27 Oct The Soul of a Moment: The Reflective World of Anna Mullins
As a child, Anna Mullins would sit beside her father in a darkened room, listening to the quiet click of the slide projector. One image at a time, glowing and still, would fill the wall. There were no filters or fast-forwards… just silence, shadow, and the gentle unfolding of a story. Even then, Anna knew: some truths take time to see.
Today, she’s a black-and-white photographer based in Dickenson County, Virginia. Through her lens, Appalachia is not staged or stylized. It’s just honest. It’s a worn pair of hands wrapped around a mug. It’s a fiddle on a front porch. It’s the space between conversations.
Anna’s journey with photography began early, inspired by her father’s passion for preserving moments on film. She studied journalism and soon realized that black-and-white photography was a calling. For Anna, the medium isn’t limiting; it’s a deliberate, intentional choice. She describes color photography as overwhelming and even distracting from the truth of the image. By choosing black and white, Anna makes a choice to show “the soul” of an image.
“In black and white, there’s nowhere to hide,” she says. “You have to lean into the emotion, the light, the imperfections. That’s where the story lives.”
Her creativity is rooted in the heart and rhythm of Appalachia – from musicians mid-song, to a neighbor shelling peas, to the quiet moments of the everyday. She works to capture the truth of the moment with reverence by taking her time, setting up for each capture, and being very particular about what shots deserve to live beyond her lens. The details matter; where the light falls on a cheekbone, how a shadow bends across weathered floorboards. Her work honors the rhythm of Appalachian life, the kinds of moments most people miss because they’re moving too fast.
“I’m drawn to what’s not obvious,” she says. “Black and white forces me to slow down, and it invites others to do the same.”
Anna reached a turning point in her artistic journey when she submitted a series of photographs to the Virginia Humanities and Richmond Folk Festival. She admits that she didn’t expect much other than the experience of putting her work out there. But to her surprise, all of her submissions were accepted for the show. “That was the moment I realized… this matters. People see something in these images,” she says.. Not long after, she joined Round the Mountain where she found both community and encouragement. Through the network, she’s connected with others who believe that storytelling through any kind of creative medium has the power to preserve culture and bring meaning to everyday life.
“These aren’t just photos,” she says, “They’re a way of saying, ‘I see you.’ And maybe someone else will too.”
In a world constantly chasing more, Anna’s photography invites us to slow down and reflect. Through the lens of Anna Mullins, Appalachia is not just seen. It’s honored, one quiet image at a time. Because sometimes the clearest picture is the one stripped of color, stripped of noise, and just left with light, shadow, and the soul of a moment.