A New Home on Substack: The Beloved Here
THE BELOVED HERE
Hey friends,
I just started something new—and I’d love for you to be part of it.
I’ve launched a Substack newsletter I’m calling “The Beloved Here” where I’ll be sharing stories from behind the lens and out in the wild. Think: moments from the field, the quiet beauty of native plants, conservation work that gives me hope, and the creative process behind my photography.
This space is for slowing down, paying attention, and reconnecting with the natural world closest to us. “The Beloved Here” describes the profound emotional and spiritual connection I feel for my local landscape— for me, the forests and mountains of northern New Mexico. It is not just a beautiful wilderness—it’s home, a place where I have grown, healed, and come to know myself. Over 20 years, I have mapped trails, tracked wildflowers, observed wildlife, and found refuge in its forests. This land has shaped who I am today.
The phrase also captures the grief I feel witnessing ecological loss in a place I love intimately. After a recent backpacking trip, I didn’t return home with the usual post-trail bliss. Instead, I was overwhelmed by a wave of sorrow at the visible signs of climate change—dead trees, drought-scorched mountaintops, wildflowers dried up too soon. It wasn’t some distant, abstract environmental crisis anymore. It was happening here, in my place.
“The Beloved Here” is my way of describing both a physical place and an emotional state—a term that honors the deep bond between a person and a cherished natural landscape, especially in the face of ecological change and loss. “The Beloved Here” acknowledges that we are all living in a time of ecological unraveling—but that grieving and witnessing all the beauty that remains can be a sacred act, born from deep love.
If that sounds like your kind of thing, you can subscribe here:
👉 The Beloved Here on Substack
I’ll write a couple times a month, sometimes more when I’m deep in a project or on assignment. You’ll be the first to hear about new print releases, field notes, and how your support helps protect the places and plants I photograph.
Currently I am releasing a post a week related to my photography show Gestures from the Land. Learn more about it and visit the gallery in-person in Santa Fe. Info here.
Thanks for being here. I can’t wait to share more with you.
Onward,
Christina
