Shutter Sisters

solstice

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“Summer Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, when the sun is at its peak and the days abound with the promise of life’s fullness. It is a serenely powerful time in which the beauty of the natural world can infuse our spirit, bring us alive to the present, and perhaps awaken a deeper sense of relatedness to the community of life, to the Earth, and to the cosmos.” – Paul Winter

Show us how you plan to spend your time today. This: sun standing still day. This: longest night of the year. Sunrise, sunflare, sunset, or starshine… lay it on me! Leave your images in the comments below, but most of all… enjoy this most beautiful solstice!

feel it all

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“I was waiting for such a long time, she said. I thought you forgot.
It’s hard to forget, I said, when there is such an empty space when you are gone.”
~ storypeople

When you feel something big (love, joy, light, anger, anxiety) grab your camera. This is the agreement I have made with my muse. She provides color and light and sounds of summer thunder from behind closed doors. I provide the camera and the willingness to step into the moment.

I have been smiling so much lately that my cheeks hurt. Suddenly I’m one of those smiley people you see smiling while driving for apparently no reason at all. I used to question those people. I’d wonder “What’s making them so happy? Will I ever be that happy?”

This lightness in me was asking to be documented. I want to remember this time of feeling it all. It is simply a time of newness, and I am embracing it for as long as it stays or as fleeting as it floats away. I am here right now. Being happy.

How are you feeling? How is life treating you? Today show us a portrait that reveals a sense of feeling. Let your image tell the story of your heart.

word.

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Are you like me, do you ever stumble upon something so randomly at just the right moment when you need to see it most? A literal “writing on the wall” moment that stops you in your tracks? Word.

Today, share with us the graffiti, the truth, the words or the street art you find that makes everything seem right in the world.

creative play

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As we cultivate our life, our beauty becomes as much about what we are creating and doing as it is about our appearance.

I like to play with photography. Just for the fun of it. Nikon dslr, film, or new-to-me iPhone; I embrace the challenge of a learning curve. When I’m bored, when I’m anxious, happy, feeling creative, or just need an outlet to express an emotion, I can always count on a camera to aid in the creative process. I am a sometimes writer, a used to be seamstress, and an everyday photographer.

This image was my first shot as I was adjusting my settings in the bathroom mirror, and it’s the one I like the most because this is my real face…  when I forget to smile. “Why do you always look like that?” he’d ask me. “That’s just how my face looks when I’m thinking.”

Today show us your creative process. Is it paper or paint? Do you play with images, words, or music? Do you create in the kitchen or with needle and thread? We all have many outlets available to us, some of them we’re drawn to more than others. I’m finding the more I play with my creations, the happier I become with what can often feel like the tedium of everydayness.

Inspire us today with your creative process!

 

celebrating mother earth

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  
– Margaret Mead

Happy Earth Day!

Every day with our cameras, we turn our eyes to our surroundings. We feel gratitude for our environment, put barefeet on grass and show our respect to mother nature. Let this day be no different. Let your focus fall on Mother Earth today with a quiet reverence that many of us around the globe will be doing the same.

Shutter Sisters has partnered up with B Kind 2 Earth Day, and something very powerful is happening because of it. We, as creative sisters with cameras as our tools, have superpowers! The power to shed light. For what we focus on, the world sees. And when the world sees, the world changes. 

“Because of you, thousands of people are already seeing Earth Day in a new light — as a day to celebrate and recognize our planet in a kind act  – big or small. It’s a simple but revolutionary idea and through your enthusiasm and creative talents, you all are putting the earth mother back into Earth Day. You constantly inspire and awe us.”

Let’s be especially mindful of our focus today. How do you celebrate Earth Day? Please share your comments, stories, insights, and images with us today.

the importance of color

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Everyone’s got a favorite. You know, it’s the color you find yourself photographing again and again. It’s the color that makes your heart race, it’s the splash of energy that spins a creative moment…

My favorite color is turquoise. The more I photograph it, the happier I am. 

