Shutter Sisters

Comfort

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There’s a moment in my new novel Get Lucky, when the main character, Sarah, takes a self-defense class from her dad’s new fiancé.  It’s one of my favorite scenes in the book, and I find myself thinking about it a lot.  Especially this little moment afterwards:

Then she told me there were two things in this world that every woman needed to learn about.  One was self-defense.  And the other one wasn’t covered in her class.

“What’s the other one?” I asked.

Dixie took a long, slow breath before saying, “Comfort.”

I thought about that.  “How does that one work?”

“Well,” Dixie said, “everybody’s different.  What comforts me won’t be what comforts you.”

“What if I don’t know what comforts me?”

Dixie pulled up in front of Mackie’s house.  “Well, sweetheart,” she said, kissing her fingertips and touching them to my cheek. “It’s time you found out.”

So Sarah decides to make a comfort list of things she finds soothing.  I’ve heard from many people about that list, and so not long ago I decided to make my own. I included some pictures I took in my garden (which is on my list).  It made me wish I had more photos of the things on the list.  What would a comfort list done in photographs look like?  What would your list look like?  What things comfort you? 

I’m giving away a signed copy of Get Lucky to the Shutter Sisters this month for Giveaway May!!  Post a link to a photo of something that comforts you below by midnight (PST) on Saturday, May 27, to enter.  I can hardly wait to see the photos!

Photo and words courtesy of author Katherine Center.

Laundry

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Life is laundry.

When I say that, I don’t mean that I do a lot of laundry, although I do. I just started my fifth load this week and it’s only Tuesday. Still, some folks do more and some folks do less. Either way, that’s not the point.

I don’t mean that my life is like laundry, although it is. Trouble piles up, and I ignore it for as long as I can. Just about the time I sort through the heap, clean it and stash it away, it reappears and I have to take care of it all over again. So yes, life is like laundry, but that’s not what I mean either.

I mean life is laundry, and when you do not yet see that your life is laundry you may not see your life clearly at all. You might think, for instance, that the life you have is not at all the life you had in mind and so it doesn’t constitute your real life at all. Your real life is the life you pine for, the life you’re planning or the life you’ve already lost, the life fulfilled by the person, place and sexy new front-loading washer of your dreams. This is the life we are most devoted to: The life we don’t have.

Excerpted from the book Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life ©2010 by Karen Maezen Miller. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com

GIVEAWAY MAY:

At the end of every day, after you’ve run out of inspiration and good intentions, the laundry might still be waiting for you. Here’s an incentive to tackle it: between now and this Saturday, May 29 at midnight, and share a link to the shot of your laundry pile here in the comments. Two winners will be drawn to win free admission to a Mother’s Plunge one-day retreat hosted by Karen Maezen Miller (June 12 in Seattle, June 26 in Los Angeles or July 17 in Colorado Springs). A day spent in peace and calm at a Mother’s Plunge is guaranteed to be a day without laundry. 

On Being Present

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My to-do list is quite daunting, though it’s not because of all the things I have to do. Of course there are things that absolutely must be done, but really, my list overflows with all that I want to do.

It’s easy for me to become overwhelmed at times and I frequently find myself trying to do a little of everything simultaneously. And truthfully it gets me nowhere. Attempting to read a book I’ve been dying to read while crocheting a blanket while watching the latest movie of choice … you get the idea. I find myself doing things from the list for the mere act of checking them off so I can move on to the next thing.

Recently it dawned on me just how much I’m missing by carrying on this way. How many heartfelt conversations have I missed because I was too busy with the latest project at hand? How many beautiful sunsets have I missed because I just had to knit a few stitches in the car?

Three weeks ago we went on our annual camping trip. This time, I took no books to read and no projects to finish. I came armed with warm clothes, food, and an open mind. I allowed myself to be completely in the moment, focusing on the friendly chatter around the campfire, and the beautiful scenery surrounding us. In doing so, I felt more accomplished and more content than perhaps ever been.

 And so I challenge you, and I will continue to challenge myself, to be present for all of life’s moments.

