Shutter Sisters

playful pause

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Project 365 Day 278, Peeling Crayons

September’s One Word Project brought so much joy to my weary heart throughout the month. Like so many women I know, I have piled so much on my plate lately I am overwhelmed. So much of it’s good good stuff and yet, it still means work. And navigation. Concentration and so much emotional and even physical energy. I’m too busy. Too tired. Overextended.

When I get like this, it’s images like this one from E Whitaker Photo that remind me of what’s important. Slow down, it gently urges me. Remember how fast time passes and how you can miss it if you don’t take some time to observe and appreciate it.

My girls are much older than the two children above and perhaps that is why it breaks my heart. And yet, I am delighted in the same breath as I am reminded of life’s playful simplicities. So grateful that I took time out tonight, after bedtime, to let my oldest daughter soak in a warm tub to ease her body and mind after a long day of middle school. I sat there on the bathroom floor with her and just listened and we laughed together and just were. Like these two. Slow, simple, easy.

It’s the levity of the simple moments we all need. The easy play time. The lightheartedness of being in our own world and also of being with others. I will miss the word play. It’s been exactly what I’ve needed. On this last day, please share a playful moment. Anything goes. Make me laugh. Make me cry. Take me away.

Tomorrow we wll announce the new word for October. Don’t miss it. It will be equally as wonderful I’m sure of it.

fridays featured resource – rollip.com

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Disclaimer: If you don’t condone Polaroid simulation, we respect and understand your opinion. This is not a post that will resonate with most Polaroid purists.

I myself don’t have a Polaroid camera. I wish I did, but I don’t. Regardless, I am smitten by the dreamy quality that is unmistakably Polaroid.

Enter Rollip.com. A simple site that offers a two-step process (that takes barely two-minutes) to transform any image you upload into a simulated Polaroid. I was delighted by the results and will certainly visit Rollip again and again. I can feel it in my photo bones.

I hope today you can find a few minutes to play a little over at Rollip. If you are as happy with the results as I was, add your image to Flickr or your blog and leave a link in the comments. Let’s see what kind of shot you would have taken with a Polaroid camera if you had one handy.

setting the tone

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A while back the Flickr blog featured a Flickr group called Colour Chart. It was a project specific group that was for images where most of the shot captured one particular shade of color. They got almost 2500 awesome and interesting monochromatic submissions. So many of the images challenged the minds eye. Without color differentiation somehow you can be left disoriented. It’s fascinating to me.

I took on the challenge by attempting to shoot with this in mind. But it was no use. I couldn’t seem to get it quite right. I dug through my archives and found a few gems of solid color but overall I realized that the more I tried to capture a colour chart shot, the more elusive they became.

And then the other day while searching for a different photo from this summer, I found this one featured above. Alas, without even trying…success!

I encourage you to seek out color today. The challenge is to find only one at a time.

captured

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Childhood is fleeting. There’s no way around it.

As mothers, in our melancholy moments we know this all too well. And yet on many days we find ourselves inadvertently wishing it away, eagerly looking forward to things to come. I can’t wait until she can sit up. It’ll be nice when he’s out of diapers. I’ll finally have time when my kids are in school.

Or what about when looking to the future feels more ominous than that. I think the terrible twos are setting in. I am petrified of what the teen-age years might bring.

With an 11-year-old in seventh grade, I’m quickly approaching the reality of what has scared me most about parenting. THIS age. The changes are coming so fast my head is spinning. Body, mind, attitude. Changing, changing, changing. Don’t get me wrong. It’s wondrous watching my daughter bloom. But, putting it mildly, it’s not without it’s challenges.

The other night, while sifting through the archives, I came upon this shot of her from a number of months ago. I was stopped in my tracks. THIS IS my daughter. I know in years to come, as she becomes more and more grown up,  I will cherish this shot even more than I do now. It’s a moment in my daughters life that is captured forever. It’s images like these that keep us shooting, I’m sure of it.

Share with us a quintessential shot of someone you love. Let’s see THE perfect capture.

the long and winding road

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The journey of life is one we all travel. The road can sometimes be an uphill climb and other times it can be a smooth coast. But often we’re moving along the tracks fast and furious, much like a roller coaster.

We look out past the horizon and seek hope. Good things to come. Promise. But what happens at a fork in the road? You can’t help but question which way to go.

As I’ve been walking my path lately, I’m discovering hills and valleys, twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. And one after the next, there seems to be an outcropping of crossroads. Crossroads with no signs that tell which way to go.

I know myself pretty well. I know that I’ll just keep walking, running, skipping, crawling along my path (depending on the day). I know that even though I’m feeling unsure and unsteady at times that to keep on going is the only thing to do. Holding my gaze steady and making my steps deliberate will get me to a clearing where I can meander and enjoy myself a little more. Where the smells of sweet meadow grasses fill the air and the warm sun will light my way.

Do you have any path or road images in your arsenal?  Any moment in time that a scene in front of your beckoned you to come forward; to walk, to dream, to imagine, to trust?

