The Artist’s Story
Amber L Edwards
Where I Began
I grew up in the shadows of the Teton Mountains in western Wyoming, which instilled in me a deep love of nature. I have lived in Northwest Arkansas since 2021 and have loved immersing myself in the Natural State and all the beauty it offers and inspires in my art.
I was often found with a simple analog camera in my hands when I was younger and learned traditional photography in high school with an old SLR and darkroom developing our own photographs. But everything went on hold when I went off to college, got married, began raising my four children, and focused on being a mom.
Even so, I retained a passion for creating. In 2009, I began exploring a new realm of crafts, which later developed into me starting and running a food and craft website for 15 years. This reintroduced me to photography as I learned more about product and food photography, stretching and expanding my experience and skills. And while I spent my time photographing lifestyle, food, and products for "work," my relaxation was spent photographing wildlife, birds, landscapes, and nature. I soon discovered my true passion lies in abstract, floral, botanical, and nature photography and painting. I have been blessed with a skill to never stop learning and love exploring various art mediums, and I am often found self-learning a new skill to give greater depth and appreciation to various art styles.
Seeing Through a Different Lens
I focus on seeing and capturing the beauty of nature in a unique way that is often overlooked or not typically seen—like florals past their prime, flowers frozen in ice, or the tiny weeds in the corner of the garden that people pull without a second thought. My goal is to help myself and the viewer see the world from a new perspective, finding beauty in often forgotten or overlooked moments, circumstances, or even subjects that normally get ignored but possess a unique beauty in themselves. Just like people.
As a neurodivergent ADHD artist who was often overlooked and told that I didn’t have artistic talent as a child, I found that I loved it anyway. I discovered later in life that you don’t have to be born an artist; you can develop and learn to see like an artist.
The Art of Ice and Motion
I love to capture botanicals in ice because it suspends moments and preserves life and color, yet presents them in a unique way. Colors transform and sometimes bleed through the ice. It can be frosted for an ethereal, painterly, romantic style, or clear and filled with bubbles, depicting an illusion of movement where there is none and turning the image more vibrant.
It forces you to see more than just a flower—it reveals a feeling, a story, a moment of life on the brink of expiration, holding on against the odds. Depending on the day captured and the environmental factors, it can completely change the feel and story: Is this a fight against depression and expiration, or is this a celebration of life, joy, and energy? Calm and ethereal in frost, or crisp bubbles of motion in a race through crystal ice captured in a single moment. It is awe-inspiring just how long a flower can retain its color, vibrancy, and beauty when frozen.
I also love to capture abstracts using the colors, textures, lines, and patterns that God designed. Often we miss these because we are so removed from the details—either we are too busy to notice what is around us, or we only see the big picture and don't pause to see the graceful movement. Blurring the scene or using intentional camera movement draws attention to the splash of colors and lines, offering a graceful dance and the illusion of painted brushstrokes across the sensor's canvas. It allows you to feel the space, the moment, and the emotion, rather than getting lost in the absolute logic of the scene.
A Journey of Therapy and Transformation
Exploring different styles of photography over the years has been cathartic and a process of finding my unique style. But more than that, it has been a very therapeutic journey as I’ve gone through my own transformation discovering my unique voice as a late-diagnosed ADHD woman in a transitional stage of life who has battled mental health struggles her entire life—learning to see the strength and endurance in something usually thought of as extremely fragile.
My fine art prints are a moment of therapy. I find myself in the blossoms and scenes: a projection of anthropomorphism and personification in the blossom that is haggard and spent, yet still clinging on; a tiny blossom of what is typically considered a weed no bigger than a pinhead, overshadowed by larger, more important vegetation. yet still trying to reach for the tiny sliver of light and hope in a dark space; or a blossom encapsulated in ice, completely immobilized, knowing it is no longer a young, fresh bloom with its entire life stretched out before it, yet not quite at the point of expiration either. There is still so much beauty it can offer. I find these moments deeply therapeutic.
Technique and Medium
I often use macro photography to capture the precise, intricate details of petals and ice, and I employ Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) to create the flowing illusion of movement and brushstrokes in my abstracts. Yet, at times, I also intentionally use a shallow depth of field on botanicals and florals to give the soft, luminous illusion of a watercolor painting rather than a standard documentary photograph.
My creative process is an exercise in deep patience. I can spend hours working with a single blossom or scene—exploring its textures, viewing it from different angles, and carefully framing it to ensure the best possible background. When it comes to lighting, I most often utilize natural light, but I am equally ready to bring in studio lights, reflectors, or whatever else is necessary in the moment to capture the true feeling and details of the scene.
I do the vast majority of my creative work right in the camera, live as I am shooting, utilizing digital editing only for the minimal cleanup needed to enhance what is already present. I far prefer being outside behind the camera rather than sitting inside at a computer, so I believe in getting the shot correct in-camera first, keeping post-processing to an absolute minimum.
Because of the intense amount of time, care, and intention poured into creating each piece, I prefer these works to be showcased on high-quality metal and fine art paper to preserve the truest quality of color, depth, and detail. You can learn more about how these archival materials bring my art to life by exploring the craftsmanship and print quality details.