Shutter Sisters

photographic memory

By

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,
the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”
~ The Wonder Years

We flock like birds at the coast on a windy day. He runs from us with his balloon. This is real life. Laughter catches on the wind as we bend to collect seaglass. These are memories I don’t want to forget. We are younger than we seem when we gather at the beach.

I recently visited family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Home is faraway and appears on my horizon much too seldom these days. I shoot about a zillion photos over a span of five days, all in hopes to preserve the memory. As if I can freeze time and the moment and the energy of family right now as it is. I fill memory cards because it is through photography that I find what is real.

Now that I am back home, I keep returning to this image: our four bodies clustering like spirits. With magnets in us, we are magically drawn to one another. What is revealed through candid photography is the space between us, the love that lingers there, the laughter of a child bridging the generation gap, the newness hidden within what was old.

How do you shoot your family? Share with us your moments and memories of group togetherness captured through photography.

point of origin

By

I am the youngest of three children, so we took turns holding the polaroid. Happiness was experiencing the magic that developed instantly.

Those memories planted themselves firmly in my subconscious. {How he smiled with his camera slung around his neck, a cigar hanging off his lip.} Looking at that polaroid camera will always make me his little girl again, eager to explore the magic of photography. {The story goes that when my brothers were young my dad walked into a pawn shop in San Diego and walked out with a polaroid camera.}

I spent most of my early adolescent years saving money to buy and develop film and annoy friends. {My brother calls it the curse of the photographer.} Later as I left for college I inherited his old Pentax. {You might know the one with the broken light meter.} My cameras always morphed into something new, something different over the years and many states I photographed. For me, somehow ‘things’ always turned into cameras. Follow the signs, my cameras always led me down this path marked  P A S S I O N.

And here I am.

So, hello. I’m fairly new here. My name is Meredith and {blush} I’m addicted to photography. It’s so nice to meet all of you. {Hey, I see familiar smiling faces! Come here often? Want a cup of tea? I think we are sisters cut from the same cloth.}

What’s your story? What do you see as the point of origin for your love of photography? Is there a moment, a person, or a camera of your childhood that stands out as the spark that lit your fire?

The Power of Glass and Mirrors

By

 

There is a belief shared by some cultures that photography has the power to steal a soul… imprisoning it within its amalgam of polyester, celluloid, salts and gelatin.

What do you believe?

For me, what used to be camera shy, still is. But I’m finding over the years it has evolved from the worry of soul stealing into the peace of soul searching. The more I put myself in front of my own lens, the more I see the layers peeling away to reveal something I had long forgotten. It’s me. The less I realize it’s being stolen, the more I realize I am giving it freely. There is beauty in that.

Are we really the projections we put out into the world? Sometimes I joke that people might not recognize me in real life if they only know me through images or words. There might be truth to that. Can photography catch those collective bits of me to make me whole? I only know that I hope to become the person I can {sometimes} catch on film.

Tell me, how do you see yourself? Is it hard for you to step in front of the camera? Be brave and show your self. In truthiness, in art, in mystique… whatever your comfort. The self you put out there might be the one you most want to be. Today you might be the peace before the storm or the rage after the rain. You might be humbled, blessed, joyous, tired, overwhelmed, or bored beyond belief. Discover something about yourself by peering into your own lens. There are alot of stunning self portrait photographs in the Shutter Sister’s collection. Have a peek… and know this:

We are powerful, those of us who wield a camera. We can pull emotion through glass and mirrors.

what’s your mantra?

By

I was in line at the grocery store, fresh flowers in hand, when I looked down to see this. A simple statement in type. I looked closer and smiled to myself. It had jumped off the display onto the groceries I was buying. I didn’t need it, but I brought it home anyway because it obviously needed to be seen by me.

The Universe and I have a deal. It shows me signs and I ask no questions.

Since that day at the checkout, this three word statement has become a mantra of mine. Life Is Weird. It’s a plain and simple truth for me these days, one I am embracing fully. I surround myself with words in my daily life. They lift me up and guide me. They reflect, teach, and heal me. And right now I am craving them, so share with us your thoughts, your words… what’s your mantra?