Shutter Sisters

Sunday School: When Life Gives You Raindrops, Make Bokeh

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It’s been a cold, wet October here in the Windy City.  Summer never quite settled in, and we hoped she’d be back before Autumn took over the lease, but I think it’s time we collectively stopped holding our breaths.  No worries, though, because safely nestled in a warm car on a rainy day, you can catch some amazing bokeh.

So the next time it rains in your neck of the woods. grab a good mix CD (or whatever you mp3 mavens do for the car), jump in the nearest available windshield fortified vehicle, drive to a location with an interesting mix of colors and shapes (your driveway may work just fine), turn off the wipers and wait for just the right amount of raindrops to congregate on your windshield.  Soak in the dreamy creamy blur and start catching some magic.  To get the raindrops to bokeh (e.g. blur), make sure that you are not focusing directly ON the raindrops but either PAST the windshield on something outside or somewhere in FRONT of the raindrops (your toes on the dashboard, perhaps).  On the flipside, focusing on the raindrops themselves can get some interesting creamy bokeh of the outside as well.  The possibilities are just endless!

Catching bokeh in a rain shower is probably easiest done at night on a busy street with lots of street lamps, but I’m sure it can also be done during the day.  You can play around with the size of the bokeh by changing the distance of your lens from the windshield.  Generally, the closer your lens to the windshield, the bigger the bokeh.  You can also experiment with the shape of your bokeh by changing the size of your aperture.  The wider the aperture, the rounder your bokeh will be.  Or if you’re one of the lucky people who own a Lensbaby and their Creative Apertures Kit, you don’t need to limit yourself to circles and hexagons.

For those of you who live in the desert, I apologize.  Maybe you can hook up the sprinkler or something.

If you get a chance to try this out, we’d love to see your results.  Or share with us your favorite image made possible by rain.

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P.S. If you’d like to try a carbon neutral option, a clear umbrella works great, too!

Postcard Worthy

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Have you ever gone on vacation, visited your standard tourist shop and found yourself dissatisfied with the array of postcards depicting images of the usual suspects?  Or maybe while on a trip to somewhere new and exciting, you captured a shot that perfectly encapsulates the one image you want to take away as a souvenir and wished you could put THAT on a postcard to send back home instead of the ones on sale 5 for a dollar.

I suppose if you were industrious enough, you could take the shot, get it printed at a local lab, and mail it out in Photojojo’s mailable photo frames, but I think most of us will probably settle for posting it on our blogs or Flickr streams.  Which is totally okay and saves you a stamp to boot.

So where have you all traveled recently?  Show us your postcard worthy images, and we’ll pretend we got it in the mail!  I know I’d personally buy a postcard of this lovely Dublin scene, or this New Jersey Carousel, and this awesome neon sign for Pensacol Beach.

bearing witness

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It is hard for me to articulate what this photo means to me.  I have a very special place in my heart for this father and daughter pair, our pastor Sherrie’s husband Tim and their profoundly disabled daughter Temma, who has been in her totally dependent condition all her twenty-plus years of life.

Bearing witness to Tim’s love for Temma–expressed through both his art and music–has changed me in ways that I don’t even know.  One thing that I DO know it has impacted is the way that I see through my viewfinder.  Tim’s artwork, which can be seen in galleries and art museums in various parts of the U.S., has been a tender teacher to me, showing me that capturing the essence of a moment or of a person is both a holy enterprise and labor of love indeed.

As photographers, I think one of the greatest honors that we have is to bear witness to all that is around us and to capture those images–those moments of joy and sorrow, love and fear, mercy and injustice, the extraordinary and mundane.  It was my privilege to not just click the shutter for the photo above but also to have been a witness to the deep abiding love that flowed like an almost tangible current from Tim to Temma in that moment.

To whom or what are you bearing witness these days?  Show us; we’d love to bear witness with you.

 

Comfort Zone

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Once in a great while, I find myself with some free time, in my car, with my camera, and no husband or child to direct my path.  It’s usually at night after I’ve met with friends.  If the stars align just right and the weather cooperates, I more likely than not will feel a magnetic pull to a certain beach about a mile east of our home.

I have a history with the beaches of Chicago’s Northside at night.  It’s where I’ve gone on so many other nights during a particularly tumultuous time in my life.  The sound of the waves gently lapping against the shore, again and again, creates a cadence so calming and comforting to me, a sound so primally familiar like the sounds of the womb.  Lake Michigan stretches as far as the eye can see, a black expanse holding up an equally black sky, the sequins of stars dimly visible in the urban haze.  The wind whips my hair to an fro, and I hug myself for warmth, legs dangling over the breakwater.  I breathe deeply and slowly and let the universe wash over me with all the love and tenderness and wisdom I’m able to hold in my empty hands. 

I often feel like I need to push myself out of my comfort zone, to do something Fresh!  Original!  Conceptual!  Challenging!  Scary!  It’s an important learning experience, for sure, to be able to step out into unknown territory.  Lately, however, I am realizing the gift of knowing where my comfort lies, and feeling free to return there to rest and wallow in the contentedness of familiarity, whether it’s simply listening to an old 80’s song or watching my daughter play.  This little beach at night is a symbol of that familiar place within me, and I return to it as often as I can.

