Shutter Sisters

Connection in Community

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There are these ties that bind us to our outside world. Sometimes they’re tangible. Like a phone call from a friend or an unexpected visit from a family member. All straight-forward events, rather predictable. But there are other bonds, less obvious ones, connecting us in an invisible web of community stretching far from our homes. Take this one for example. You are more than likely reading this blog because of your love of photography, but if you’re like me, you return again and again for the special glimpses we get into one another’s lives through the daily posts and the various theme groups…and of course the thrill and chance of having your photo featured.

But I’ve found that there’s something more, something bigger, something exciting that takes place when we go from just visiting a group anonymously to engaging with it fully. When we take one little step in its direction, magic begins to happen. You see, I’ve found that by reaching out, even when it seemed uncomfortable or strange or weird, that my world expanded growing in unimaginable directions. It certainly didn’t happen overnight, but slowly I’ve found myself with a new circle of friends, female photography friends, which as we all know aren’t necessarily living down the street. And as my circle increased, something unexpected happened, I found my confidence in my photography grew stronger, my focus deepened, and I found a calm within myself that hadn’t existed before. The energy we shared collectively seemed to augment one another’s skills. And sometimes, someone who’d seemed unapproachable to me, because they were further along in a journey I wished to emulate, would be willing to respond if I took the time to reach out to them.

Over the past year, I’ve been able to shift my community out of cyberspace and into face-to-face encounters with these incredible women. From Frankfurt, Germany to Monterey, CA from to New York City to my hometown of Philadelphia, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend several meetups that a year ago I could never have imagined. I’ve gone from meeting these women in person to shoving up against one another while barefoot on the beach to get just the right shot…from where we stood! But that’s just what has happened. I felt honored and delighted at my reception, and a little amazed at how it all unfolded. And all because I reached out, taking one, little tippy toe step at a time.

How about you? Have you felt the magic of community? What relationships and bonds have you formed lately? Today, share with us your images of connection.

Image (shot with a Lensbaby) and post courtesy of the awesome Holly Clark, who many of us know and love as Soupatraveler.

thankful for the path

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 We are delighted to welcome November with its spirit of deep gratitude and thanksgiving. Can you already feel it in the air? We sure can. There is no better time to use our creative tools (whatever camera suits your fancy) to shoot in gratitude.

This month we are celebrating our One Word Project with the help of HelloCanvas as we use the word  thankful to inspire us.

Among a multitude of other things, we are thankful for photography. For our sisterhood. For being together. For friends and for family. For our creative path. For coffee in the morning and tea at night. For the color of the leaves. For the sun in they sky and frost on the ground. For warm fires. For music. For food on the table and for our many countless blessings!

We are also thankful for HelloCanvas as they remind us to not only shoot with gratitude but to celebrate what we capture through our lenses. Creating a canvas print of something you are thankful for is a perfect way to honor what we are most grateful for. We are excited to be offering a month full of free canvas prints courtesy of HelloCanvas.

Here’s what you can look forward to this month:

Each Friday of November we will host a mini-photo contest. The theme? Various creative twists on this season of gratitude, of course! The prize? A 20x24inch print from HelloCanvas.

And if that’s not amazing enough, they will give away a stunning 36x48inch canvas print as a grand prize to one thankful winner from our OWP Flickr Pool at the end of November! Plus, 4 honorable mentions for the month will win 20×24 inch canvas prints as well. 

To be included in the Novemeber OWP contest:

Please enter your thankful images to the OWP Flickr pool.

Please tag your images “thankful” & “hellocanvas” so we can find your images.

Please show hellocanvas how thankful we are for them by visiting them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Winners will be announced the first week of December.

So, let’s starting seeking out all the things we’re thankful for. We can’t wait to hear what’s on your heart and in front of you lens. Do share! 

 

For Light

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For Light 

Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.

 

In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.

 

That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.

 

That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.

 

When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.

 

That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light. 

When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.

 

When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.

 

When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.

 As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory. 

And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found word.

~ John O’Donohue ~

Poem found and image shared by the amazing Myriam Loeschen.

a true story

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I have been sitting here, staring at the computer screen, wondering what to write. It’s late, and I’m tired, and my mind has apparently checked out. The truth is, I don’t quite have the words to accompany this photo. I took it Friday night, and I wanted to share it with you because I think it tells the story of who and where I am today. I just wish that story could be told in words and sentences and paragraphs.

