Woo-Hoo!

It’s wonderful to end the year with a little good news.

My photo book, A Virginia Summer, was chosen by the MILK photo book team as runner-up for book of the month.

AND, my story is featured on their website! I’d love it if you’d pop over and read the post.

A collection of nostalgic summer imagery

Storyteller: Donna Hopkins, United States

There’s a particular kind of beauty found in unhurried days—moments that unfold softly, without expectation or agenda. In her thoughtfully crafted MILK Photo Book, Donna Hopkins documents a season shaped by stillness, familiarity, and the subtle shifts of everyday life. Created effortlessly using our MILK Design Studio, her collection of images brings together personal photography, natural light, and lived-in landscapes to form a cohesive visual narrative. Rather than chasing spectacle, Donna’s images focus on the moments that often sit between special milestones throughout her explorations in Virginia. Here, she shares her approach to photography, the stories behind her images, and why making a creative photo book became an essential way to preserve her photos with intention.

Snead’s Farm, Summer 2025

Christmas Reset

I used to long to live in one of the beautiful historic homes in the downtown section of our city. I think I imagined a kind of life different from the one I live, and maybe more special in some way. But what I have learned over time is that a house is just a house and inside every house there lives a family with joy and heartache in equal measure. Things are often not what they seem from the outside looking in. This Christmas has been challenging; I’ve been sad for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. All of our parents have passed away (Dave’s mom just passed in November this year). Our children our grown and Christmas looks different now. I keep showing up as the version of myself that tries to make everyone happy, and in the process, I make us all miserable. It’s time to let go of my own biases about aging and reset my expectations. Energy is my most valuable resource and I need to be more careful about where and how I spend it.

Merry Christmas

In Times Like These

Even lighting a candle seems
an act of radical faith,
the blackened wick reaching
like a root for the flame
that will both nourish
and diminish it. Yet we keep
the old rituals alive, let
this flickering speak, knowing
nothing can quiet the voices
of those we’ve lost, those
taken by violence and hate.
A single gesture of love is 
such a delicate, durable thing—
snowflake dissolving as soon
as it meets the skin, 
though the body will always
remember its shape.
—James Crews

Things To Start With

This notebook is really just a physical manifestation of all my favorite things about life, in one place. Pages full of practical and magical things that make me happiest in the world. There is a quiet confidence in taking pictures so simple that hold such promise. And this confidence is mine, hard-earned. These pictures are about finding joy and satisfaction in noticing tiny miracles.