Shutter Sisters

two of our best

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It’s probably no secret that I use my iPhone about 99% of the time. I’m the first to admit that it’s become my most favorite muse since I got it. And Instragram is my favorite way to use my iPhone. I’ve only recently begun to try different apps but I keep going back the the quick, easy and ever-effective Instragram.

I’m not the only one around here that is smitten. My teenage daughter also has been stung by the iBug (and she doesn’t even have an iPhone). So, we spend our time passing my phone back and forth. Logging each other in and out and in again into our Instagram accounts. We shoot and share and show each other our handiwork. We oooo and aaaah at our work. We get excited about how we each see the world, compare secrets of each shot, we encourage each other.

Although it can be challenging sometimes, the trading back and forth, the logging in and logging out, I actually really enjoy it. I like getting to be a part of my daughter’s photography process like this. I get to watch and witness her as she creates her art. It’s a gift. At least until she gets her own iPhone.

I chose to share these two shots today as our Best Shot Monday. The image on the left is her best from this week. The right image is mine. I think we make a pretty good creative team.

Won’t you share your Best Shot from the past week on this fine Monday? 

 

Oasis

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We are beyond thrilled to announce Shutter Sisters Oasis. We can think of no better way to gather together to celebrate our sisterhood. Registration opens at 9am PSTon March 29th.  Start packing your bags!

When was the last time you gathered with your sister friends? Share a photo with us today!

Best Shot Monday

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Many moons ago I wrote a blog on website for moms called Club Mom (now called Café Mom). It was called Picture This. I met a number of you from that blog. Remember? Well, I sure do.  It’s where I first began this chapter of my life…of gathering with other women online. Women who loved photography and who (like me) wanted to share images and words about what mattered most to us. Who knew that the chapter at Picture This would turn into a novel which led to sequels and spin off stories such as my personal blog, the Picture Series and Shutter Sisters.

Every once in a while I muse about those days. I remember not really understanding what a blog was. I recall why I began a blog in the first place. I remember things I wrote about, pictures I shared and ways I enjoyed engaging with the women that found each other and came together. I can’t help but ruminate on all the things that have changed since then; like digital photography becoming mainstream, photo editing becoming a part of the process and how shooting photos with your phone is totally normal (I never saw that one coming).  But a lot of things stayed the same. We’re all still here. Together. Gathering in a space where our stories, our photographs, our passions matter and are honored. It makes me really happy. I don’t know where I’d be without it. Without you.

The thing about looking back is that you remember things you miss about the old days. One of those things came to me recently in a quick flash. Best Shot Monday. I wonder if anyone else remembers that. I used to host it each Monday at Picture This and then on my personal blog. It was a place to share a weekly shot that you held dear. The one shot, above all others that you celebrated that week. No theme, no rules, no restrictions. Just an image you loved. Your Best Shot.

My featured image today is my Best Shot from this week. Maybe it’s because I used a brand new photo app to process it (hello Snapseed!) or maybe it’s the whimsical subject matter or maybe it’s because I captured it at the Instagram meetup where I spent time strolling and shooting with some awesome sisters on a picture perfect sunny Southern California day. Probably a little of all of these things but it really doesn’t matter. I just love it. And that’s what a Best Shot Monday should be about. A photograph that you took, that you love.

Today, let’s look through last week’s archives and pull something out that makes your heart sing. Share today, your Best Shot with all of us! I can think of no better way to start the week than by celebrating our shots!

the great wide open

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There have been times when I’ve got my head and heart so wrapped up in something that I lose sight of everything else. Sometimes it’s work related, or I’m focusing on family matters or it can even be just the drudgery of the daily grind that  can keep me down. Whatever the case, some days feel a lot less hopeful then others.

Luckily, there always comes days when with the sun I look up, and out, and past the place I’ve been and I can see into the great wide open. The place where hope lives and the beauty of possibility lifts my spirits and soothes my soul. Where I am content to be where I am and also energized to move forward. Why wouldn’t I be? Look at that place. It’s awesome!