But all I have for you for now is this image. It’s not much, but the story it tells is true…

Share with us today your images that tell the true stories of your lives, with or without the need for words.

P.S. Don’t forget that we are giving away one $100 Paper Coterie gift card EVERY SINGLE DAY of September! Share a comment each day before midnight EST for your chance to win that day’s random drawing. Be sure to leave links to your story shots.

Instant vs. Instant

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Whip out a Polaroid camera and the children will come running. They will surround you and look at you and this strange camera you hold as if you are from another planet. And they will ask questions. Many, many questions. How old is that thing? How does it even work? Film? What do you mean, film? A few might tell you they’ve actually heard their parents talk about these cameras. But to most, the concept is brand new. To take a picture with a Polaroid SX-70 and watch the faces as the image quietly appears is to experience a special brand of magic.

Adults are often just as mystified. Pull out a Polaroid camera on any street in any city in the world and someone will stop you. Someone will want to talk to you about it. They will tell you they didn’t know people still shot with Polaroids and didn’t they stop making the film ages ago? Then they’ll get all soft in the eyes when they tell you about the Polaroid camera they grew up using. 

As a Polaroid photographer, I’m thoroughly charmed by these interactions. I really am. But every once in a while, there’s a gap in the conversation. A few seconds, a pause. And I know what they want to ask, I know what they’re thinking. Their bewilderment is practically palpable. Why bother with instant cameras when digital photography exists? In an age where there are phone apps that reproduce the general aesthetic of a Polaroid image in a couple of seconds, where does instant photography fit in? A digital camera in most every phone means that image sharing has never been more immediate. With apps likes instagram, I can take a picture with my iphone, choose from a variety of film-like filters and share the results immediately with the online world. How can instant photography compete with that? The answer is that it can’t. It doesn’t have to.

Because there’s just no substitution for the real thing.

There’s no sound like the zzzip and whirrr a Polaroid camera makes as it shoots a photograph out, there’s no feeling like the one that comes as you hold that picture in the palm of your hand and watch as the image slowly appears. And, hard as they may try, they just can’t reproduce what instant cameras and instant films do with color and light. This is not to say that I don’t absolutely love my nikon DSLR. Or that I haven’t (joyously) fallen down a sizable instagram rabbit hole myself. I wholeheartedly acknowledge that digital photography and iphoneography have pushed the medium in wildly exciting new directions. They’re just not meant to completely replace all that has come before them. And in a world where technology seems to be pushing us all along at breakneck speed, I think we can’t help but be drawn to things that force us to slow down.

When I shoot with my Polaroid camera, this is exactly what happens. I slow down. Ironically enough, the technology that so many originally associated with speed causes me to slow things down. When I look through the viewfinder of my Polaroid camera, I take my time, I think about what I’m shooting before I press that little red button. And as the camera spits the picture out, I hold my breath. 

Image and words courtesy of our newest regular contributor here at Shutter Sisters Andrea Corrona Jenkins, also know as Hula from Hula Seventy. (crowd goes wild). We are giddy to have her here!

………..

In honor of Andrea and all things Poloroid (Hula’s trueest passion) we are offering a giveaway today! A comlimentary registration to her soon-coming teahouse workshop! Instant Magic. Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?

 Just comment here between now and Tuesday night (8/23 at midnight ESTP) with a warm welcome to Andrea to be entered to win. And feel free to share something you captured in an instant (with your camera of choice).

smiling at strangers

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I don’t think people smile enough anymore, myself included.  In New York City, most people are too caught up in the hustle bustle of every day. We move through life without looking up, often not connecting with any of the other 8 million people who live here. Believe it or not, sometimes it can be a lonely place.

 This is especially true underground on the subway where everyone has their own little routines and distractions–reading the newspaper, listening to music, swiping away on smart phones, kindles and iPads, or even sleeping. We have our commutes down to a science.  We know exactly where to stand on the platform to be in the perfect spot when the doors slide open at our destination so as to not waste a single moment.  And although we sit, stand and hover a mere inches from each other every day there is rarely any eye contact, and definitely not enough smiles.

