Shutter Sisters

hold hands and stick together

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Some days we just need the simplest of reminders. Just the other day I was escorting my “baby” to her brand new kindergarten room, outside the door was a poster with this poem. I remember reading this poem so many years ago and how simple it was, but so very true. It made me smile and feel a little more at ease with this big transition for my little one.  Kindergarten is good.  The rules are simple.  Re-reading this was good for my heart.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Most of what I really need
To know about how to live
And what to do and how to be
I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top
Of the graduate school mountain,
But there in the sandpile at school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life –
Learn some and think some
And draw and paint and sing and dance
And play and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world,
Watch out for traffic,
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.”

~by Robert Fulghum

 

Today share an image of a that rings true in your heart… and don’t forget to hold hands.  🙂

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We are giving away one $100 Paper Coterie gift card EVERY SINGLE DAY of September to one of YOU! All you have to do is share a comment each day before midnight EST for your chance to win that day’s random drawing. And be sure to keep shooting your own stories and adding them to the OWP Pool on Flickr where you have a second chance at winning one of those $100 Paper Coterie giveaways.

story of place

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I live where the sea shapes the landscape. Place is easily identified by weathered clapboard shingles, stacks of lobster traps, and croppings of tangled wild sea roses. Wild and weathered, the stories of long harsh winters and achingly beautiful autumns. A place where tradition and nature are closely intertwined.

Today show us a story of place with one of your images.

Are you surorunded by wide open spaces, or perhaps concrete urban landscapes?

What speaks “home” to you?

 

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*Don’t forget to leave a comment here for a chance at our daily $100.00 gift giveaway sponsored by Paper Coterie,  and keep on shooting and sharing your ‘story’ in the Shutter Sisters One Word Project Pool on Flickr for an opportunity to be chosen as the One Word of the day for a second chance at $100.00 from Paper Coterie.  2 chances to win each day!  Names of our Everyday Giveaway winners are posted in our sidenotes section each day.

story people

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“They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday.” ~story people

Do you ever spy on strangers with your camera? (Please tell me i am not alone here.)  I promise I am not at  all creepy, strange maybe, creepy no. I just find people fascinating. I love observing interactions, diversity, perhaps a touch, or an emotion. Fleeting moments that catch my eye. I have always loved to people watch, my camera just takes my people watching up a notch. Now I don’t just watch, I click. Some times they are fully aware of my camera, other times I hide behind a telephoto lens. Each time there is something I am drawn to that makes me point my lens in their direction. Some times I get home and load my photos and imagine a story for the subjects in my photo. (overactive imagination, check.) Sometimes a simple quote helps tells the story of a photo.  Some of my favorite quotes to play with are story people quotes. Lines full of whimsy. Little stories in their own right.

Maybe one day I will no longer feel the need to create stories for my strangers. Maybe one day I will walk right up and just ask them to tell me their story. But for now, I click and imagine.

Have you captured any strangers in your lenses lately?  What story did you find there?

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***Don’t forget to leave a comment here for a chance at our daily $100.00 gift giveaway fabulously sponsored by Paper Coterie,  and keep on shooting and sharing your stories in the Shutter Sisters One Word Project Pool on Flickr for an opportunity to be chosen as the One Word of the day for a second chance at $100.00 from Paper Coterie.  2 chances to win each day! 

Update:  Names of our Everyday Giveaway winners are now being posted in our sidenotes section each day. So remember to look for your name there and keep checking your inboxes for your winning notification. Keep the comments coming for your chance to win each day.

grand adventure

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1. the fair, 2. Beach love, 3. hot air balloon – it’s summer!, 4. …and JUMP!, 5. I don’t want to work forever, 6. dog heaven

 

             “Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure.” -Alfred North Whitehead

As August comes to a close, lets take today to look back on this month’s One Word and all the grand adventures you captured so beautifully.

Adventures of the mind and of the heart.

Motherhood, a true adventure.

First days and summer play.

Some wet and some wild.

Beautiful places and wide open spaces.

You soared, and dipped.

You road tripped and took us along for the ride.

Thank you for sharing it ALL with us. I think it was the perfect word to end summer on.

Tomorrow we begin anew with a new month and a new One Word to explore, but for today let’s share one last adventure together. What will it be??? Show us!

shine your light

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We are all good at shining the light on others. Singing praises, commenting on the beauty of everyone else’s art, photos, and lives. Why do we forget that our own light is so very precious and needs to be nurtured and deserves to be praised? As women are we just so busy taking care of others that we forget to stand in our own light? Or do we buy into the belief that such behavior is boastful and prideful, rather than brave and confident? Have we been conditioned to hide our own light? Do those dreadful words, ‘who do you think you are?’ ring in your ears? I am guilty of this. Someone praises my photography, or something I wrote, and I can feel the heat rising in my face,  I actually get a physical response to it. Forget about tooting my own horn, ugh, no way. But why not? If I cannot believe I am worthy than who will? Allowing myself to stand in my own light is something I am truly working on.  Just when I needed it, a very special gift came my way. A locket, a keeper of treasures and sacred things, worn near my heart. Inside, a whisper to my soul… “Stand in your light”. Four little words that speak big to my heart.

