This Wasn’t Supposed to Become a Business
NAPERVILLE - WHEATON - GLEN ELLYN - ELMHURST - GENEVA - ST. CHARLES - BARRINGTON - BARTLETT PHOTOGRAPHER
Life has moments.
Moments so delicate in their beauty that you’re almost scared to breathe in case you alter them.
~Ranata Suzuk
Hello, friends,
This week felt quiet… but also not quiet at all.
The studio always slows down a bit this time of year, and honestly, I don’t mind it. It gives me breathing room to catch up on the behind-the-scenes business things and finally work on the ideas that sit in the “when I have time” category.
We’ve been researching our annual senior model trip (I need your opinions on that below), choosing and ordering our new senior headshot backdrop, deciding on our Easter set, locking in mini session dates, and yes… working on SEO. Riveting stuff.
In between all of that, I’ve been spending my days with my grandson so Delaney can focus on getting her new business up and running — which I am so excited about and cannot wait to share when the time is right.
We’re also officially counting down the days until grandson number two arrives. Which means there is a lot of nesting going on around here.
At home, the kitchen remodel keeps moving. The new tile is in — and thank goodness, I love it. I was slightly nervous it would be a regret. Dan is building the range hood now, and next up we’ll remove the peninsula and lengthen the island.
So yes… quiet.
But busy in all the ways that feel full.
And when life slows down just enough, the deeper thoughts tend to surface. This week, I kept circling back to how fine art floral photography came into my life — and why.
Soft Focus: When Flowers Became Medicine
There was a season when my nervous system felt like it had nowhere to land.
The pandemic had rearranged the world.
Menopause quietly rearranged me.
Anxiety hummed under everything — not dramatic, not catastrophic — just constant. A low electrical current I couldn’t quite shut off.
For more than thirty years, I had photographed people.
Families. Seniors. Babies. Love stories.
I had built a beautiful business capturing connection.
But I had never photographed for silence.
I had always admired the Dutch Masters — the drama, the shadow, the way light slips across a petal as if it knows something sacred. But admiration is different than participation. I had never really allowed myself to step inside that world.
Until I needed to.
What I didn’t set out to do was “build a fine art brand.”
What I set out to do was calm down.
I needed something slow.
Something I could control.
Something that belonged only to me.
So I began creating still lifes.
Choosing flowers deliberately.
Hunting for old vessels.
Layering linens.
Moving light inch by inch until it felt right.
The studio became quiet in a way my mind had not been.
From beginning to end, I controlled the process — the backdrop, the shadows, the composition, the color grading. I could build an atmosphere that matched what I was longing to feel.
And something surprised me.
It came naturally.
Not forced. Not awkward. Not intimidating.
Natural.
The act of creating a floral still life wasn’t just artistic experimentation. It was regulation. It was grounding. It was medicine I didn’t know I was allowed to prescribe for myself.
And then — almost absurdly — the world responded.
Within the first year:
A large instagram following.
A Barcelona gallery.
The London Biennale.
A magazine cover.
International articles written about my work.
I never expected any of it.
What began as something quiet and private — something meant to soothe my own anxiety — quietly grew into a fine art business.
And here’s the complicated part.
I like building businesses and it’s something that I enjoy.
Between Alicia’s Photography (the business that pays the bills), Our Cozy Compound, remodeling, gardening, writing a book, being a wife, mom, daughter, and Mimi… the time I spend creating solely for myself has become thinner and thinner.
It’s easy for me to say, “At this stage of life, we must put ourselves first.”
It’s harder to live that when you deeply love your family. When you never want to regret missing a moment. When your instinct is to show up for everyone before you show up for yourself.
My family will always come first.
But the woman standing in a darkened studio arranging flowers in soft light, listening to classical music— she matters too.
The version of me who creates without outcome, without strategy, without a business plan… she is not selfish. She is steady. She is necessary.
Fine art didn’t come into my life because I wanted recognition or another aspect to my business.
It came because I needed gentleness.
And lately, I’ve felt the quiet pull to return to that gentleness again. To carve out space not for productivity — but for presence.
Maybe that’s what this season is asking of me.
And maybe I’m not alone.
If you’re in a stage of life that feels like it’s stretching you — navigating anxiety, shifting identities, growing children, aging parents, expanding responsibilities — I wonder:
What is your version of flowers in the studio?
What did you begin simply because you needed to breathe?
Have you protected it?
Or has it slowly been absorbed into everyone else’s needs?
This week, I’m reminding myself that the calm I once created is still waiting for me.
And if you need permission to carve out something small and sacred for yourself again… consider this it.
