Shutter Sisters

A Slice of (my) Life

By

 

I spend much of my time shooting pictures of my children, my home, my yard, and now my dog. And I blog freely about all of the above as well. A lot. Although much of my personal life is online and live the man in my life (in our lives) remains behind the scenes. It’s intentional I guess; leaving him ‘out of things’ out of respect for his privacy. Our privacy.

 

The other day we were discussing something and laughing (as we like to do) and he said, This is blog worthy. I smiled and mused out loud that I rarely blog about our stories. About us. About him. I wasn’t sure if he knew that but saying it felt like I may have relieved his mind a bit. I’m not really sure. But, it got me thinking about him and how much I love him. How much I depend on him and his character, his strength, his sense of humor. He’s the most amazing father, husband and all around human being. And then there’s the smashing good looks.

 

The other evening as we shared dinner duty (the best way to do dinner) he took his rightful place at the grill.

 

Swoon.

 

Did I mention I love this man?

 

Are there subjects that you hold close that are rarely caught by the snare of your lens? And what would happen if you caught them, if only for a moment, to capture, to be reminded of their magic?

stirring

By

 

 

Taking post processing to the extreme with these image totally transformed them. It’s not usually how I approach processing my images but sometimes a particular shot warrants taking it to another stratosphere. In this case, it was a small series I shot of my daughter. I wasn’t sure what would come of them but I am taken with the results. Letting myself muse and play with the images has made for something intriguing, unexpected and just plain haunting.

What happens when you have let processing run away with you? Show us, surprise us, stir something up.

beautiful

By

 

 Jen Lee and her Diana as seen and captured by our own Superhero Andrea

Recently, while enjoying my time away at the Mom 2.0 Summit, I had the pleasure of meeting the delightful Katherine Center. I knew even before we officially met that we would hit it off. Friend after friend told me so and I take match-making friends seriously (and always appreciate the connections). So, Katherine is not just a super-cool gal, she’s the acclaimed author of The Bright Side of Disaster and her latest brilliant literary offering Everyone is Beautiful. The book is awesome; perfectly written, insightful, hilarious and cut-to-the-heart tender. I’m not even finished with the book yet (and truth be told I secretly never want it to end) but I am so smitten. When you get the chance to read it for yourself I’m pretty sure you’ll see the fantastic synergy between the main character Lanie and so many of us.

All March long we are delighted to be partnering up with Ballantine Books to celebrate Katherine’s new book and to help spread the word that indeed, everyone is beautiful. And what word could be more perfect to use for our One Word Challenge than Beautiful?

And to add a little extra click to this month’s project, Ballantine Books is giving away 4 of Katherine’s books and 4 Diana cameras to accompany the books. How totally fun is that? Again, when you read the book, you’ll understand the connection. It’s a must read. Need I say more? We’ll be giving away the books and cameras randomly on the remaining Sundays of the month. Yay!

So today, as we kick off March’s OWP we welcome you muse on beauty, grab your cameras and see what kind of beautiful you can find through your lens. 

Please note- We have decided to start a new flickr group to make it easier to navigate through the OWP participant’s images without having to depend on tags. Click over to the new group and submit your photos to the pool to be considered for our OWP daily feature. Please tag your photos with the word of the month ((this month is beautiful) and the month itself (this month, March). Thanks and we look forward to seeing your beautiful images soon!

Gathering Bokeh

By

 

A few months back Sarah-Ji shed some light on the meaning of the background and technique of bokeh. Back then, I was infatuated with the idea and the look of ‘beautiful bokeh’ and loved that it would just magically appear in a photograph I captured now and again. It was always a nice surprise to be met with lovely soft spheres in the background of my image, sometimes solitary, sometimes in a chorus or sometimes coming from a mix of light and water in mystifying sunspot like shapes. I am partial to and speaking of the lovely little ‘balls’ of bokeh (as opposed to the smooth and silky, non circular kind) just to clarify for this post.