Image and words courtesy of Christen Olivarez, the Director of Publishing and Editor-in-Chief for Stampington & Company, one of the leading publishers of art and crafting magazines. To keep up to date on all-things Stampington, follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Christen, visit her blog.

And in keeping with the spirit of Giveaway May Stampington is giving 3 lucky readers copies of thier glorious magazines! Yay! Take it from us, we love these magazines! Leave a comment here between now and Sunday at midnight for your chance to win.

Everyday Excerpt

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Each day I do the dirty work, the effort that attracts no notice but my own, and in this very place I find the ordinary ingredients for genuine fulfillment.

Rising with the sun to sort and stack the dishes, appreciating this simple task as the essential start to a healthy day. Chopping the blemished fruit into breakfast, savoring the taste of my own usefulness. Emptying full hampers without resentment or commentary. Making a marriage from sturdy pots and pans, an enduring masterpiece of mutual forgiveness. Cooking dinner while my daughter plunks the most lovely praise songs from the piano, knowing that my own mother, standing in her own kitchen, once received the same sweet cup of satisfaction from me. Watching my family circle each other in wary regard, wrestle and shout a messy wreck of feelings, seeing them suffer their deep adoration of each other, and leaving it be, well and good and theirs alone. Keeping silent about some things and laughing about most everything.

Loving all of this, and then forgetting to add even that, so full to the brim with this life already.

Excerpted from the book Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life ©2010 by Karen Maezen Miller. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com

For a dose of everyday inspiration, listen to Karen Maezen Miller read an extended excerpt from Hand Wash Cold on her blog today.

And please share an image of your own everyday beauty. For some perfect examples from our community visit the One Word Project flickr pool where the word this month is everyday.

Karen is graciously giving away a signed copy of her book for Giveaway May. Leave a comment here between now and Thursday midnight for a chance to win.

Congrats to Aia for winning the signed copy of Hand Wash Cold. Yay!

Personification of Patience

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Patience is something I’ve always wanted more of,  to be more like my Mom; who is by the way, the most patient person I know or perhaps in the world. Yet, so long as I lusted after what I wanted to have, done, acquired, I stayed blind to lessons and opportunities my daily habits and rituals provided.

Patience is a sneaky little bugger. She will quietly creep onto the scene, supporting you if you’ve paid your due dilligence or jumping out at you if you haven’t. The largest lessons here have come directly to me through my photography practice.

Passion has always held a high regard in the hearts of photo-hopefuls, willing their visions into manifestation. And persistence is the rule preached at school. If we just keep at it long enough, we will make our way into our definitions of success. Then there’s little old Patience, tying it all together, striking a stone to a flint under our bums when the film doesn’t come out right, when we’re not as far along our paths as we’d like, or when our credentials only fill up a post-it note. Patience leaves her mark when that photograph would have been perfect if we’d just waited a little while longer to release that shutter, but instead snapped the last image on the roll or had just had enough and walked away with the digital in tow. Those are the moments Patience pops up again, hopping around in our faces, creeping into the frames, a haunting reminder that she is not to be forgotten.

If we walk with Patience by our side long enough, she will generously give us a certain presence that will enrich our lives and practices, photography or otherwise. And in our quiet successes we can exalt and raise our hands, cartwheel or dance, because we got that shot, we savored that feeling or made that new memory without measuring or making comparisons, we have our friend to thank. Patience brings passion to the surface and fuels persistence that mile further because she has a co-conspirator and her name is Photography.

Have you taken Patience with you as you shoot? What has she taught you?

Photo and words courtesy of Guest Blogger / Honorary Sister Rachel Wolfe. You’ll find her on  her website or over at her blog.

Tangible Evidence of Emotion

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There’s more than one world out there, more than one reality. More than one dream, emotion, silence. There’s one world for each one of us, with a time and space of its own. I’ve always thought of photographs as the prints of life, little still fragments of personal information, pieces of our own world in the world. I’ve read somewhere they are the tangible evidence of memory and emotion, and I would add they are great story tellers, too. There’s some kind of magic involved, something quite difficult to explain that happens when you take the time to observe a photograph, whatever that frozen image is, it will move you, will evoke something, will make you feel, remember, wonder. Photographs tell a story but at the same time they leave just enough mystery for your imagination to find it.