Of course, if everyday looked like that, then I wouldn’t be nearly as impressed, or spellbound or enchanted by what I see. The contrast of the not-so-great days in comparison to days that look like this make the this so much sweeter.

My guess is you know exactly what I’m talking about. That the darkness makes way for light far more beautiful than any other light you’ve ever seen. That coming up for air and seeing this stretch out before you feels better than you could have ever remembered. That’s the thing about hope and love and beauty. You can only experience it to it’s fullest when it’s been gone for a while.

As we begin this week, share a image that offers a view of the great wide open, full of possibility! Let’s all soak in the goodness of today…and tomorrow.

an invitation to the weekend

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The weekend.

There is nothing like it. A time to rest, rejuvinate, refuel. A time to wind down or wind up. A time to settle in or skip out. A time for family and friends, comfort and joy.

The weekend.

No matter how many have come and gone, as each new one approaches we look forward to it like a gift we cannot wait to open. And somehow we are surprised and delighted each and every week. As so it goes on and on.

The weekend.

For us, lovers of photography, there can be no better time to shoot. And because we want to honor not only the magic that is the weekend but also the Universal deep need to end the week and then begin it again with this sacred time of respite, we would like to invite you to share your weekends with us.

The weekend.

Starting in March we will be featuring weekend images from you here at Shutter Sisters. What does the weekend look like at your house? What moments capture the attention of your lens? What activities (or non-activities) do you hold dear at week’s end? What do you create, cherish, capture when the weekend arrives yet again at your door?

Answer these questions for us in your images. Share some words if you want. Throw in a quote. Include a link. Tell us who you are and where we can find you online. Share yourself and your weekends with us and you might be featured right here in our new weekend series that will be posted each Saturday and will be featured through Sunday too. Because weekends are supposed to have two full days of goodness to enjoy.

If you would like to submit your weekend images for consideration in our weekend series, please send your shot(s) via email to us at click [at] shuttersisters [dot] com with the subject weekend. We can’t wait to see how you do weekends and begin our series in March! Give us a hint in the comments today.

And above all else, enjoy. The weekend.

intimacy

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The thing I remember loving the most about my years as a portrait photographer was the ability to capture moments rarely noticed by anyone else. Moments of connection, family life, love, laughter. I made it my mission to seek out the nuances that often got overlooked; the things, that when distilled through my lens felt like magic.

Of all the wonderful things I’ve been privileged to witness, the ones I feel most honored to share have been the moments of intimacy. The pauses in between the expected shots. The quick glance, the exhale, the gentle touch, the subtle gesture, the contemplative expression, the comfort, the ease.

Perhaps this is why I like to get in close to my subjects. Getting in close means you have to deliberately choose only a few  details amongst the bigger picture that you want to frame in your shot.  It means you’re really looking, noticing, honoring that person, that moment, that intimate view into something or someone as if somehow been allowed in to be a part of something rare and wonderful.

Today, show us your version of getting up-close and personal with your subject, whatever or whoever it may be.

served

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Morning, noon, night, we are fortunate to have some kind of bounty on our tables. Whether it’s a home cooked meal, a late night snack or a glorious night out where the food is graciously prepared and served with a smile, there’s something about food that not only satisfies hunger (or thirst!) but also serves as instant subject matter for the next quick pic.

I have never before captured so many table shots as I do now that I have taken up mobile phone photography. It’s as if I just can’t help myself. And why should I? Creative bursts come in the most unlikely places…like at the dinner table.

Snap a shot from your table today. Show us what’s being served or what you’re serving up. Make our mouths water.

wonderland

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“This is what a Utah winter looks like,” she told me as she drove me from Salt Lake City up to Park City, Utah. I marveled from the passenger side as huge snowflakes poured out of the vast bucket sky.

Click, click, click.

