets Americana on this long forgotten stretch of historic route 66. 

I had the pleasure of photographing and meeting this beautiful soul from the other side of the pond as she made her way through her American road trip. She is the talent behind Anna Beth Photography, another destination wedding photographer like myself. When a last minute change of plans left her without a model for this boho bridal portrait session, she stepped in as the model in this beautiful dress by another British company, Shikoba Bride and asked me to photograph her. With the gorgeous flower crown and bouquet by local Arizona company: Bliss Extraordinary Floral and another local artist doing hair and makeup: Patricia Vega Hair and Makeup Studio, it was truly the perfect collaboration between both sides of the pond. {On a side note, if you are interested in more from each vendor who helped to collaborate, click on the links above.}

A Little More About the Location- Historical Route 66/Ash Fork, Arizona

Ash Fork is just over 5,000 feet in elevation and the night before received a few inches of snow. Most had melted and left a gorgeous sunny day with this amazing sunset that we took advantage of. Though we did find a few patches of snow in the shadows of route 66. The internationally renowned U.S. Route 66 runs directly through the town, some of which can be seen in this session. Notably, the longest original, uninterrupted stretch of Route 66 still in existence (approximately 9.6 miles (15.4 km) long) can be found between Ash Fork, Arizona, and Seligman, Arizona, beginning just beyond Ash Fork at Crookton Road. This uninterrupted portion starts approximately a mile west of the dead end portion we used in this session. There's also a lot of history with the Santa Fe railroad and one of the famed Harvey houses, the Escalante, once stood here. Also of note, it is known as the flagstone capital of the world and we also incorporated this into our session as well as you will note the flagstone piles towards the end of the session. If you're interested in even more information, click the link above. 

Without further adieu...I truly hope you enjoy the results. Oh, and the purple bus? Well, that can only be explained as meant to be. Honestly, it showed up less than an hour before she did and was gone before 9 a.m.  the next morning, never to be seen again.

Love & Blessings, Anna 

You make me happy, when skies are grey. 

You'll never know dear, how much I love you. 

Please don't take my sunshine away."

Happy 2018 everybody! I hope everyone had a safe and fun time celebrating the new year and that you are settling into the new year well.  I decided to start this year's blogging with a beautiful location in the woods, on a mountainside here in northern Arizona. This is where I captured the milestone of my oldest turning 10, on her birthday eve last May.

The words above are the very first song I ever sang to her as she was barely an hour old, a decade a go. Fitting then, that this beautiful location in Flagstaff, Arizona, allowed the sunshine to stream through the woods and light our session.  Seems it was only yesterday I held her in my arms and yet here we are a decade later already. It's as if she has always been here. I don't remember life without her. My sunshine, full of love, light, kindness, a sense of humor, an amazing budding artist and smart as a whip. These birthday photos will always be precious momentos of this milestone. The quiet one on one time we spent in the woods to capture them at golden hour preserved for many years to come. 

Milestone birthday photos are always a great idea and I am available to travel to capture yours or your loved ones milestones, too!

I hope you all will enjoy this very special birthday photo session. 

Love & Blessings, Anna 

As my final blog post for 2017 and as the holidays approach, I thought I would leave off with a fun little styled session I was part of. As a northern Arizona photographer, it is easy to drift off and daydream about another time when the iconic route 66 that runs through this area was hopping and thriving. This blog post hearkens back to this time. A time where the mother road was the main interstate and road trips on historic route 66 were a rite of passage. So as the song says, take it easy and enjoy these fun photos and the time and place that I hope they will evoke in you as you browse through them, and perhaps some memories for some of you as well! Have a wonderful Christmas and see you next year with a new blog post! 

Love & Blessings, Anna 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving if you are in that part of the world and I hope all are doing well. For this blog post I wanted to share a fun road trip we took here in Northern Arizona a few months a go. 

We decided to drive to the dinosaur tracks in Tuba City, Arizona located in North East Coconino county, near the Grand Canyon, on Navajo land. A short trip from where we are, but a fun way to discover Arizona. The views were amazing both on the road and there. We didn't have a ton of time there but I made the best of it on the windy and overcast day. I would love to go back and photograph a family session or couples session even, if anyone is looking for a photographer in Northern Arizona or would like to take a trip there and have it documented. 

The desert views and friendly Navajo tour guides made it such a peaceful and wonderful time in nature to explore and adventure. 

I hope you enjoy this adventure in Northern Arizona and the beauty of it all as you scroll through the photos below. 

Love & Blessings, 

Anna 

P.S. Any nature or landscape shots seen here are available for sale as well. Feel free to inquire via the contact button in the upper right hand corner or leaving a comment below! Thank you. 

You are good, good, oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-ohh

Let the King of my heart
Be the wind inside my sails
The anchor in the waves
Oh-oh, He is my song
Let the King of my heart
Be the fire inside my veins
The echo of my days
Oh he is my song

You are good, good, oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-ohh
You are good, good, oh-ohh

You're never gonna let
Never gonna let me down...