Where are your comfort zones, literal and figurative?  Share with us today your images that evoke in you the feelings of comfortable familiarity.

sunday school: keep your eyes (and heart) wide open

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a little message from the universe to me, Greenwich Village, NYC

Sunday School posts are technically supposed to be, well, technical in nature, at least a little bit, but if there’s one thing I l’ve learned about meaningful photography, it’s that it doesn’t matter if you know everything there is to know about technique if you haven’t discovered YOUR unique way of seeing the world, your very own vision.  This is what I’ve been exploring lately.  I currently feel like I’m going through a crash course on who I am as a person, which helps to shed light on who I am as an artist and what I really want to do as a photographer. I am getting messages everywhere I look these days, it seems, the very messages and lessons I need to peel away the self-protective layers I’ve grown over the years that have kept my true self from the light.

So how do you discover your own personal vision as a photographer?  How do you develop a unique way of seeing the world that is reflected in your photography?  I’m sure the answer is different for everybody.  Here are just a few things that I’ve personally found helpful:

  • When I look at other people’s photography, I take note of what lights my fire.  The kinds of images that make my heart leap are usually the kind of photography I feel compelled to capture in my own life.  For some folks, it’s “in-the-moment” portraits or nature or little details that can easily go unnoticed.  Whatever it might be, recognizing it in other people’s photos may give you guidance on what to be on the lookout for.
  • The year before I got my first digital camera, I journaled in the form of letters to my good friend who was living in California at the time.  By getting in the habit of writing down the details of what I was seeing, I unintentionally prepared my eyes for observing the world through a viewfinder and for telling a story through the images I captured.  Except for blogging, I haven’t done much writing for a number of years now, and I’m just getting back into journaling with pen and paper.  I find that this habit instills in me in the practice of awareness, which helps to keep my eyes open for the images I want to capture.
  • I believe that part of receiving a clarity of vision is becoming comfortable in your own skin.  This, for me, has been the hardest part, for it requires keeping my heart wide open to embrace the truth of who I am while sweeping out the lies that cloud my vision of self and the world around me.  It means letting others see who you are and hearing what they have to say.  If you’re like me and have a hard time receiving kind words from others, if you give yourself permission to keep your ears and heart wide open, this may be what finally makes the scales fall from your eyes so that you can see yourself as you really and truly are.  Once you’ve seen that, it’s bound to be reflected in how you see the world, whether it’s through your eyes, your heart or your viewfinder.

How about you?  What are your tips for keeping your eyes and heart wide open to the world around you?  And please feel free to share with us what you’ve seen.

Into the Unknown

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When I first saw this photo of Jen Lee and her Diana camera, it was love at first sight.  A couple months later, I got my own for my birthday.  I quickly shot two rolls on 120 film, but had a hard time finding a place that would develop and scan slide film who was also open during hours when I wasn’t tied to my desk at work.  The two rolls sat in a drawer, and the camera became just another pretty decoration.

Lucky for me, I met THE Jen Lee in the Shutter Suite last weekend at BlogHer, and when I told her how I had a Diana too and that I’ve been neglecting my already exposed film, she told me that I just HAD to get it developed.  And for some reason, hearing that from Jen gave me the impetus I needed to do just that.  Or maybe it was being transported in time perusing her Flickr stream and her beautiful new book.  Whatever it was, I’m excited about the possibilities now that I’ve actually seen what you can get from a little toy camera.

I still don’t know quite what I’m doing, but that’s half the thrill, knowing that I’m stepping into the unknown, that when I click the shutter, there is no instant gratification lighting up on a LCD screen.  No, I have to wait and hope for and imagine what images will appear after the whole roll has been shot and developed.  Seeing those photos for the first time, though, is like opening up an old scrapbook and being transported back to when the memories were created.

If you are a film enthusiast, please share with us an image that you were surprised or delighted by that was totally worth the wait.

Memento

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She was sitting with her family on a blanket towards the edge of the great lawn next to The Bean. The first thing I noticed about her was the pretty floral kerchief pulling her dark brown hair back from her face. The next thing I noticed was that she was nursing her child who was probably at least 2-and-a-half. I smiled at her when our eyes met, and the corners of her mouth turned upward just slightly, as if she were not sure that my smile was actually intended for her. I wanted to tell her that I had nursed mine until she was way past toddlerhood, and how much that relationship meant to both me and my daughter, but shyness prevented me from offering more than my smile and bashful looks of admiration. I quietly applauded her casual openness in nursing amongst thousands of people without any sign of self-consciousness or awkwardness or preemptive defiance aimed at anyone around her who might be judging her. If you had never seen a woman nursing an older toddler, and you saw her as I did that evening, you would think it was the most natural thing in the world, and a comfort to witness as well.