Lead us today.

the big picture

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Through my lens, I’ve always been drawn to the details. And since my favorite (macro) lens rarely leaves my camera, it’s easy to see the things one might often miss.

And then, this summer, I got my hands on the Lensbaby Super-Wide Conversion Lens. My eyes have officially been opened to the wondrous world of landscapes. There’s something about capturing the vast horizon at the edge of the world or the endless sky of sweeping cloudsthat makes you feel really tiny. A single grain of sand in the desert. One small yet sparkling star in the galaxy. It’s humbling, liberating and inspiring.

Show us your favorite landscape shot today. The kind of shot that takes your breath away again and again. A shot that gives the kind of perspective we all need; a reminder of how big and beautiful the world is.

up up and away

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In celebration of my birthday my husband took me and our girls out to a local park for an evening of live music and casual dining under the stars. Knowing our destination was called The Great Park I figured it would be…great although I really had no idea what to expect. But as we drove down a long deserted road I had never traveled before I began to feel like a child again; giddy with the anticipation of a new adventure.

We slowly came around the corner toward the transformed Marine Corps Air Station and there it was: the big orange balloon. The whole family squealed in delight. I shot the image above from the passenger window on our way into the park. Needless to say, the evening was enchanting. And best of all, it was practically in our own backyard. Who knew?

Have you ever felt like a child again with something so simple? A time or a place that took you from your everyday life and lifted you like a balloon in frivolous flight? Remember that feeling, revel in it and share it with us today.

Back to school

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Yep, it’s that time of year again. I realize us West Coasters are late birds when it comes to starting a new school year (my girls don’t start until Sept 9th for goodness sakes) but I came accross a timely little blurb I wrote years ago about this time of year.

Being that we’re all photo enthusiasts here I wanted to share with you perhaps my most favorite ways to use a family photo in an unique and meaningful way. Pick up your pencils moms, it’s time to take notes.

Going to daycare or preschool for a young child is a big step into the world of the unknown. It can be difficult for both parent and child in the early stages of this kind of separation. In my case, my daughter is still weepy when I drop her off at school and it’s been almost 2 months. Who knew? On particularly tough days she seeks solace from the “comfort necklace” I made for her. It’s a simple heart shaped piece of laminated cardstock that I decorated with a photo of our family on one side a little love note on the other. It’s designed for her to hang around her neck (I used a lanyard with a clip on the end to hang it from) when she wants to keep us close.

When my oldest daughter began her preschool career I made one for her as well. She wore it everyday for almost the entire year. She even wore it when she went to babysitters or sleepovers with her grandparents. I loved that she could carry a piece of her father and I as she forged her own independence (albeit sometimes reluctant forging). When she would get nervous, she’d reach for it, hold it, and gaze at it as a reminder that she was not alone and we were always with her in her heart.

I hadn’t originally planned on making one for my youngest daughter. She acted as if she wouldn’t miss us one bit when she started school. But a week before her first day of school I began to feel the aching of our impending separation and decided to make one for her anyway; despite her super-confident attitude. As I tenderly cut out the paper heart and meticulously chose the photo and message for her necklace I realized that I was really making it for me more than for her. It felt good for me to give her something familiar, something that said, “You are loved” and that she would be reminded of that every time she looked at it.

It is true that my youngest hasn’t attached herself to her necklace quite as desperately as her sister did, but she still knows it’s tucked in her backpack, even when she doesn’t choose to wear it. It’s something very special and important to her. And on occasion when I pick her up from school and she’s got it draped around her neck, I know that a little piece of me was there for her when she needed it.

Like I said, that was years ago but the idea is still near and dear to my heart and the hearts of my daughters. My 11 year old still has her comfort hearts hanging on her bulletin board and my 6 year old will have one tucked away once again in her backpack as she heads out to first grade at her new school. It’s just one more way to make the most of some of those many photos we take! Photo above is my youngest circa school year ’07 at the tender age of 4.

So…you know what I’m going to beg of you next, don’t you? With or without a family photo hanging from their necks, would you please share your first day of school photos of your little ones with us? It’s that time of year again and I just can’t resist them!

art at its best

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Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. – Pablo Picasso

Sometimes stepping away from something brings a clarity you never knew you were missing.

This weekend I have had the pleasure of spending time with some of the most soulful artists I have ever known. We have gotten our feet sandy and our hands dirty. We’ve laughed and talked and danced and laughed some more. We came with cameras and canvases, paints, papers and glue. With words and wisdom, support and pure unconditional love. We have spent the last few days together creating things with our hearts and our hands that have not only celebrated who we are but have also healed us.

Yes, I have taken a million and one photos of our adventures but the perhaps the best gift came from stepping outside of my comfort zone and letting another artist take my hand and gently guide me along a totally different creative journey.

Today I encourage you to indulge in a new art form. Experiment, play, get out scissors and glue if you have to. Whatever it takes to carry your creative spirit to a whole new world.