Love Letter to the Sonoran Desert by Alicia Schmidt

Today, we’re featuring a beautiful photo essay from Alicia Schmidt. Scroll below to view the images and read more from Alicia about the Sonoran Desert…

Analog cameras and films used: Pentax K1000 (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon), Kodak Portra 800 (Find on Amazon), Kodak Gold 200 (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Alicia: Instagram

Love Letter to the Sonoran Desert

By Alicia Schmidt

Hi, my name is Alicia. I am just a girl who loves light, film, and her small piece of the Sonoran Desert.

This is my love letter to the Sonoran Desert. I’m not from Phoenix originally, although a good portion of my adult life has unfolded here—begrudgingly. I didn’t choose this place. It chose me.

I’m here to tell its story through my eyes—
in light-wrapped desert plants,
in streaks of light sweeping across the landscape,
in wide, open skies with stems reaching, that hold both the past and what has yet to come.

I’m here to witness the seasons as they shift, and the way nature moves with them—
the quiet, serene winter,
the wild, untamed spring,
the harsh, burning summers of this place.

The desert is resilient, but also relentless—in a way I had never experienced before.

In the Sonoran Desert, I lost myself. I didn’t trust my voice. I feared the worst—and many times, I lived it. I’ve cursed the heat, the harshness, the sun beating down on my skin. I’ve questioned why I was even here at all.

My journey with photography didn’t begin here—but my journey with film did.

Film requires surrender. It requires trust.

For a long time, I relied on external validation for my worth. I put my camera down for years. I was afraid—of failure, maybe even of success. I compared myself. I shrank myself. I told myself my art wasn’t good enough.

Still, the desert called. The light called.

Eventually, I picked up my Pentax K1000 again and made a quiet commitment—to show up.

And in that decision, something shifted.

I began to see my eye form.
The way I’ve always seen the world—
light wrapping around stems,
glowing through leaves,
revealing softness where others might only see harshness.

It was never about clients, or being accepted, or being celebrated.
It was about expression without expectation.

This journey became about seeing—
light, shadow, environment—through my own eyes.
What brings me into presence.
What makes me breathe deeper.
What stirs awe.

And in that, I found my way back—to photography, to the Sonoran Desert. And most importantly – to myself.

What began as an initiation by fire has become my love letter.

This place adopted me. Took me in as its own, showed me extraordinary in the ordinary.

It changed me.

I love you, Sonora.

Alicia Dominique

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