Through the windshield I snapped image after image of the landscape that surrounded us. Amazed by what I saw. It had rained all day until all of the sudden, it turned to snow. And minutes later, a total transformation from all gray to winter white. I don’t recall ever seeing anything quite like it. We could have been on the moon for all I knew.

It was a long and harrowing drive for most of the people on the road that afternoon but not for her. And even if it was, she wouldn’t let on. Apologizing all over myself for the amount of time I was stealing from her day and for the traffic and for the weather, she urged, “This is the magic, Tracey. I wasn’t going to let you miss the magic.”

And I didn’t. Those 24 hours were filled with picturesque views, real winter weather, my camera, big boots, bright lights, warmth, inspiration, and friendship. In a word; magic.

Share with us today your wonderland. When you gaze outside your window, what magic awaits you? Let’s see the landscape that surrounds you today.

Pick me up

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I’ve had a rough couple of days. You know the ones. Where everything goes wrong and there’s not enough time and you just don’t handle things well. Where you lose your cool and let everything get the best of you. The days when you just look forward to bed. I know we’ve all been there but somehow it doesn’t make it any less disheartening.

I was wallowing around, groaning and grumbling about what was probably nothing discernable to anyone, while my husband opened a package that came in the mail. As he pulled out a bundled wad of newspaper about the size of a grapefruit, he slowly uncovered a small box made of polished metal and shiny black plastic.

“I got this for you because…because…you’re having a bad day”, he said soft and kind with his gentle smile and extended his offering to me.

I went from miserable to grateful in an instant. As I studied the pristine vintage Kodak Brownie Reflex 20, I marveled and smiled back. Totally speechless.

“And look, ” he continued, as he lifted the lid that covered the large viewfinder at the top, “it’s just like you wanted.”

Indeed. There is was, a viewfinder that framed the beautiful world outside of my muddled head; saturated color, bold shapes, bright light and clarity. Like a child, I began to squeal with delight and so began the instantaneous shift from pity party to creative celebration.

Playing with my new toy for about an hour pulled me out of my mood. Not for good unfortunately, for I do believe that hormones will have the best of me for a few more days, but certainly for long enough to be reminded that sometimes a kind gesture, a simple spark, a tiny new way to see the world is all it takes to shine light on the darkest places.

Tell me, when was the last time you had a shift like this, from blue to blush? Was it something someone said? What it using your own camera to mine out the gems of your life? Share with us they way you’ve experienced your own kind of “pick me up”.

Image of me holding my new muse (above) courtesy of my 8 year old daughter via my iphone.

beyond the boundaries

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Have you ever been asked to shoot a photograph of a subject that you were resistant to? Or perhaps someone requested a specific style of photograph that you didn’t think you could achieve?

I have found that quite often that little voice in my head is intuition at work. The voice might say, “Not a good fit” or “Just say no”. I am usually really glad when I listen to that voice.

But there’s a fine line between intuition that’s going to save you from doing something you might regret and the voice that speaks less of self-preservation and more out of fear. Fear of the unknown. fear of failure. Fear of being pushed beyond our comfort zone. That voice sometimes sounds similar to the voice of intuition but it’s a totally different voice. Telling the difference between the two is something I’m beginning to better understand.

I was recently asked to shoot something that felt, well, challenging. The voice in my head asked, “Can you even do that?”. Hmmm. It wasn’t a big deal at all and nothing important was riding on my decision so I felt no angst about it but it did get me thinking. I mused on the request for a while and kept myself open to the idea. Before I said yes, or no, I tried it. I decided to turn the whole thing into a postive experience, challenging myself in a playful way to try to shoot through a new lens.

Needless to say that it worked like a charm! By allowing myself to be gently pushed past my boundaries, I not only captured some fresh photographs that I love, I was actually energized by the whole experience.

What happens when you push beyond your own boundaries? What does the voice in your head say? I would love to hear your thoughts and see your images!