Shutter Sisters

where do you stand?

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In the 1940’s my father used to get his shoes at the Converse rubber factory in the town where he grew up. I think of this tidbit every now and then when I slide off my kicks at the end of the day.

Our shoes tell us where we’ve been. Where we’re going and {quite literally} where we stand at the moment. Everything tells a story {shoes included}. Maybe this is why I find myself photographing them so often.

Aside from being cute or practical, shoes share a story of environment and surroundings. Relaxed, dressed up, muddy… hey, even the whimsical photos with the cotton candy clouds and gigantic turquoise cowboy boot tells a story. {Texas is big baby. Big sky. Big boots.}

Can you feel the mood with the late evening sun shining in through the window at the end of a long day? So, where do you stand? What do your shoes speak of you? Try a different angle today, get down on the ground or shoot from above. Look and see if you can find a story of where you’ve been or where you hope to be going. I’d love to see where you stand!

for the love of prints

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I hold the photo up to the webcam and there’s silence as my entire family gathers in the kitchen 1500 miles away from where I now sit. At first there’s silence and then everyone bursts into chatter all at the same time as their eyes adjust to the image on the screen. “Where did you find that?” …  “Look at how young she is!” … “That looks like you!” …

We, as photographers, are keepers of treasures.

I have an obsession. And I know I am in good company here. We all take tons of photos. (The above is a recent stack of 200+ prints from a three day weekend spent in NYC) I am an everyday shooter, as are many of you. This means alot of hard drive, alot of archives, alot of backup, and hopefully alot of prints. 

My love in real life is in the texture of a photograph in my hands, something I can actually hold. 

As photographers, we are the family documentarians. How has the digital age changed the role of the photographer? I take this job seriously. My brothers used to joke me about it, but now everytime I show up with an image, a memory, a 2×2 inch square of photobooth paper; they realize my deep photo love and they appreciate it even more because I am bringing the past to light for them to enjoy as well. An image in hand can touch your heart more deeply than an image on a computer screen. Printed photographs are gifts.

We’ve talked storage before. But what I want to know is: do you print your photos like in the days before digital? Do you have a shoebox, an album, a wall of photos? What I want to provide for my son is what I find in my own parents home now as a grown woman. Yes, albums of our lives documented. Yes, milestones and favorites framed on the wall. But the biggest gift to me is the side table. The drawer in the upstairs office that is crammed with photos all randomly tossed in there. Photos mailed from lives in other states, photos carried to nursing homes and back from funerals, photos of lives spent in day to day beauty. It’s a treasure chest to me. I grab handfuls of photographs everytime I go visit, I sit down with a lap full of faces and memories and outtakes. And each time I do, I find something new. All equally important. All coming into my life at the most important juncture. When pictures speak more than a thousand words, these scraps of kodak paper float down on me like dreams.

Many of us have a memory lane. Do you? Some of us come to see our parents and generations before them with an entire set of new eyes. Show me today, great basement finds, a favorite oldie, or even the photograph you took just last month that you keep telling yourself you’ll print up someday. And think about making that someday today, your future self will thank you. 

the space we call home

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Now that summer is winding down, I find myself more and more at home. Am I the only one feeling an inward shift? Maybe it’s because I moved that I’m feeling more of this season change. My home is new to me. Maybe it’s because school has begun again that I find myself cozying it up, using the oven that sat so lonely all summer, playing board games, reading books, and making my familiar indentions on our beloved couch. I find myself looking around my house, finding new nooks i love to photograph, and seeking out the cozy corner of other homes as well.

Today, share with us a corner of your home. The space where you play, where you chat or work. It might be a favorite window, table, place to gather, or simply a place to relax. Today, show us the space you feel most at home.

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One Word Project update: We will still be honoring your faces for the next few days over in our flickr pool with the inspirational ladies from I Heart Faces and will be announcing a new word for Sept later this week! Stay tuned.

how i spent my summer vacation

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It’s the standard title to the classic back-to-school assignment.  An essay scrawled in No. 2 pencil. Maybe I’m feeling nostalgic for the comfort of classrooms because my son is starting kindergarten in less than a week. Maybe, even now as a grown woman, I still have a hard time fitting all of the summer experience onto the front and back of a single loose leaf page.