Later, when she stood up to play with her two small children, I saw that she was wearing a long flowy snow-white skirt that looked like a graceful billowy cloud floating above the grass. Again I admired her, for that is probably the last thing I would have worn were I the mother of two small children on a picnic, for I know too well my tendency to leave traces of my meal on whatever I happen to be wearing, not to mention Cadence’s habit of using me as a napkin. Then I noticed her adorable dark blue denim sneakers peeking out from underneath her skirt, and I knew I just had to get a photo.

I’m about as nostaligic as they come, and this one photo is my memento of those warm feelings I had for a total stranger whom I observed and admired during the course of a free family concert on a lovely summer evening. It is also my unspoken blessing over her and her family for the simple joy and comfort I received in just being near their quiet contentment. This small token of a photo is the key to memories that I’ve already placed carefully and lovingly in the altar space of my heart.

Won’t you share with us an image that conjures up a meaningful memory or that has a special story behind it?  I know I’m not the only nostalgic one around here…

sunday school: flashdance

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shutter speed: 1/5 sec; ISO: 400; aperture: f/5.0 

After years of turning up my nose in the general direction of my flash–built-in and speedlight alike–I’ve come to a strange realization: I. Love. My. Flash.  There, I’ve said it.  Why the change of heart, you ask?  I’ve got four little words for you: slow sync flash mode.  Google it, y’all, and prepare to be amazed at the images you’ll find.

So what exactly is slow sync flash?  It’s basically dragging the shutter (which Tracey enlightened us about a while back) WITH flash.  In other words, it’s using your flash with a slow shutter speed.  I’m sure most of your cameras have a setting for your flash that’s either called SLOW (a.k.a. front curtain flash sync) or REAR (a.k.a. rear curtain flash sync).  Both are types of slow sync, the difference being when the flash fires (beginning of exposure for simple slow and at the end of the exposure for rear).  Most cameras will automatically set the shutter speed at 1/60 or faster when you turn your flash on, and that enables you to freeze a specific image blur-free. Setting the flash to one of the slow sync modes, however, changes the shutter speed to something that’s usually slower than 1/30th of a second.  Using a slower shutter speed in ADDITION to flash enables you to freeze the image at the point the flash fired with the added bonus of what I call the ghost trail, or the blur of action that occurs during the entire exposure either before or after the flash fired.

The cool thing about slow sync mode is that it looks cool with just your built in camera flash if you don’t use a speedlight.  It’s great for parties where there’s a lot of action such as dancing, especially when there are funky lights that make swirly patterns depending on how you move the camera during the slow shutter exposure.  So the next time you find yourself and your camera at a dimly lit party wishing they would crank the lights so you can get some decent shots, set your flash to slow sync or rear curtain, set your ISO at 200 or below, your aperture at f/4ish or narrower, your shutter at 1/15th of a second or slower, and click away!  Try experimenting with different shutter speeds or by giving the camera a little shake or twist or what have you during the exposure.  Remember to avoid overexposure by adjusting your ISO down or making your aperture narrower if you slow down your shutter speed.

If you happen to try this, please share with us your results.  Or if you’ve done other funky things with flash or other lights, we want to see those images too!  For more inspiration, take a look at these cool slow sync shots!

Browsing the Archives

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It’s no big secret that I’m a real pack rat.  In fact, I currently have 20+ boxes cluttering my living room just waiting for me to sort through them.  When it comes to photos, I’m pretty much the same way; I delete far too few, and I’m always scrounging around for enough space on my hard drive(s) to store everything.  Every now and then, however, I do like to browse through my archives, and sometimes I’ll stumble upon a photo that I had totally forgotten about.  When that happens, it’s like finding a misplaced treasure.

Since today is Father’s Day, this photo above taken on our family vacation last year was the perfect find.

Today, try looking for your own hidden treasures buried in your archives, and don’t forget to share your findings with us.  And if you have a special photo of a dad you’d like to honor today, please share those with us as well!

Getting It “Just Right”

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I just finished reading Everyone Is Beautiful by the lovely Katherine Center a few days ago.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and could relate to the main character on so many levels, but one pleasant surprise I got from the book was a peek inside the process of old-school film photography.  I’d say this coincided quite nicely with my recent foray into the world of plastic toy cameras.

And that got me thinking about the courage it takes to click the shutter on a film camera, lacking the instant feedback of an LCD screen.  I realized that with digital, I can look at a photo I’d just taken, and if it’s approximately what I was going for, I just tell myself I’ll “fix it” at home in Lightroom–crop it, change the angle, etc.

When I took the photo above, I decided to try to get it “just right” then and there.  Now, “just right” happens to be a pretty subjective matter when it comes to photography, and that’s something we each have to decide for ourselves.  For this specific photo, I knew exactly how I wanted it framed and at what angle, and instead of taking one or two shots that were merely useable, I took the time to concentrate on what I wanted in that photo, and after several tries, I got the exact composition I was looking for. 

I believe there is a time to Just Shoot It, and I also love to Shoot From the Hip.  Now, however, especially since I’m going to be working with film some of the time, I would like to work on more mindful shutter clicking.  This will probably be difficult for a shutter-happy individual like myself.

How about you?  Do you have an image to share that you took special care to get “just right,” meaning the way YOU wanted it to be?