Share with us today your favorite color. And to further celebrate color, pop over to the 64 colors project (round two) group and join in the fun. This week has begun a completely new project with the color pink! There is something completely inspiring to me about working your way through a box of crayons, one color at a time. I’m excited to seek new color each week. Won’t you join me?

 

color week

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Sometimes Spring needs a little nudge from us. We whisper “melt melt!” to snow, we encourage the sun to warm up the daffodil bulbs. We crawl out from our own caves rubbing our eyes trying to see the world anew and fresh.

Shake things up this Spring. Give it a jump start!

For fun this week join in Poppytalk’s Spring Colours Week 2011! It kicked off yesterday with a green green Monday. Look to the flickr group for inspiration. Check out the Poppytalk blog for lovelies. But most of all have fun and be inspired!

Monday, green. Tuesday, yellow. Wednesday, pink. Thursday, lavender. Friday, white.

Leave your yellow photos in the comments below so we can all encourage Spring to be a bit kinder.

a shadow of self

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We talk a lot about self here. Well, I know I do. I suppose I need to. And it’s hard to explain, but part of me needs to visually define my outer boundaries of who I am as a person, woman, mother, sister, daughter, lover. There is no easier (nor harder) way to do this than through the study of self. Dare I say self portraiture helps me understand myself. It definitely helps me to be kind to myself, and remember who I am on the days when it’s easy to forget.

It feels like a craving that won’t go away. Now, after three+ years of self portraits my portfolio has grown. I recently uploaded a collection of twenty of my finest self portraits over at Artists Wanted. It is the ultimate study of self. It is the space between here and there. Then and now. You and me. Us and them. 

This project of self I can only define as me seeking grace in the conflict. Seeking beauty in the decay. These photos are where I have been and where I am going. A circular timeline put on repeat. This is the peace within. The flurry and chaos, the fluttering of heartbeats like a hundred bird wings. These photographs are the solitude and stillness of wind. The reminder that life is blooming, that growth moves us forward with joy and anticipation. This project is my practice in remembering it is ok to sit with the silence. And that through it all, life is still beautiful.

It took me a long time to turn the camera on myself. I began most clumsily with shadows because they lacked details. they were playful and light even on days when i felt neither of those things. Want to learn something amazing? Take a photo of yourself and discover what you see. Today, begin with a shadow. Let the darkness of shadow reveal a bit of your own story. And be sure to share in the comments below!

a twist on reality

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Usually the reflection is more intriguing than the reality. Three figures gather under streetlights. I watch them walk upside down painting themselves onto my watery canvas. I wait for the wind to settle into a calm ripple and one figure walks off alone leaving two together. A story grows in my head, much more interesting than the real life conversation they’re having. This is my twist on reality.

I invert the image to make it how i envisioned it to be. Grasses fringe the sky and reflections turn to paint. A boring evening by the pond turns fantastical with imagination.

Today it’s a study of abstraction. Show me how you abstract, reflect, invert, and refract light. Wake me from this dream with your own twist on reality.

get ready, get set… go!

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“This is how you make the ball catch on fire!” He’s matter of fact (and breathless in laughter) while swinging his arm madly around in circles. We are both so full of life and joy in this moment of a mother and son game of catch. I swing my camera around and shoot a series of photos from the hip as he demonstrates his technique.

Hours later, when I saw that I had caught the ball with these shots, I was all smiles again.

I take some photos with the clear intention of using them together in series. I often do this by creating diptypchs or triptychs, then with a bit of imagination in post processing I sew them seamlessly together. The result is typically a really fun moment that was best captured in series.

There are many ways to tell a story with photography. By sewing your own photos together, you can create a scene, a display, a mood, or a breathtaking optical illusion.

Today think in series. Play with your own photos and see what comes together to tell a story. Check out the shutter sisters pool (and some other fun groups) for inspiration. And don’t forget to leave your creations in the comments below.

Get ready, get set, go have fun!