 

If you have been reading this blog since it’s incarnation, you probably know by now that I am smitten by surprises like these and love to stumble upon beauty by happenstance. In other words, I subscribe to the notion of photographic magic and happy accidents and I am pretty content living and shooting in that state of mind when I can get away with it. However, my appreciation and admiration of Bokeh slowly grew into a kind of obsession. A healthy obsession, but an obsession none the less. I quickly became what one might consider a bokeh stalker. I began to notice when it was showing up in my photos and paying more attention to what I was doing at the time of the capture in hopes to better understand it and to be able to eventually, consistently recreate it. If certain photographic details don’t pique my curiosity enough to want to try to crack the code on them, I just enjoy them when they do decide to show up. You know, that magic thing again—kinda like the whole thing is out of my control. In the case of pretty, petite-planetary bokeh, I felt driven to figure out how to find it and how to gather it up in my images. I liken it to learning to catch fireflies in a jar which, by the way my girls and I learned to do for the first time over the summer. So fun!

 

As I began to recognize what time of day the natural light bokeh was most likely to be bountiful and easy to access (in the early morning and late afternoon light) and how the light could become dappled enough to create the celestial circles (filtered through bushes or tree leaves) I began to then play with it’s size. The aperture you are set at, will affect the circumference of the circles (i.e. the size of the opening of the aperture will either bring that light into focus or will throw that light out of focus. The more out of focus the light speckles are, the larger your bokeh circle. So, I got that down but it still wasn’t enough. I had to take it a step further. See what I mean about obsession?

 

I had to find a way to collect the light in such a way that I could place the circles right where I wanted them. Imagine being able to find the bokeh when you want it and then actually control where the shapes end up? Oh I know, it seems all too calculated for a self-proclaimed intuition photographer like myself but the results are intoxicating and the experimentation is addicting.

 

Finding the filtered light and shooting at the aperture that gives me the results I desire is not the part that is compelling for me. That stuff is just a trial and error; a practice makes much closer to perfect thing. It’s in the careful placement of the shapes that my truest artist comes out to play.

 

As we learn to fine tune the way we see our subjects, pay attention to the background of our shots, fill in the negative space with glittering, sparkling, dancing light, we begin to actually write the poetry of own photographic work. As if almost beckoning us, bokeh is happy to oblige, and allows us to surely and steadily harness it’s magic.

 

What images can you share that unveil the mysteries of bokeh? Any tips or tricks to your process? Is it a science to you or more the coincidence of the click? Beauty is beauty no matter how we capture it. I cannot wait to see what you and your bokeh have created together.

cracking up

By

In a recent email exchange with Shutter Sister Sarah-Ji, I was struck with the quote that was at the footer of her email:

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.

It’s a perfectly simple idea—a sage lyric from Leonard Cohen—but I’m not sure I never thought about the cracks in things or in ourselves quite like that. The idea that the cracks actually bring the gift of illumination is a huge sigh of relief.

I repeat the lines in my head over and over again and I feel liberated. Why try to hide an imperfection that brings with it light? Imagine, if we begin to see the cracks like this, what happens to the rest of our fractures and flaws? There must be a silver lining to more of the less-than-perfect traits that we too often try to cover/mask/hide.

As I muse on the idea of celebrating my own imperfections, I encourage you to do the same. Let’s turn self-consciousness on its ear and willingly reveal the fissures that run through each of us. Perhaps if we begin to look at the cracks under a new, gentler, more tolerant lens, perhaps we can bring to light all the beauty—the big perfectly imperfect picture—of who we are.

on letting go

By

 

Recently, I have been reminded of the importance of letting go; of baggage, of clutter, of resistance, of desperation, of fear. Why does it seem so hard to release the things that clearly do not bring us joy? My head tells me it should be easy to relinquish all of what no longer serve me well. My doubt, insecurities, hestitation…I wish my head would give a gentle nudge to my heart. It needs to be reminded too.

