Always Take the Side Roads

Meet Skagit photographer Sarah Walls

This bonus newsletter introduces a new feature for paid subscribers. I anticipate it appearing once a month. This will showcase edited interviews with someone whose work intersects with this newsletter’s focus—place, history, writing—in some way. I hope you enjoy this one and those to come.

Introduction

When I knew I would be moving to Skagit Valley, I searched for accounts to follow on Instagram from the area. One of the first I discovered and loved was Cedarbrook Studio. About a year after I moved, I met the person behind the beautiful photos. I’m delighted that Sarah Walls agreed to be the first person interviewed for this series. Read on!

(NOTE: the following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Photographer Sarah Walls next to the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, Washington, August 2023. (author photo)

Adam

Who are you and what do you do?

Sarah

I am Sarah Walls. My day job is a Wholesale Marketing Coordinator for Genuine Skagit Valley, which is a program that started in 2019. I help to promote and bring awareness to all of the fantastic agriculturally-based products that come from our region in a multitude of ways. I am also a contributor to the Visit Skagit Valley and Skagit Food Trail platforms on social media.

Then, of course, I'm a mom and a wife. And in my spare time I enjoy photography. I’ve owned Cedarbrook Studio for 12 years this month.

Adam

Thinking back over your life, when did you realize that place mattered to you, more than it mattered to most people?

Sarah

That's an easy one, actually.

When my son was about 2 months old, we lived in Vermont, and we went through a natural disaster. We had to move out of our house in the middle of the night because of a landslide. It was pretty scary on many levels. They say that going through something like that changes you. It definitely changed me. And I think that that's where I started to really think about the connection of where I lived and my surroundings.

Aftermath of mudslide in Vermont, 2011. (Sarah Walls photo)