Photography to me is a connection between reality and dreams, a communication between the inner and outer worlds. And its documenting aspect really captivates my interest. It’s the only subject I wouldn’t want to go back in time to do it again as a way of doing it better, photograph the same subject but in a “better” way – if that could be said – which always happened to me while studying graphic design, I wanted to re-do the projects I’ve done the previous years, but from my new acquired vision. I believe photography is more intuitive than theoretical, more experimental, raw and natural, perfectly imperfect. It is a mystery and I enjoy discovering always new things, layer by layer, there is always more to learn, no matter which point you think you’ve reached, there’s always more to explore.

I like to think of my work as a journey, and a journal, a diary that documents the history of life, happening, changing, its never ending process; its own essence inevitably mixed with my own. I enjoy too much photographing people, feeling the energy of their interaction and being able to peek into their souls, I like becoming their witness. And on the other hand I’m very drawn to silence, I love photographing the calmness of this noisy world, the little details, what remains unseen at first glance, the life in the quiet (not so) empty spaces, nature and all its moods. I’m quite obsessed with sunlight and the slow motion of the last rays of the day, with the sound of water, animal’s fur and the dance of the wind with everything that touches.

Lately my fine art photography has been more focused on creating book projects, they’ve started as journals with a common theme, and in the process – which is the part that I enjoy the most – I’m finding different ways of telling the stories.

Time can stop for a second and float between the pale yellows and blues. That light has the power to ease me. Can the soul be one with the water? Little pieces to remind me that it’s ok to disappear sometimes, with no need to fill the spaces, be the empty one to absorb it all again. Can these be the words for my image-story above? What would your images tell about you? Which one would be your story, your own personal world in the world?

Images and words courtesy of Guest Blogger / Honorary Sister Romina Bacci of photos stories feather & dreams and the etsy shop Miles of Light.

Sweet Jamaica

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I love colour. I especially love sliding my macro lens into place with a satisfying *click*, and pointing it at flowers to capture simple, vibrantly colorful images… aaaand I live in a place where there’s snow on the ground for half the year. Woe.

Don’t get me wrong: Ottawa is a fantastic, beautiful city. Because it’s the capital of Canada, there are tons of amenities a similarly-sized city doesn’t normally have, but it’s cold and snowy, and there’s not a whole lot in terms of living vegetation for six months at a stretch. What is a lover of color to do? What any Canadian who rather unpatriotically dislikes cold and can afford to does: go south for a much-welcome respite. This year was my maiden venture to Jamaica.

Oh the heat! The sun! The lush, exotic vegetation everywhere! There were coconuts and bananas growing right below my window! I spent the week alternating between capturing moments like my 20-month-old plunking himself bare-bummed on the wave-washed sand (a precious memory, with the added bonus of being great blackmail material when he’s a teenager), happily clicking away on solitary strolls through the gardens, and putting the camera away and just enjoying my time with my family. After all, a break from the everyday with the people I love the most is the main reason I went on vacation: the chance to take pictures was the cherry on top (albeit a huge one).

 What about you? Do you have a favourite season? Is there a type of weather that just beckons you outdoors with your camera? Today why not share some words or an image from one of these forays?

 Image and words courtesy of Honorary Sister / Guest Blogger Shawna Cameron.

support

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Every now and then, I get to meet with a very good friend for lunch.  We talk a mile a minute because our time is limited and we are desperate to get caught up on what has happened since our last meeting.  On one such occasion, minutes before we parted, I said to her, “You know, it really bothers me when people tell me how lucky I am.  I find it to be a backhanded compliment.”

It’s not that I don’t believe in luck.  Maybe it’s better to say that when something unexpected and totally awesome occurs, I will acknowledge how fortunate it is to have happened.  Whether it is an act of God, Karma, a guardian angel, or a little fairy following me around with some pixie dust, I will give thanks for my blessings.  But that isn’t what I was referring to when I made that statement to her.  I was referring to the fact that I have worked hard to get where I am today and it shouldn’t be written off as luck; rather setting and visualize goals and working hard to achieve them.