Whether we’re on the threshold of something big, like some sort of soul breakthrough, or something a little less monumental like cleaning out a closet, there is the clear and obvious need to let go. So why, if this would help us get on with things already, do we continue to hold on so tight?

 

The other day my husband brought home a large bag of grapefruit. As my daughter unloaded the bag and arranged all the colorful orbs into the fruit bowl, she marveled at the one that was still adorned with one last tiny leaf. She set it right on top, on display.

 

Don’t pick that leaf girls, it’s so sweet, I have to get some photos of it.

 

Admiring this tenacious little wrinkled leaf—a delightful burst of green against the warm yellow and oranges of the sphere—I shoot one photo after the next; studying the leaf, the light, the fruit and the relationship between them all. And all of the sudden it occurs to me, maybe it’s not the leaf that is holding on, maybe it’s the grapefruit that won’t let go. The leaf is drying out, getting brittle, no longer offering the fruit anything it needs to survive and grow. And yet, the fruit refuses to let go, desperate to hold on.

 

I will be watching that grapefruit perched up on our counter each day…encouraging it to drop it’s last leaf as I get ready to do the same.

 

The last of the letting go might be the most difficult but I assure myself, there’s no need to fear. What we choose to release is something that is no longer is a part of us; no longer necessary to our growth; our wholeness. As I admire the fruit bowl, I daydream about what perfectly round, robust and sumptuous grapefruit will remain when it finally lets go.

One Sweet Shot February 2009

By

 

I have been smitten by the images captured by Jen Downer of She Saw Things ever since I discovered her work online. Her photographic observations are unique, playful, delicate and delightful! My One Sweet Shot featured photo is no exception. I am loving this shot of her daughter! Timeless and magic, this is the stuff Jen’s work is made of.

 

And there are a number of sisters who are shooting their own magic. Here’s the list of this month’s Sweet Shots:

 

Nicky Thomas is honoring this shot by Flumpster

Sew Fab Martha is honoring this shot from Danisoul

Brigid is honoring this shot by Shalet

Tripping the Light Fantastic is honoring this shot from Sew Fab Martha

Planet M Files is honoring this shot from Kosenrufu Mama

Leaca is honoring this shot by A Certain Slant of Light

This shot from Meil et Soleil was honored

Daily Vignette is honoring this shot from Marcie Scudder

Holly Steen is honoring this shot from Vanessa Brooke

Finn is honoring this shot by Miss Britt

Maine Momma is honoring this shot from Surprise Pally

Meryl is honoring this shot by Mamarosa

and Kate is honoring this shot from Mav

 

Thanks for playing and enjoy the inspiration on this fine Sunday.

Tool Around

By

 

A few years ago at blogging conference I sat in on a panel of crafters who, among other things, discussed how having an online presence gave them an invaluable way to not only promote their work but also to sell it. Although I can be crafty, I am not a crafter but none the less saw great value and understood exactly what was being shared; the value and power of using the internet as a tool.

 

Of course having Amy Sedaris there didn’t hurt in making the panel totally entertaining and fun to be apart of—a la her hilarious stories of googly-eyes and cupcakes—but that’s beside the point.

 

I myself enjoy frequenting many of the craft blogs I have come to love online not only because of their lovely handmade offerings but also for their photography. These women are not only creating beautiful pieces of art they are also artfully capturing them in stunning photographs which for me is just the icing on cupcake, so to speak.

 

I was having this very discussing with my step-mom who has in the last year or so taken up making exquisite wire wrapped beaded jewelry. Her biggest challenge has been how to simply take better pictures to post over at her Etsy shop—to not only showcase her work but to help sell her one-of-a-kind pieces. We spent a morning together chatting and shooting and uploading and comparing snapshots to more mindful, deliberate, artistic images of people’s crafts.