Over the past 17 days my head has been in the clouds.  Literally.  I have never been so adrift in space and grounded in reality at coinciding times.  Airplanes, subways, cabs, and trains touching me down in the time warp space where reality meets the virtual world. I could not have imagined a more beautiful place to be.  Face to face, embraced in strength, standing in a circle of empowering women, soaking up inspiration, bending at the waist in howls of life altering laughter, hand in hand with truth, eye to eye with what the future holds.

Awash in beauty.

I spent this summer traveling. I spent this summer being real. I spent this summer walking, putting miles on my shoes. I spent this summer taking in everything around me.  I spent this summer learning to be in the moment.

How did you spend your summer? As this month is coming to a close, look through your photo archives and discover what stands out as the most memorable experience. Then share with us your back-to-school essay in photo form!

the great balancing act

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Balance: we all seek it. Yes, in our daily lives. Yes, in our photography. But what does it mean? That answer is probably as individual as we all are. Right now, I’m in a place with my arms outstretched, equally opposed, each hand full of light and dark. Maintaining balance is essential. So, how can looking at the world through our viewfinder teach us more about light and life and how to balance it all into a beautiful photographic package?

We’ve talked composition before. We’ve talked white space. We’ve talked light.

But what of balance? Balance is the feeling your photograph evokes.  Balance is what makes images look and feel harmonious. (And no, not always symmetrical. And yes, you can break the rules.) Balance, composition, space, and light: each one of these elements of photography has a certain amount of value in direct relation to all the other elements. Just like us, they are all connected. Without them the image loses its emotion, the subject falls off the page, the viewer loses interest of the subject, or the moment has passed.

All of this swirled around in my brain as I looked at this blade of grass and wondered, “How do I photograph a single blade of grass?”

More than anything, photography lends me a way to view the world. To seek light, to watch it bounce and flare and reflect. To appreciate the quiet of space and peace. To love the hold-your-breath-wait-for-it *click!* of the sought after image. What I find each and every day is that photography teaches me big life lessons in simple and small ways. I’m thankful for the learning, and I try my best to remember to carry these lessons with me when I am without my camera. This is the zen of photography. 

Today, show me how you find your balance (and not necessarily in the photographic sense, although a well balanced image is always welcome). Can you catch light? Do you get small?  Share with me a favorite moment of yours.

oasis

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I could be sleeping. But instead I am sitting cross-legged on the grass listening to the early morning crickets. The sun is just rising over our city, I came here this morning for peace. The type of peace you find at an oasis, at the edge of the water. I came here this morning to swim in the sunrise.

When I was a kid, summer meant swimming purely for the love of it… the freedom of loose limbs in water. Now, where I live in Texas, summer means swimming as a means to escape the brutal heat. It is one of the only ways to be outside during our dog days of summer.  Even though I am now a grownup, buoyancy brings me back to childhood. Floating on my back with my head in the clouds will always make me feel younger than I am.

On this morning I woke specifically to find myself kneeling in a field just as the rays of light spilled forth. And then I walked across the street to the golden child of our city, the oasis of swimmers and divers and fish and turtles.

I am most myself when I am in water. I realize this every single summer. Tell me, do you have an oasis? Whether it be the ocean, lakes, rivers, or pools … where do you swim during the heat of your summer months? And if it is winter where you live, what summer memories do you treasure?

gearhead

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I am the first one to admit that I am not a gear head. Yes, I thoroughly enjoy drooling over eye candy and the idea of new coveted lenses as much as anyone else. But can I make a small confession? Gear overwhelms me. So does looking up the steep mountain of a learning curve with a new camera body and a manual nearly an inch thick.

Many of you know I recently experienced the shutter death of my beloved Nikon. I took some time figuring out my next step (and with the generosity of a dear friend lending me her dslr until I was able to do so, until I could make that leap into a new investment.) Last week I unpacked all the gear that came with my new camera. It swirled around me. I caught my breath. It was beautiful. And yes, overwhelming.

I have to move through it slowly like wading in the shallows of the sea. Baby steps. Baby steps.

It’s like someone handing you something (or someone) they know you will love. “Here, you guys will love each other! You’re a perfect fit! Go … connect!” A match made in heaven, yet I am shy and curious. So we begin by fumbling our way into this new relationship, knowing it’s true to heart, but still a little fearful of that commitment, that first step. That first image.