Perhaps the biggest part of that statement that bothers me is the implication that my life has been nothing but rainbows and butterflies.  My life has been filled with ups and downs just like the next guy but I don’t complain about it or wish that it was any other way.  It is important to maintain a balance, be honest about where you are on your own personal roller coaster (down or up, it doesn’t matter. It’s your ride, after all), and try to use the force of the current to your advantage instead of fighting against it.  Above all else, it is essential to create and maintain a support system that will guide you through both highs and lows.

Like any other precautionary measure or defense system that is put into place, your support won’t be tested until it is put under pressure.  When you are facing one of life’s challenges – depression, sadness, loss, stress, etc. – you will find that some of your support falters.  That’s ok.  You will find that some things that you didn’t even know you had will rise up to the challenge.  Your camera, bumping into a friend that you hadn’t seen in years, your companion/husband/wife/lover, a volunteer in your garden, repetition in your knitting, the warmth of your tea (or coffee – you know who you are), sleep at the end of the day, a stranger smiling at you in passing – something or someone will be there for you if you have a support system in place and you are open to the guidance around you.

I hope you will join me in supporting those who need a little love, happiness, understanding, encouragement, and hope over at You Are Not Alone.  The site is still very young, but along with the group pool on Flickr, there will be plenty of chances to contribute if you are interested.  Though designed specifically with those suffering from Post Pardum Depression in mind, anyone is welcome.  Just think, you could turn someone’s day around!  And if you are the one in need, be sure to check the blog and group pool often for your Daily Dose of support.

Image and words courtesy of Meg Fahrenbach aka the delicious Tea & Brie.

being a woman is a gift

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In a matter of days the Mom 2.0 Exhibit will be installed and available to see at the FotoFest gallery in Houston, Texas, even before the Mom 2.0 reception. This video was made for the show. I can say nothing more that needs to be said. The amazing Katherine Center said it all.

This is motherhood. We are living this movement everyday. We are defining it right now. This is how we love, share, worry, laugh, give up, give in and find a way to do it again, day in and day out without question, without skipping a beat, without regret.

The Mom 2.0 Summit is going to be an amazing conference. I was there last year so I know. I hope you can make it. And the exhibit (reception to be held Friday Night 2/19), will be nothing short of incredible, thanks to super-Laura Mayes, her creative team and so many of you talented, talented photographers. It has been a pleasure to work on the project and more than anything I know that what we’re doing, as women, as mothers is going to be tangibly validated with every image hung, every word displayed and every person there to witness it.

I don’t know about you but I know what Katherine says is true. Being a woman is a gift.

Share an ode to Womanhood today, in all Her splendor and authenticity and let’s show the world what we’re made of.

Hanging onto our Reminders

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In my office, there is a string of very random photos that trail across the windows. I call them “My Reminders.”

Each photo is one that bring me back to a time or place that helped me to remember who I really am, and what really matters.

During one of the most difficult times in my life, a very beautiful family took me to their home in Italy. Prior to going I was barely making it out of bed and existing on a diet of smokes and coffee. But they rescued me and gave me this trip of a lifetime. I was surrounded by kindness, beauty, art, music, mountains, and all the magic of the Tuscan countryside. And the food! ~Lets just say I learned the art of dining and enjoying meals created with romance and with love. Impossible for me to explain my time there, but it somehow rescued me…

This was the very last photo I took. It’s funny, because it was taken in the garage, just as I was getting in the car to head for the airport.

But I remembered thinking at that moment, “I cannot return to my old life.

I am committing to start living and enjoying the second half.” I made that promise at that very spot.

This is one of the photos which hangs along the windows, and I find when I am entering a funk or a negative pattern of thinking, all it takes is a look at that shot, to remind me and return me to center.

Sometimes our most valued photos are not the ones that will make sense to anyone, or get any kind of attention….But those special shots carry incredible worth if they remind you what really matters in life…

I wonder if you have a photo that may not mean anything to anyone but you…

Lets keep those shots around to keep us focused on caring for our hearts. And of course, if you’d like to share it today, we’d be happy to see it.

Image and words courtesy of Jen Gray. A dear friend and a true talent.