Note: Herald Examiner photographer Anne Knudsen’s sister shared this obituary with the Daily Mirror.

Anne Baldwin Knudsen, 57, passed away on Mothers’ Day, May 12, following a courageous battle with breast cancer. She was surrounded by her loving family and friends who will miss her deeply. This extraordinary woman distinguished herself as a photojournalist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner during the 1980s and was a noted corporate photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area over the past 20 years. She lived her life with energy, creativity, joy, humor and devotion to those she loved, especially her daughter, Courtney.

The child of Robert and Muriel Knudsen, Anne was born in Palo Alto, California on April 14, 1956. She spent her childhood in Los Altos Hills where she developed a love for animals and hiking in the wilds. After completing her degree in photojournalism at California State University, Long Beach, she was invited to intern at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner in 1979 and was soon hired as the only woman on the photojournalist team. She relished her time there during the tumultuous 80s as she and her fellow photographers captured and published prize-winning images that kept the public engaged, in-touch and informed. Anne worked for the Herald Examiner until it closed its doors following a strike in 1989. This past March, she and her colleagues were recognized for their many contributions in a panel discussion entitled “L.A. in Focus: Tales from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.”

During the subsequent two decades, Anne was headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley where she continued to build her reputation as a media, events, public relations and editorial photographer. Clients included major corporations and universities whose management teams relied on her extraordinary ability to take superb photographs that communicated powerful messages, image and brand.

Anne will be remembered as a devoted mother, lover of nature, and creative force both professionally and personally. An expert downhill skier, she was at her happiest poised for a black diamond run with her daughter at the top of her beloved Mt. Lincoln at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. “This is as good as it gets!” she exclaimed in a message from that very spot in mid-March.

Anne is survived by daughter Courtney Baldwin of Sunnyvale; mother Muriel Knudsen of Davis; and siblings Linda Knudsen Harmeling of San Diego, Eric Knudsen, Ph.D., of Stanford and Karl Knudsen, M.D., of Klamath Falls, Oregon. They are grateful to count themselves among her many admirers and friends whose lives have been immeasurably enriched by her indomitable spirit, intelligence, wit, spirituality and generosity. She will be missed by all who knew her.