#1

Welcome to The Blog. Here I will share my perspective as a portrait photographer and mental health therapist.

I’m genuinely glad you found me.

As you can see from my website, I’m a portrait photographer who loves working with people. As you can’t see from my website, I’m also a practicing mental health therapist. I am in the industry of taking portraits and supporting minds, and I love getting to work with people in different capacities.

This blog will cover a variety of thoughts, opinions, and wonderings from my perspective. Sometimes it will be on a random topic, and other times I may write about a particular photoshoot. I’ve written privately and creatively for years, and feel like some blog material belongs here along with my images. I write with no other intent than to share.

Here is my belief: the truth behind any writing is that we all have something to say. Sharing the human experience has value. You are not alone in what you feel, think, and do, and sharing these things can be a way of connecting to others. And for me, I’ve always known that I’ve had things to say.

Approach each piece with patience and intention, and I promise to do the same in my writing and responses.

Xo,

Anne

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#2

What’s been on my mind this week? Gratitude. But not in the cliché way. Concepts like “be grateful” hits me the same way as the idea of “practicing self-care”; both are wildly important, but usually presented in a pretty vague way. They sound good, but a lot of people don’t fully know how to use or approach them. So here’s my stab at describing not just what gratitude is, but how to actually use and recognize it.

Gratitude isn’t just writing daily things you’re grateful for in a book. I don’t say that with judgement or disdain, I did that for years and valued it greatly. What I mean is that gratitude doesn’t stop there. It’s like when “self-care” became a buzzword that caught people’s attention without going further to explain how to actually apply it. The issue here is that these concepts then become ambiguous, sometimes superficial and misunderstood instead of the important and necessary things they are. For gratitude, it took me until I was in my thirties to actually get it. To not just say it, think it, or even write it. I realized at some point that I had to do it. Yes, that’s right. You have to do gratitude. What this means is this:

Previous Anne: Wakes up Friday mornings and says to self, “I’m so grateful for my life, my schedule, and my freedom so much so that I’m going to treat myself to a $6+ iced latte. I deserve this. I can do this. Therefore, I am grateful for this.”

Nice, right? Sure, but also problematic.



Current Anne: Wakes up on a Friday morning and looks in the coffee container. I breath in the delicious smell, take in the sight of coffee beans, and decide to grind them and make a cup of coffee in my very own home, with beans purchased earlier in the week with intention and excitement. And here I am standing in this beautiful condo, first thing in the morning (most likely not wearing pants), and I get to brew this cup right here and now.

The latter example isn’t just nice; it’s real and it’s practicing this very powerful message: you most likely already have what you need. Buying that coffee out is wonderful and it doesn’t mean to stop doing it altogether, but practice pausing and noticing that what you want and crave may already be there right in front of you, provided by you.

And you know what? Gratitude doesn’t always have to be linked to some sort of wanting or consumerism. Yes, we all deserve that latte, but it’s important to think about the gratitude that comes from making your own thing to appreciate. I think there’s a deeper satisfaction there, personally. It’s not just saying “I have enough” it’s showing that you have what you want in a space that you created.

That’s all I got. Go DO gratitude this week, loves.

Xo,

AGP