 

A snapshot of something handmade is just a snapshot but a beautiful photograph of the same object elevates that object. A picture can be worth a thousand words so why not have it speak of the story of the craft? The process, the detail, the effort, the care, the texture, the color, the fabric, the size, the shape, the personality, the love can all be captured through the lens helping to tell a unique and compelling story of the subject and hand and what it took to create it.

 

I’ve been musing on how as creative beings our tool boxes are brimming with the tools we use everyday; to create our own unique masterpieces, to capture the world around us, to share what we do with others. Whether it’s wire, needles, buttons, a macro lens, light box, Photoshop, a blog, we are using invaluable tools each day to execute and share our work whatever it may be. Just as a recipe takes the right mix of ingredients to make the perfect cake, with no element being more important than the other. And it doesn’t necessarily stop there. After all, one wouldn’t dream of baking the cake without frosting it and then offering a fork, would they? Well, OK, there are cupcakes but my point is that to take our creativity from start to finish we need the right utensils to mix our own well-balanced artistic alchemy

 

Enlighten us with the tricks of your trade and the process it takes to make it happen. What tools are first and foremost in your arsenal?

 

home away from home

By

 

The other day I had the privilege of working with the fabulous Romi Lassally of True Mom Confessions fame. A handful of moms (myself included) were there participating in a project she’s working on in conjunction with the release of her book and her new website—go Romi—but beyond that I had my camera by my side capturing the ins and outs of the day.

 

I have become a seasoned story teller of my own everyday life but stepping out of mine and into someone else’s life was enlightening. A couch found friends chatting amongst themselves, yet these friends were new faces to me. A fruit bowl on the dining room table filled with oranges, not apples. A chalk board for family memos, instead of the bulletin board I use everyday. Although it was all new and different it was so familiar and everything around me felt worthy to photograph.

 

As a portrait photographer I have been invited into people homes on a great many occasions. Arriving at a scheduled time I am met by families who have been harried and hurried to get prepared for my visit; everyone dressed and ready for ‘the portrait”. It is after all, the reason for my visit. And so we get right to it and spend our time together making that happen. Rarely do I get the chance to notice the fruit bowl.

 

I felt a sacredness being in a home as merely an observer; an outsider looking in. Watching and noticing all the details that make a home and being given the opportunity to capture what I saw through my lens. It was an honor to be there.

 

What details of your home beg to be seen? What are you compelled to capture under your own roof? Or perhaps there is a view or vignette of someone else’s home you covet? You are encouraged to share images from your own home discoveries.

Pure Magic

By

 

Over the last few weeks I, like many of you have been shooting more than ever just to keep up with my 365 attempt and now, the One Word Project. And although it’s taken some adjusting to eek out time from my maxed out daily routine, I am finding the extra moments I am spending with my camera soulfully gratifying and creatively invigorating.

 

Shooting everyday helps keeps me accountable while visually translating my word opens my mind and pleasantly challenges me to keep focused on my intentions. The trouble is that now I’ve got all these photos to deal with. Uploading, processing, exporting, and more uploading can stifle anyone’s photo flow. I can feel a collective nod as I type these words.

 

I don’t have any grand answer to making these many steps any less daunting but I can tell you that if you can figure out a way to make them more efficient (or non-existent even) you’re onto something.

 

Enter the Straight Out Of the Camera concept (aka SOOC).

 

Remember the old days when you got what you got and there was no easy way to change it? It’s kinda like that. And although I wouldn’t give up my editing software to safe my life, I am rediscovering my appreciation for an image just the way it was captured. No enhancement. No manipulation. No nothing. Just you, your camera, and the subject at hand. And if all goes well some magic.

 

If I told you that getting back to the SOOC way of shooting is totally liberating, would you believe me? Are you willing to give it a go? If for no other reason but to take some of that editing time off of your plate? I’m not suggesting switching over completely. I love Lightroom too much for that. But perhaps just putting that little extra something into each shot…giving yourself a chance to love what you are creating as it happens, straight out of the camera.

 

Do share a favorite SOOC today and remind us of that kind of magic.