Now, maybe if I had an art degree, or a certifiable photography background to build my confidence, it wouldn’t overwhelm. Maybe. But I have neither of those things (and on bad days, that self talk shouts at me, my lack of supposed qualifications.) The truth is: I’m just me. I’m self taught. I’m just following my heart in most every (and any) direction it leads me. And that’s ok.

I take a deep breathe. It’s only glass and mirrors. Plastic and wires (so many wires!) and many tiny parts to accessorize with, to add to my growing collection of gear. And yes, eye candy. And yes, photo love.

Why this confession today? I want to know how you feel about gear. Do your insecurities creep into the excitement and the newness of it? Show me what you’ve got. Show me a shot of you with your gear.

so, how’s the weather?

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Inevitably the conversation turns to weather.

Texas summers are the equivalent to New England winters. In that way, you know, where it’s on everyone’s mind and somedays you fear you’ll never get through it. Summer in Texas feels like a cruel joke compared to the childhood of my youth. Weather has a power over me…  it’s the heat that does it. Sometimes I barely get along with it. (forgive me this)

And so I lose myself in the loveliness of the summertime goodies I find here. Truth be told, I find myself living vicariously through your images! (while sipping ice cold water of course, in the mandatory air conditioning as the temperatures outside my window climb towards 100 degrees)

Riddle me this: with the flurry of activity and sunshine and long family days, do you find yourself shooting more or less in the summertime? And do tell: how’s the weather where you live? Today, share with me an image I can feel.

taking flight

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We’ve all stood at the cusp of possibility, have we not? It’s windy there and oh so beautiful {in that butterflies~in~your~stomach sort of way.} With our toes to the edge of anything is possible we stand for a moment, take a deep breath before spreading our wings as we leap into a dream.

You know what? Dreams become reality.

This is taking flight. I now understand that there is endless strength in this. Because this journey of flight results in the overcoming of fears and embracing strength of Self.

And you know what else?
The view is breathtaking: it’s life being lived to its fullest.

 

I am honored to introduce my Taking Flight necklace for Bel Kai Designs: The Shutter Sister Capture Collection, now available for purchase. While looking for images, I came to recognize what felt most right. And in looking back over the past two years, I knew I wanted this necklace to join me on my crooked path leading me forward. It’s the only path I know {the cyclical dream~jump~fly way i have about me.} This is my journey teaching me that anything is possible. And this necklace couldn’t be a better representation of all that I love. Simplicity, beauty, and endless possibility.

I am very proud of this collaboration. And now you can take flight with me with a necklace of your very own! Today, share an image that shows us all that anything is possible. To help celebrate, Bel Kai and I will be giving away 1 Taking Flight necklace.  All you need to do is leave your comment here by 12 midnight PST to be entered in a random drawing for a necklace of your very own!

 Enjoy the view as you take flight!

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thank you for all the comments and love! your words have warmed my heart! and congratulations to Beth, the lucky winner of the Taking Flight necklace! yay!

 

words words everywhere

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It’s true, a picture is worth a thousand of them. But what about words that stand alone? Words that jump out at us from brick walls, sidewalks, or the back of buildings? What about words we find, words of our choosing, words that sit heavy with importance?

Words are a life line to me. I picture them with personality and quirks of their own, much like the people that live and breathe around me. Words stand with arms crossed and narrowed eyes, they tiptoe, they tilt their head back to the sky, they whisper, they shout. They are the abc’s of letterhood, all standing single file arranging themselves into words, holding hands to form sentences, waiting to enter your line of vision at just the right moment.

Words can be anchors to keep us down or they can be rescue ropes to pull us out. On good days I find reassurance. And on bad days I find reassurance too. If the universe could speak what would it say? Perhaps that life is beautiful, or you are beautiful, or the three little words we most need to hear. 

If you haven’t found any words with your camera lately, maybe try seeking them out today. Look in all the familiar places, you might be surprised by what you find. If you have no camera, share with me your most favorite word. And I will compile a list of yours and add it to my own.

In exchange (and in honor of Giveaway May) I will share with you a string of my own words. Just leave a comment here by Thursday at midnight, with your favorite word or photo of a word. One lucky winner will receive a copy of my self published book Life Is Weird.

Words words everywhere, give me yours and I’ll give you mine. And today, we’ll help the world spin round and round.

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Random number generated: 22

yay for even-repeating-numbers! congratulations to cinco_mom who was our 22nd commenter and wins the Life Is Weird book giveaway!