We are allowed to tend to ourselves too.
Softly. Without apology.
WHAT I’M LOVING THIS WEEK
Inspiring Follow: @Maxiskitchen
Apparently I am late to the Maxine Sharf party.
But like I always say… better late than never.
The minute I stumbled onto @maxiskitchen, I knew. You know that feeling when you find someone and immediately trust their food? That was me. Within days, I had pre-ordered her cookbook, Maxi’s Kitchen (it comes out in March and I truly cannot wait).
What I love most — besides the easy, fresh, healthy recipes — is that her mom is often right there with her in the kitchen. The two of them cooking together? Pure joy. It’s warm, it’s real, it’s unfussy, and it feels like the kind of kitchen energy we’re all craving.
Simple. Delicious. Healthy.
Music to my ears.
If you love approachable meals that don’t require seventeen specialty ingredients and a culinary degree, go follow her. Just be prepared to get very hungry.
What I’m Loving: ReciMe
Okay. Confession.
I did not want another subscription. I did not want another app. I was fully committed to my chaotic system of saving recipes on Instagram and then never seeing them again.
But I finally downloaded ReciMe… and now I’m crazy about it.
You can save recipes from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, blogs — wherever you find them. It converts them into a clean, organized recipe format with a photo and keeps the original link attached so you can always go back.
But here’s where it gets ridiculous (in the best way):
You can snap a photo of a recipe from your old family cookbook — even a handwritten card — and it reads the photo and converts it into a digital recipe in your own cookbook folder.
Your grandmother’s chicken soup?
Digitized.
Your mom’s handwritten Christmas cookies?
Saved forever.
It also:
Creates grocery lists automatically
Sends that list straight to Instacart and adds everything to your cart
Calculates calories and nutrition
Customizes recipes for dietary restrictions
I’m sorry….WHAT??!
Meal planning used to feel like a weekly mental wrestling match. Now it feels organized. Streamlined. Almost… grown up.
If you love cooking but hate the disorganization and grocery store overwhelm, this one is 100% worth it.
Consider this your permission slip to outsource a little chaos.
Local-ish: Thrift & Dollar
I
f you’ve never been to Thrift & Dollar… clear your schedule.
It’s enormous. Like, 25,000 square feet of “I’ll just pop in for a minute” that turns into two hours later and you’re wheeling out a cart full of treasures you didn’t technically need… but absolutely needed.
It’s Illinois’ largest retail thrift, vintage, and antique resource, and they add thousands of items daily. Which means every visit feels different. You truly never know what you’re going to find — and that’s half the thrill.
Since I’m deep in kitchen remodel mode and constantly hunting for beautiful little details (vintage bowls, old wood cutting boards, brass bits, unique art), this has become one of my go-to spots. If you love antiques the way I do — the patina, the history, the one-of-a-kind charm — you’ll feel right at home wandering these aisles.
Fair warning: you will leave with something you didn’t plan on buying.
And you will not regret it.
950 N Lake St, Aurora
Another Passport Stamp, But Where? We Need Your Help
Okay friends… I need your input.
Every year we start dreaming about where to take our senior models next, and as usual, Europe is whispering my name.
Originally, several people suggested Greece — and while it’s breathtaking, I’m just not feeling the strong creative pull this year the way I expected to.
I keep circling back to Italy.
But here’s my hesitation: the crowds. Shooting in major cities during peak season can feel like an Olympic event. Yes, we managed Paris (somehow), but this year I’m craving smaller towns. Cobblestone streets. Golden light. Old-world texture. That romantic European feeling without thousands of people in the background.
And here’s my other pause…
When we travel, we love to drive. Having a car gives us freedom — to move on our own timeline, to stop when the light hits just right, to pull over for an unexpected alleyway or countryside view that begs to be photographed.
But we’ve been told more than once, “Don’t drive in Italy.”
Do people mean just the big cities?
Or does that include Tuscany and the smaller villages too?
Because creatively, winding through the countryside and stopping whenever inspiration strikes sounds exactly like our kind of adventure.
In the past, we’ve photographed in Ireland, Portugal, Germany, France, England — and in the U.S., New York and Utah. Each trip has shaped us in the most beautiful way.
But this year, I’m open.
If you were choosing our next destination — Italy or somewhere completely different — where would you send us?
Another European country we haven’t explored yet?
A hidden gem with incredible architecture and light?
Somewhere you’ve been that felt like a photographer’s dream?
I would truly love your recommendations.
Katie Scott from our 2023 Ireland trip.
with love and light,
Alicia Staley Johnson
of Alicia’s Photography
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