Sarah Anne Photography

A favorite memory …

sarahannephotography — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:42:57 +0000

I have always loved this image. Not one of my newer photographs, it was taken almost nine years ago while my husband and I were living in a tiny harbor town in southern Oregon. It was a time out of time for us. All of our family and friends were far away, our jobs were temporary, we were truly just there for the experience and for the break from what we’d been doing before. It became one of those adventures that we will always look back to, always be glad we embarked upon. This picture is, for me, a reminder of a time when we left all that was familiar and simply existed, together.

Noah’s advertising debut …

sarahannephotography — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:19:06 +0000

My five-year-old son made his advertising debut this summer when Bay Nature Magazine chose to use this image of him. As one can see, the image was taken quite a few years ago when all things could be tested for edibility, including his father’s favorite Bay Nature cap.

My bumblebee dragonfly

sarahannephotography — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:25:52 +0000

This dragonfly decided to hang out for a while on a bush near our front door. He was extremely large and split in black and yellow stripes that quite remind me of a bumblebee. Hence, he is my bumblebee dragonfly. I love finding specimens to photograph right outside my indoor world. The minute infant praying mantises arrive every spring, as do the tiny green grasshoppers who quite quickly turn into magnificently large green grasshoppers.

In the mail, I receive offers and advertisements for photo safaris inviting me and my camera to travel to far away and exotic places that I have never before seen. There, my camera and I will photograph penguins and kangaroos, giant scorpions and snakes. Someday, maybe, my camera and I will travel to these distant locations and see their native wildlife. But, for now, I am content with the local friends who live outside my door.

The little things …

sarahannephotography — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:17:02 +0000

: Copyright 2011 Sarah Anne Photography

I go back and forth, from hike to hike, in what aspects of nature capture my attention. Some days it is the bigger things – the way the light hits the hills, or the way the alternating lines of hills and trees segregate the immediate horizon into layers. Other days it is the smaller aspects of life that catch my eye – the garter snake sneaking away or the pond turtle that hopes I don’t see it. And then there are days when it is the littlest layers of life that call to me – the odd looking spider I can’t identify no matter how many times I look through my favorite spider book, the way the squash vine in the backyard has wound its way around the tomato plants in tiny tendrils, the miniscule tree frog sitting alone in the very large conifer tree. Staring at me. I always murmur my hellos to the animals and insects I photograph, a quick promise that they will leave my sights unharmed and happy. Sometimes I believe it works, that maybe they’re just a tad more willing to sit for me, to watch me as I watch them, in mutual respect and admiration for these various forms of life that surround us, that touch us in both the big ways, and the little ways.

A Memorial Day Hike

sarahannephotography — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:11:00 +0000

On this blustery Memorial Day, we took to the hills, ready to stretch our legs and hike. Joined by good friends, we marched our way over the just-turned golden hills, two small boys running and leaping ahead as wind whipped their hats and hair. Little brother sauntered behind, small legs pumping as the black dog fought the leash in his thwarted effort to run beside them. The day was full of animal sightings, including two baby rattlesnakes; one baby gopher snake; one baby garter snake; one mama coyote sauntering her way through the grass, wary and watchful; frogs and tadpoles; western pond turtles; blue birds hovering in the wind; and various other amphibious and mammalian forms of life. We looked, we watched, we listened, and in the end, we called it a good day. A great day.

Super Bowl Sunday

sarahannephotography — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:37:56 +0000

This is how we spent our Super Bowl Sunday. The TV was never turned on; instead, we took the boy and the dog to the woods and spent multiple hours crunching our way over trails. We found ponds, and in the ponds our son found frogs. He is quick, our son, leaping out to grab the amphibians before they, in turn, leap away. And he is gentle, our son, handling them so carefully, inspecting them, and quietly releasing them back into their watery homes. So he will go one more year without watching this game of games on this certain Sunday. But he ended the day as all little boys should – with mud on his knees, and dirt under his fingernails, and memories of a meal eaten at the top of the world.

Early morning mist

sarahannephotography — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:48:07 +0000

A cold, early morning hike found us surrounded by oak trees and a fog so thick it was purple. The purpose of the hike? Scenic images of Mount Diablo. Abandoning all hope that the fog would lift and reveal the mountain, I traded in my mountain shot for a Zen moment in the trees.

“Warts and All”

sarahannephotography — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:01:18 +0000

I was more than pleased to discover that I am one of the winners of Bay Nature Magazine’s People in Nature photography contest. This is my winning photogragh; though my son can be seen to smile in the background, through no amount of coaching could I illicit a smile from the toad.

Click here to visit Bay Nature’s People in Nature Photography Contest winners.

Mama-to-be

sarahannephotography — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:42:53 +0000

Mama-to-be

sarahannephotography — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:56:58 +0000