 

So I decided to play my small part in trying to do something about it. I recently started leaving notes on the subway that simply say “smile at a stranger today.”  I’ve typed them, handwritten them and even had some little cards made. I’ve taped them to walls in subway stations and train cars and I often leave them on the seats where they will catch the most attention.  Yesterday, a woman picked up one of the notes I left as she sat down across from me.  She read it, looked up, and smiled.  And today, these two people struck up a conversation after I left my notes on the seat next to them.  I don’t expect to change the world but I’ll take what I can get, one smile at a time.

 

How about you?  Have you sent any messages to the universe lately? Whether it’s literally with notes or words, or creatively through your photographs, share with us today what you are saying to the world around you.

 

Images and words courtesy of iphoneographer Christy of Urban Muser. You can also find her at Mortal Muses every nine days or so. 

 

riding the wave

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If you can believe it, I’m still thinking about yesterday’s post. I feel like I’m not quite done with that thought. Maybe it’s that I can’t believe how taken I am with my iphone. If I were looking for the most simple answer, I would say yes, that must be what it is. But, I can’t help but thing there is something really revolutionary about the way we are now communicating; Less words (hello twitter) and more images (a la instragram).

Is it that we are all so busy we can’t find the time to sit down and write? I can vouch only for myself when I say, yes, that is the case sometimes. But I have my suspicions that we are finding ourselves getting better and better and using images to express ourselves.

The more we shoot with our photo tool of choice, the better we get at creating the images that we are excited about. The more excited we are means we are more confident about our images, and the more eager we are to share them. It’s the ripple effect of camera ease and accessibility. Combine that with equally easy methods of sharing and Viola! You couldn’t stop that wave of creativity and sharing if you tried! And who wants to?

As we continue to stay connected through these quick and creative exchanges of “instant imaging” please continue to use our secret sister code (#ssconnect) so we can readily find each other out there in the pool of inspiration. It’s much more fun swimming with friends!

Share a a splashy shot today (something you captured with your camera of choice) as we wade together in the deep blue sea of photography.

back in time

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Spending Spring Break on the Sea of Cortez means capturing hundreds of photos that boast bright vibrant colors. Shooting my daughters splashing in the shore where impossibly clear blue water meets soft white sand under a cloudless blue sky and full sun offers conditions where the shots come out perfectly, just as they are, straight out of the camera (aka SOOC).

Even still, some moments captured aren’t about the color of the landscape. In fact, processing them in a way that dials out all distractions is one way to allow them to say more. About childhood. About simplicity. About a place and time we can all relate to. Whether it’s looking back at old vintage photographs or remembering our own retro childhood, some images we capture now can still up those distant memories and remind us of the beauty of the past.

Today, let’s be time-travelers. Share with us the shots that take you back in time.

Sharing the Spark

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We are beyond thrilled to announce our brand new regular column Point of Focus that will be featured in Digital Photo Magazine. We will be sharing our Shutter Sisterseque photographic passion on the pages of the widely respected publication, both in the hard copy of the magazine and also in the new digital version via Zinio. Yes, you can now get DP Mag for your computer and/or ipad. Enter balloons, streamers and crowd cheers here. 

We kick off our column in the current issue with a story, in true Shutter Sisters style, along with some tips and tricks on how to stoke your photographic spark. You’ll have to check it out!

In honor of our first column, share with us today how you keep your photographic spark fired up. Got any tricks of your own? Let’s get a list going of how you let your photographic heart wander.

And let’s toss in a giveaway too. We’ve got 3 copies of the current issues of both Digital Photo Magazine and their sister publication Digital Photo Pro. We’ll randomly choose 3 winners so leave your comment (you have until Thursday midnight EST to be entered in the giveaway) and share your spark.

And winners are Jessica, Suddenly Susan, Tonette B. Check your inboxes ladies. Yay you!

obstructed view

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I raced the sunset last night; home to grab my camera and back up to the highest hill in town in anticipation of the last light and color of the evening.

I made it in time but was disappointed by the view. How was it that I forgot about the fence up there that stood between myself and the expansive sky?

Regardless the obstacle, I shot a number of images. Looking up, across, vertical, horizontal and finally, through. And of all the shots, there was something about the shot that included the obstruction that captured my interest. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In this case, it kind of worked.

Have you ever taken a risk and shot anyway, even when conditions weren’t right, the scene not what you expected? Today share a view that clicked for you, regardless the obstacles.