{King of My Heart} 

I had the honor of documenting a beautiful worship gathering called ONE in La Mesa, California. Click below for the slideshow. Follow the link below the slideshow for the full gallery after if you'd like! Blessings! 

Love, Anna

View the full gallery here: http://www.selahphotographysd.com/p607738508

As a travel documentary photographer I captured these days we stayed there. A year later, I remember these days as I share them for the first time publicaly. I remember how God was surely there in the fear, the unknowing and waiting. This was just the beginning of a year that was one of the hardest we {as a family} have ever faced, more to come on that later as well. But God has surely been there in it ALL. Even the last morning before we were released I was up at sunrise and seeing {as well as capturing!} God's beauty and knowing He was reminding me He was there. 

I share these with you now, praying you too will know His hope and ever present Presence. 

Love & Blessings. May you too always find His Beauty in the journey. 

Anna 

P.S. I just cannot leave this without also thanking again the amazing staff at Rady's Children's Hospital of San Diego and the clinical trial staff as well as all the volunteers at Ronald McDonald's House in San Diego. Also to all my friends and family who gave rides, messaged me during his surgery, helped with food and our girls during the stay, etc... as well as all the prayer warriors out there, thank you again!!!! 

     To see the full collection, please follow the link to the gallery here: http://www.selahphotographysd.com/p685224355

As we approach Halloween this year, I thought what better theme for the first edition of The Creative Archives than Halloween?! Here are some never before seen photos from 2 Halloweens a go in 2015, on the beautiful little island of Coronado in San Diego. I had a blast at golden hour being super creative in capturing my 3 little trick or treaters with freelensing {a fun artistic technique I love to incorporate into documentary sessions} and my film lens {a go to for me!} in general. I truly hope you enjoy and Happy Halloween! 

Day comes to an end
a fire starts to burn on the horizon
Its flames leap across the hills and plains it resides in
The golden light casts a glow of heavenly nature
Shimmering gold floats from heaven to earth
doves sing for one last time
Bunnies bounce for one last time
Kittens purr for last time
One last time before to day dawns again
Drive long into the sunset
Look fast
Wait until the magic has past
This gift that God gives us is a rare treasure
Rubies and diamonds could never measure
The light and love the lord leaves in the sunset
The radiance of kings is nothing to how the earth is put to bed
Drink in the rays of pure gold
Live in the light the lord bestows
Take one more step
Sing one more note
Breathe one more breath
Before the day dawns again
{Mia Ford}
 

Hi again! It's been a little longer than I had planned since the last installment but this little guy {featured here in this post} just had his appendix out this past month and that delayed things a bit. This blog post was planned to be posted right around that same time. He is doing wonderful now and we are back with this muddy part 3 installment of a slice of life on the trail from earlier this year with him. 

At the beginning of this year, in Spring,  we spent some time on one of our favorite trails in Balboa Park which includes the Juniper staircase. After extra rain here in San Diego we had some good mud and mud puddles. As we approached he squealed with delight, as only a 3 year old boy can{at the time} at the sight of the huge puddle surrounded by lush greenery. 

He jumped. Got wild. Dirty. I documented his pure joy. This moment of boyhood that fleeted past all too quickly. My heart sang. This is my wild boy. I hope you enjoy. 

Love & Blessings, Anna 

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life

How about love?

{From the song: Seasons of Love}

It's hard to know where to start when writing this blog post. This beautiful family has been coming to me to capture their memories since this little one was in mama's tummy. It has been such a blessing capturing this first year and their growing family. 

Recently they moved to Texas but flew back to San Diego over the last weekend of summer and we had a chance to complete the first year of photos for this little one and their family. 

We spent the afternoon in  beautiful Seaport Village along the bay here in San Diego. As a San Diego photographer Seaport Village is definitely full of so many great places to capture memories. It is also such  a wonderful place to explore, with so much to discover around every corner.

We explored, laughed, caught up and captured the following precious and fleeting moments of this time of being one. One year of life for this little one. One year of being a family of three. A year marked by so many new things...how do you measure it, but in love? 

Thank you so much again for letting me be a part of capturing this season in your life. 

Lots of Love, 
Anna 

The colours start in palest green
a vibrant living leafy screen,
and spreading out in waves of pink
the Willow Herb and nettles link.

Insects buzz in whispered words,
the broad old Oak is full of birds
where they dare an early call,
beneath Jays dig within the sprawl.

Beyond a line of Foxglove towers
rise above a glade of flowers
and light, a shaft between the trees
guides me on with quiet ease.
 
{Into The Woodland by Robert Patinson}

I finally have had a moment after this busy summer to sit and blog this second part in my on the trail series for a slice of life. This time was a fun exploration of a nearby hiking trail with my middle child, my brown eyed girl. 