We each have our own special gifts to share with the world, rather than being shy or embarrassed by that, why not shout it out instead!  Today shine the light on YOU. Have you done something new or exciting with your photography?  Perhaps a gallery showing, a first photoshoot, opened a shop, entered a contest, been published, taken a class, printed one of your own photos and had it framed just for you? Perhaps there is just a certain photo you are SO.VERY.PROUD.OF.  Go ahead, tell us! Show us! Celebrate it! Whatever it may be, share it with us here today.  Say yes to you and your light.

Like the locket says, stand in your light, you deserve to feel the warmth it holds.

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As extra incentive to shine your light with us, the multitalented artist Liz Lamoreux, creator of the beautiful locket above, is gifting one simple soul mantra locket necklace to one lucky commenter here today. Liz’s shop, soul mantras and other stories, is filled with beautiful pieces each imprinted with special words that speak straight to the heart and soul. Perhaps there is a message your soul is in need of right now. Just leave a comment here by midnight PST to be entered in today’s giveaway.

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GIVEAWAY UPDATE: congrats to Amy, the winner of the simple soul mantra locket giveaway. xo Amy!

a ticket to ride

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Summer brings with it fairs, amusement parks, playlands, and fairgrounds.  Growing up we had the traveling country fairs. Summer weekends were marked by different festivals pulling into the small rural towns and setting up for a few days of fun. Each had its own unique name, and some its very own queen. My favorite was the apple dumpling festival, of course with its newly crowned “little miss apple dumpling” and her grand counterpart the apple dumpling queen. Summer fun and pageantry, full of food, rides, games and even the occasional livestock. Now as an adult I live near a summer playland complete with whirring rides, bags of pink cotton candy and one very loud arcade. We know summer has officially begun here when the playland is open for business. Going always makes me nostalgic for the fairs of my youth, the rides are the same rides I rode as a kid, the junk food the same, even the photos I take now of my own kids on the rides look no different from the photos of me as a kid that line the old family photo albums. I remember being little and handed that coveted book of ride tickets. The excitement that paper book of tickets evoked. Adventure in my little hand; what to ride? how many rides would I get?! would I be tall enough for the bigger rides???!!!! Oh the anticipation.

Adventure does not have to be GRAND, it can be as simple as a hand full of paper tickets. Have you had any little adventures in your life lately?

In spirit of August’s One Word , adventure, share yours with us today.

lingering light

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“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.” -Pamela Hansford Johnson

The few extra hours of sunlight of this season are such a gift don’t you agree?  I love the magical time of sunset just before dusk comes. Everything bathed in gold. Objects become silhouetted in darkness. I click and click away as the sun sinks deeper into the horizon and the light dances on the water. Goodnight sun. Soon seasons will change and the light will shift and I will miss these long summer nights. Have you captured some late day magic of your own lately? Do you find yourself lingering longer than usual to soak up those few extra minutes of light? 

Share some of your own golden goodness with us here today. 

water world

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Last week the summer heat made a very big appearance here on the east coast.  Seemed almost everyone was sweltering in above normal temperatures with little relief in sight. Perfect time to seek out ways to cool off and have fun all at the same time.  Summer and water just go hand in hand don’t you agree?  Water parks, kiddie pools, sea spray, wave jumping, rain dances, puddles, water balloons, fountain fun, sprinklers, and the trusty old garden hose. Splashing and spraying our way through the summer heat. Shooting water is all kinds of fun.  If the sun is shining the drops sparkle light diamonds, or you may capture the action of individual droplets.

What water fun have you captured lately?

Let’s all take a collective dip into the cool water today.  Share your summertime water shots with us here.  Maybe get out the sprinkler and jump through the spray… Have fun with it! 

life is beautiful

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“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

                                                                                                                -Angela Schwindt

We could hear it before it came.  Thunder boomed in the distance, clouds gathered in dramatic form. I told my kids to go out and enjoy the rain, clothes and all.  My son needed no prodding. While he ran out the back door, I ran to the living room, grabbed my camera and headed for the front door.  The rain fell gently at first, then it happened, drips gave way to the most fantastic summer storm.  As I clicked his whole body rejoiced. Arms out stretched to the sky, face to the rain, he was purely in the moment. Being 7 is oh so very good you see, and rain is pure bliss on a hot summer’s day.  Children know this.  They celebrate life with ALL their being. I came inside soaked not only with rain, but with the pure joy of being in the moment with him.

What better word then for July’s One Word Project than life?  Such a great word to interpret don’t you agree?  From new life, to love life, to everyday life.  SO many wonderful takes on one word. This month, it’s your job to explore this word with your lens. Join us all month long as we see and celebrate life.

A master at celebrating life’s everyday moments is the inspiring Ali Edwards.  This month Ali is hosting a Week In The Life ,an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of your life with photos and words. PERFECT! 

Today share life as you’ve captured it. 

 

simply summer

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Summer brings a much wanted shedding of layers. Once covered skin now breathes in and soaks up the sun. My previous uniform of knits, jeans, wool socks and snow boots, have been happily replaced by a simple stand of beads, a white tee, flowy skirt, and bare feet.  Less is definitely more in summertime. 

The shutter sister pool is full of summer’s essentials .

pretty painted toes

summer sandals and flip flops

an airy sundress

summer hair

that too cute suit

a broad sunhat

and of course a seriously fun pair of shades

As June winds down and summer heats up here, let’s send off this month’s one word project in grand sister fashion. How do you do summer? Show us your summery details today.