Shutter Sisters

lyrical

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“I will live my life as a lobsterman’s wife on an island in the blue bay.
He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea,
And close to my heart he’ll always stay.

I will bear three girls all with strawberry curls, little Ella and
Nelly and Faye.
While I’m combing their hair, I will catch his warm stare
On our island in the blue bay.

Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life.”

 [lyrics to Far Away by Ingrid Michaelson]

 

Have you ever taken a shot that made you think of a song?

Share your lyrical images with us here today.

where do you go?

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We talk a lot about shooting the beauty in life’s happy moments full of light and colors.  But where do you go on the darker days?  We all have our low moments and darker times.  Life is full of ups and downs, it is inevitable that sadness seeps in and finds its way into our creative spaces every now and then.  Especially when shooting a 365 project.  No matter how steadfast you are at being positive, eventually you are going to have one of those days.  So where does your lens go when you feel off balance? Where do you find solace?  Do you commune with nature?  Perhaps still life brings you a sense calm? Focusing even seems too much? Let go and find beauty in the blur. Or maybe you turn your lens to something personal or sacred?   On those certain off days i seek out a little piece of peace.  One of my favorite things to look to are my smooth beach stones.  I carefully choose a few and stack them, finding my center in this simple practice of stillness and nature all in one.  Show us where you find peace on your darker days?  What brings you serenity when things seem off balance?  There is beauty and light to be found even in those moments of darkness.

the best medicine

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“A day without laughter, is a day wasted.”  -Charlie Chaplin

An ordinary afternoon with my youngest.  Just the two of us playing together in her room.  She trying to hide from me, me grabbing and tickling her,  she laughing wildly and popping up for more.  That gapped toothed grin she has had since she was one, when she fell face first and broke her tooth.  Somehow I can no longer picture her without that gap, it is just so her.  That crinkle in her nose and that loud crazy belly laugh.  

We can have our kids pose and smile but the photos i love best are the spontaneous ones.  They capture personality.  A moment shared, forever saved in one snap.  Some I’d swear have sound, like the one above.  Some times blurry and imperfect, yet so full of life.  

Show us some happy today.  A shared laugh , a serious case of the giggles, a silly dance,  or a funny face that just plain makes you smile.

 

color me happy

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Colors speak through our images.  They can evoke feeling.

Red the color of passion, desire and love.

Orange the color of joy, encouragement and stimulation.

Yellow the color of sunshine, happiness and energy.

Green the color of nature, harmony and fertility.

Blue the color and sky and sea, often symbolizing truth and stability.

Purple the color of royalty, magic and creativity.

White the color of light, purity and innocence.

Black the color of power and formality.

We all have a color.  That one color that really speaks to us.  We find ourselves seeking it out through our lens. A certain shade of blue, the purity of a white palette, the pop that only red can bring.  My color is yellow.  Yellow gives me an instant pick me up and just makes me happy.  When I go back through my archives I can see that yellow gets a lot of attention.  A yellow balloon, my yellow sneakers, lots yellow flowers and of course golden sunshine.  

What color speaks to you?  Show us your favorite color today. 

love note to myself.

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It is that time of year, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  Love notes, hearts, words, glue, glitter aplenty.  As a mom of three, it is a fun time.  Picking the perfect valentines, cutting out paper hearts, helping my kindergartner spell all the names of his very first school friends as he carefully writes them on his cards.  A time of spreading love to special friends, family, and teachers, but when was the last time you wrote a love note to yourself?  Don’t you deserve some love from you?  The great thing is you can write it anywhere you like, no glitter required.  Perhaps on your bathroom mirror (my little tip: dry erase markers work great on mirrors), on your own skin, or in your journal.  Maybe send yourself a memo, or cut yourself a paper heart of your very own, or simply scribble something down on a scrap of paper or a post it note.  Who knows, you may want to save your love note somewhere special and pull it out from time to time.

So in the spirit of love, write something nice to you today, take a photo of whatever it may be, then please share it here with us.   

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”-Buddha

bubblicious

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Earlier this week my daughter asked to go outside and blow bubbles.  I am a big lover of bubbles.  We bundled up and took our little pink ice cream cone bubble blower outside in the snow and blew them to the sky.  I had my camera focused on her as she puffed out her cheeks in great effort to make some herself.  (At 3 blowing bubbles is a BIG deal.)  One floated over my head and i followed it with my camera clicking away trying to focus on its flight.  Just then it gently landed on our deck railing.  I assumed it would pop instantly on contact,  it did not.  Instead it balanced on the snow.  The colors drew me right in.  I was mesmerized by the fantastic swirls.  I kept snapping away, waiting for the inevitable ‘pop!’.  That’s when I noticed my reflection; half of me, and house behind me, was right side up and the other half upside down, twisted in the mirror of the bubble.  What a happy surprise.

Bubbles are universal.  No matter your age,  bubbles are happy makers that create some great photo fun.  Do you have any bubble magic to share?  Maybe today you could use some simple happiness that blowing bubbles can bring?  Go ahead,  the kid in you will thank you.

Oh and one more thing, check out this incredible *POP*! WOW.

a story of hands

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I find hands fascinating.  They are as diverse as the people they are attached to.  Large, small, strong, graceful, flexible, young, old, soft, or weathered.  I feel they hold stories all their own.  What have they held?  What have they made?  What work have they done?  We use our hands every moment of every day, most times not paying much attention.  We eat ~ touch ~ create ~ speak ~ love with our hands.   The same pair of hands can be fiercely strong one moment and then gentle the next.  We clap them in celebration.  We use them to make music.  We cup them to catch tears.  We grasp them in solidarity.  We offer them in greeting.  