She is my wild child and truly an individual. She loves exploring and especially dirt! We had such a blast exploring nature in the middle of downtown San Diego along this beautiful trail in Balboa Park. As well as capturing her wild, free, funny and smart personality on camera. 

Being a documentary photographer in San Diego I really feel blessed to be able to capture these moments of discovery for my children to remember forever. I enjoy doing this for clients as well! 

Kick back, relax and enjoy our trip into the woodland. :) 

Love & Blessings, 
Anna {Until next time!} 

This post has been a long time coming. For so many reasons I started and stopped several times. Some mundane everyday life reasons and others more emotional and deeper. This post is the most personal I have posted and the one that means so very much to me in so many ways. It is so much more than just a photographer documenting a birth, the waiting or a fresh 24 session. As a documentary and lifestyle photographer in San Diego I have captured many but this one was so very much more. 

24 years, 1 month and 5 days prior to capturing my niece here in her first 24 hours I walked these same halls at this hospital and was witness to her daddy, my baby brother's, first 24 hours as well. It was most definitely a surreal experience. 

24 years, 1 month and 5 days a go I had no idea how important my memories would become as the very real and sobering reality of the absence of my brother's dad was felt. The joy mixed with the sorrow was present but the beauty of the moments weren't lost on all who were there as well.  In the end the joy outshone and overshadowed any other emotions. After all, a heart that's been broken makes a beautiful sound.

The tears came and went for us all and as I went through these photos after I had to stop from time to time to take it all in and feel the emotions. The same when it came to deciding what to write. No words seem right or enough. I am utterly humbled and blessed at the thought that I was here to see both of these beautiful lives enter this world...24 years, 1 month and 5 days a part. 

Many Blessings and much Love, Anna 

 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." James 1:17 NKJV

It was a beautiful day as the typical San Diego May gray faded away into a mild and perfect afternoon. Full of scooters, water balloons and more as well as new friends made. A wonderful day with great memories, I was able to capture some of it to share here in another installment of this personal project I started on the blog. As a San Diego lifestyle photographer these are the types of moments I enjoy capturing very much.

 I hope you enjoy this installment of slice of life documenting the celebration of another year for my blondie. 

Love, Anna 

These are the types of sessions I adore and this family is so much fun and relaxed to be around. If you remember the last time I captured baby M it was for her fresh 24 this past fall. She is now 6 months and getting strong and growing every day. It was so much fun to get to spend some time with her and her parents in a comfortable and familiar setting and at the same time being there as she explored their beautiful backyard full of orange trees for the first time! 

You can just see how in love both her mom and dad are with her and it was my absolute pleasure to be there to capture some of that growing love and these moments that pass so fast. We had the most gorgeous and perfect weather for the day here in San Diego as well. 

This session is probably one of my very favorite to date and I really hope to do more of these types of sessions in the future as a San Diego photographer. I hope you enjoy! 

Lots of Love & Blessings, 
Anna

Oh my love, love is beginning
We have found something worth living for
I got my head in the clouds
Oh my love,  love is beginning now
Oohhh, oohhh...

So lets start carving our own path
One day it will become a road
and we'll drive down to the countryside.
Oh look how the colours are changing
and appear in the sky.
This heart is starting to come to life...

Oh my love, love is beginning
We have found something worth living for
I got my head in the clouds
Oh my love,   love is beginning now.

Lately, I have been getting out on the trails here at the local park, Balboa Park. Located right in the heart of downtown San Diego it is such a peaceful exploration and fun to see wild life right there, just a few blocks from the urban neighborhood we reside in. Not only is it fun and beautiful,  it has been a great way to get out, feel better physically, teach my children about nature, be inspired for future photo sessions, practice new techiniques in a gorgeous setting as well as find some great locations that I can't wait to use in future sessions.  

A few months a go I started a series called A Slice of Life on my blog. These posts would be slices from my everyday life and this is my little guy's first experience on a trail captured here below. I thought what better slice of life to share with you for the next installment. I hope to share some more trail photos here soon, so for now here is part one, little man's first hike, discovering . I hope you enjoy! 

Love, Anna 

"Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them." {The Audubon Nature Preschool}

Lots of Love, Anna 

Late Afternoon, Seaside

Late afternoon, seaside
Trying to bottle time
Collecting these moments
Like shells and sunshine
Sun kisses shoulders,
Water, and sand
And nothing's arranged by
The hands of man
The surf presents shells
Some broken and crushed
Sometimes whole treasures are
Taken back in a rush
But your eyes, child, they fill
With wonder and awe,
My greatest adventures,
The best gifts of all,
I try to hold onto the moments
As close as one can
Though I fumble as time slips
Like sand through my hands
And watch as the tide changes
Unfolds in no rush
While seagulls fly
 Across sunset's blush.