Ep4: Merging the life – Meet Lourdes, a Nurse and Photographer who finds JOY in capturing the essence of people, events and places!

Guest: Lourdes Araiza, RN, Owner, Enchanting Pixels;

Host: Author, Actor, Photographer, Poet Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN

Nursing and the Arts Podcast

Audio link above is provided to listen to Ep4: Merging the life – Meet Lourdes, a Nurse and Photographer who finds JOY in capturing the essence of people, events and places! With Guest Lourdes Araiza RN (left) and Host Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN (right)

Nursing and the Arts is a podcast devoted to Nurses discussing their diverse artistic passions (or endeavors) such as visual arts/photography, journaling, comedy, podcasting, storytelling, writing/poetry, crafting, cooking, dance, theatre, music, film etc.

Join us on today’s 4th episode of the Nursing and the Arts Podcast for an informative and entertaining discussion with Lourdes Araiza, RN, Owner, Enchanting Pixels

Watch the Nursing and the Arts Podcast (above)

Ep4: Merging the life – Meet Lourdes, a Nurse and Photographer
who finds JOY in capturing the essence of people, events and places!

Show Notes:

About Lourdes Araiza, RN, Owner of Enchanting Pixels

In this podcast, Lourdes infuses energy and joy in telling her inspiring story – where and how she became a photographer early in life (age 11) by observing at the photography studio next door – in her childhood home town of Sinaloa, Mexico.

Lourdes specializes in headshot and event photography with her business Enchanting Pixels – but photographs nature for her mental health.

After 3 semesters in law school, with a purpose of wanting to help others, she attended and graduated with her Associates Degree in Nursing in San Diego (1986-88).

Lourdes is the Mom of twins, with one twin being autistic. She made it her purpose to learn more about the autism spectrum which enabled her to obtain necessary special needs services and resources for her child.

Although she practiced Emergency Room for most of her Nursing career, it led to her entering the field of Psychiatric Nursing in 2018.

Over the years she photographed family events and made a commitment to mental health. She bought her first “good” camera, a Canon, years ago and the rest is history!

She decided to be in solitude for her photography – and for a year took several angles of photos of local abandoned buildings and street people with mental health issues.

During Covid, Lourdes worked in psychiatric nursing on a locked psychiatric unit , with 4 nurses for up to 108 patients.

Lourdes had been doing professional photography alongside her nursing for many years, but decided to leave nursing in 2023 due to trauma and PTSD to fully focus on her photography.

For fun, community and healing, Lourdes is a member of a Dragonboat community, where she is a member of (and photographer for) the group Paddle Warriors with a vision “to empower women through a sport that is physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging”.

Lourdes recommends that nurses explore different aspects of nursing for their “perfect fit” and to remember to practice having personal family time, life balance, enjoy life, (and self-care).

Here are some of Lourdes’ Links:

Enchanting Pixels: https://www.enchantingpixels.com/

Facebook Page for Enchanting Pixels: https://www.facebook.com/enchantingpixelsphotos

Instagram Page for Enchanting Pixels: https://www.instagram.com/enchantingpixels_/https://www.instagram.com/enchantingpixels_/

About Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, SJF Communications

Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, a native of New Jersey, is the owner/ president of  SJF Communications, San Diego, CA.

Susan has diverse health care experience including military and civilian nursing with clinical, administration/management, staff development, research and consulting roles.

SJF Communications, originally established in 2002 in San Jose, CA, provides services including Public Relations, Publicity, Marketing, Websites, Filmmaking, Acting, Social Media, Writing and Public Speaking, Photography, Mentoring, Coaching and Nurse Consulting services. 

Susan is the author of the book Poetic Expressions in Nursing…Sharing the Caring (1993 and 2021), currently teaches ‘Capturing Your Creativity with Haiku‘ workshops, and has published poetry and articles on a variety of topics. She created and is the Host of the “Nursing and the Arts Podcast” and creator/admin of the Nursing and the Arts Facebook Group

Thank you for joining us to listen to and/or watch the Nursing and the Arts Podcast! Please feel free to like, comment on, share our episode(s), etc.

Also nurses can join our Facebook Group “Nursing and the Arts“

If you are a nurse (or know of a nurse) who would like to be considered for a “Nursing and the Arts” Podcast interview, please reach out to Susan by email: info@sjfcommunications.com.