 The other evening my husband was working with some bread dough.  I was drawn to the rhythm of his hands.  Like a dance they moved together then apart, never hesitating.  I especially liked this shot above.  One hand steady and still as the other moved wildly alone.  Those hands creating bread for us to eat.  Those hands that have held mine for many years now.  Those hands that once cradled our babies.  Those hands have many stories, some of which i know and are a part of, and some that will forever remain a mystery to me.   I like those hands.  

Today, share a story of someone’s hands you know.

brand new day

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I am an admitted night owl.  Nights are my quiet time.  Uninterrupted time, when little ones are asleep and I can focus on things such as photography.  I thrive in the late hours.  Pushing way past any time I should stay awake,  trying to stuff so much into those few precious hours.  This makes my mornings less than easy.  I rarely greet the new day bright eyed.  Instead I shuffle out of bed, bleary eyed, and hope with all hope that I remembered to set the coffee maker the night before.  Greeted by two little early bird beauties who happen to be quite the opposite of their night owl momma.  I envy those “other people”,  you know, the morning people.  The ones who get more done in their morning before i even find the cream for my much needed cup of coffee.  Lately, due to certain circumstances, I have been up before sunrise every now and then.  I roll out of bed and into clothes I left heaped on the floor the night before, brush my teeth, and throw the nearest hat on my terrible case of morning bed head.  I grab my keys and chauffeur my teenage daughter to her early morning job.  Lucky for me it serves coffee, lots of coffee!  I could then drive home, hope that the little ones were not disturbed, and crawl back into my still warm bed with my husband.  Instead night owl me has felt an unfamiliar pull to watch the sunrise.  I take my morning self, my camera, and that cup of coffee and drive to the beach. To breathe in the silence that only a winter beach brings.  To commune with that lone seagull.  To watch the darkness give way to light and colors.  To welcome my beloved sun.  A brand new day, full of promise, possibility, and beauty.  Having these new moments of early morning solitude has really made me take pause and appreciate something I didn’t even know I was missing. 

“I’ve always liked the time before dawn because there’s no one around to remind me who I’m supposed to be, so it’s easier to remember who I am.” ~story people

Show us, how do you greet the day?  What beauty do you find in the early morning hours? When was the last time you watched the sunrise?  Perhaps today is that day.  


proof of life

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We see beauty all around us and honor it every day through our lens.  Why then do we find it difficult to turn that lens on our selves?  We are worthy of that same celebration.  We ARE beautiful.  This year I decided to challenge my self image and step out from behind my camera and take a few shots of me.  52 to be exact.  It has not been easy.  I feel awkward and strange, and down right uncomfortable.  I really find I struggle with full shots of myself, so instead i tend focus on pieces; my lashes, a single eye, a grin.  Every once in a while magic happens. I capture a piece of me that makes my spirit smile, fills me with a bit of confidence, and keeps me on this journey of self.  Each frame supplying me an opportunity for inspection and self acceptance, self love.  I have wrinkles, oh yes and gray hairs, proof I have lived 37 years on this earth.  Various lines from smiling, and laughing, and of course crying.  Dimples that grace my baby pictures, still evident today.  My father’s crow’s feet, now my own.  Scars from wounds long healed.  Freckles from beloved summers spent in the sun.  One lone chicken pock mark on my face from that year I turned 12 and got so sick with them on my birthday.  “Perfectly imperfect” I like to say.  Lived in.  Real.  True.  Just me, in all my flawed glory.  The body my mother once carried in her own; the face my children smile freely at each morning; the lips my husband kisses; that same face that looks back at me each morning in the mirror as I brush my teeth, bedhead and all. Perfectly imperfect.  

So today, turn your camera on yourself.  Show us proof of your life.  You are safe here, flaws and all.  Embrace the beauty that is you.  It is scary, I know how you feel.  Trust me.  You can do it.  Perhaps start small and pick a little piece of you.  Go ahead!  Who knows, you may just be surprised by what you see. Inspired even.     

Because guess what?  You ARE beautiful.

thankful

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Today, on this day of giving thanks here in the states,  I wish to further honor November’s one word,  gratitude, we have been so beautifully celebrating here at Shutter Sisters.  Gratitude can mean so many different things at different times.  There are the big things to be grateful for such as love, family, home, health, and peace.  Yet many times it is the little things that can mean so much.  The beauty found in the details of a day; the way a wisp of hair falls just so,  or the way a certain slant of light brings warmth and happiness to a room.  Welcoming a new day with your favorite cup of coffee, or the comfort only a favorite loved toy can bring to a child.   Simple, everyday blessings.  In the hustle of our busy lives it is easy lose sight of what is right in front of us.  Photography has given us a way to honor these little things and quiet moments that add up a beautiful whole.  The simple process of taking a photo not only allows us to see what is in front of us, but to feel it.  This quote by Karen Krakoer Kaplan says it so perfectly, “Gratitude is noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary. And then taking the nanosecond to feel it.”

So today, lets give thanks together.  Slow down for just for a moment, capture a little~big thing are you grateful for, and share it with us all here.  Give the gift of this moment to yourself and really feel it.  

*Don’t forget to continue to add your photos of gratitude to our One Word Project Flickr Pool.