DOCUMENTING AN ARTIST

Flora Saldivar

Flora and I started following each other on Instagram a few years ago, admiring each other’s work from afar. Eventually, she contacted me to photograph her and her family and at our session, we just instantly hit it off and became fast friends. Which I will admit, based on my openness on Instagram and how my personality is in general, if folks are drawn to me or my style, I often become more than a client’s photographer; as I think both sides are searching for more than just pretty photographs.

But I digress…once becoming friends, we both just trusted each other’s eye (I am completely in love with her art) and she would occasionally ask my opinion on certain pieces of her art. Because she is such a talent, her work quickly became noticed and MIXD Gallery in Rogers, AR offered her a solo show in January 2025. She really wanted some updated photographs for her website and also to advertise for the show, as well as have some prints of her painting some of her pieces she was selling at the show to display with her work at MIXD.

This was one of the most inspiring and fun sessions I’ve had the honor to photograph. Watching Flora work in itself is art and I really wanted to capture her in her element and wanted the photographs to feel like her and her art. Her art is an extension of how she is, who she is and how her creative mind works. She is vibrant, colorful and uninhibited, just like her work.

I shot on three different cameras with three different mediums for this session (digital, 35mm film and medium format film).