I called her Amanda for about three months before I finally learned her name was Anna.
Over the course of the next few years we'd really only chat briefly about matters to do with the paper.
Then one day Amanda (another woman at the paper who I apparently might have thought was Anna at one point) showed me Anna's really incredible nature photos posted online. I'm not much of a nature photographer, but I love beautiful images and truly good photography. I immediately approached Anna and asked her if she would share here stuff on a blog at the paper. Mind you I had no authority to do this, but I was savvy enough to know her photos would be a big hit on the paper's website.
I had been blogging a little for the paper and was gaining a good following and generating a lot of clicks for the website. When Anna started blogging too, it wasn't long before we both had people clicking away to read our stories and look at our photos. We were told over and over again that our blogs were the most popular things on the website.
Anna's work really brought the area home to people. Her dogs and gardens were a delight to look at and she was always incredibly informative describing what she had photographed. We could learn to tell the difference between viceroy and monarch butterflies by reading her blog.
I am proud to announce Anna Applegate is my featured artist of this month and introduce her new column. It will be a regular feature where we can enjoy her dogs and goats and their escapades that are sometimes worthy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer tales.
and in the next few weeks I'll share some of her work I've enjoyed over the last few years. She is a gifted writer and photographer. Thank you Anna for sharing