Shutter Sisters

hello soul hello business

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Sometimes I forget what it was like way back when; when I was bright eyed and bushy tailed, just out of college, eager to begin a creative career. I had no idea what it was going to be, but I knew it was going to be awesome. Seriously. I had NO idea. Not exactly the kind of thing a father wants to hear from his new college grad but I didn’t doubt it for a second. I knew that I would forge out a creative career for myself; somehow, some way , doing something I loved.

I found photography. Or maybe photography found me. I’m not sure which.

But it could have been anything I suppose. I was open. I only had a few simple (yet imperative) criteria. It had to be something that I was passionate about, something that coaxed out my most creative self and allowed me to be me.

Fast forward to now and my path from there to here might sound enchanted. I won’t deny that there was a little of that along the way but for the most part it took a lot. A lot of work. A lot of learning. A lot of time. A lot of perseverance. A lot.

Way back then, there wasn’t the internet the way it is today. There weren’t ways to find the other people in the world that were trying to do the same thing I wanted to do, the same way I wanted to do it. It made it that much more difficult and often that more isolating.

Enter the splendor of the World Wide Web! We are alone no more! I cannot even imagine what my path would have looked like if I had the bounty of creative resources that there are today. Communities, classes, websites, women, inspiration, encouragement, support…the list goes on and on. And it’s bright and shiny and full of beautiful potential!

If you are uncovering and discovering your creative bliss—whatever it may be—I want to encourage you to take full advantage of all the amazing offerings that are out there, right at our finger tips. Leap. Learn. Launch. Run. Jump. Fly. Just go for it! You’ve got nothing to lose. It’s never too early or too late to become an entrepreneur; to pave your way as successful creative, making money doing what you love.

The new e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts and Beth Nichols, Hello Soul Hello Business is exactly the kind of opportunity I wished I had way back when I was starting out. Two incredibly enthusiastic, crazy talented, and business savvy women willing to spill the beans on all the stuff I wanted and needed to know. I may not have had them then, but I have them now and all I have to say is let the revolution begin!

Share with us what you’re excited about this year? Are you taking a leap? We can’t wait to hear all about your awesome plans! Hello 2012! And if you choose to start your year with Hello Soul Hello Business, I’ll see you there.

A new year, a new word

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Happy New Year! We made it…together.  Another year behind us, a brand new one ahead.

Oh, the bright and beautiful possibilities!

It’s that time again, for setting our intentions, making our own personal creative goals and exploring new ways of being in the world. For the last few years, we’ve joined collective energy with our dear friend Ali Edwards through her One Little Word tradition. Way back when, at the start of our One Word Project, it was Ali that inspired us and proved that indeed, One Little Word could make a really Big difference in our creative journeys.

Today, we kick off this month of beginnings with YOUR word. We did it last year, just like this; asking YOU to celebrate YOUR word all month long for the One Word Project, in honor of One Little Word. YOUR word. Share it with us here in the comments and in our OWP Flickr group and who knows, YOUR word might be featured here!

So, as we start, share with us…what word do YOU choose to begin 2012?

aliveness

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In the end

you won’t be known

for the things you did

or what you built,

or what you said.

 

You won’t even be known

for the love given

or the hearts saved,

 

because in the end you won’t be known.

 

You won’t be asked, by a vast creator full of light:

What did you do to be known?

 

You will be asked: Did you know it,

this place, this journey?

 

What there is to know can’t be written.

Something between crispness of air

And glint in her eye

And texture of the orange peel.

 

What you’ll want a thousand years from now is this:

A memory that beats like a heart—

A travel memory, of what it was like to walk here,

alive and warm and textured within.

 

Sweet brightness, aliveness, take-me-now-ness that is life.

 

You are here to pay attention. That is enough.

 

-Tara Sophia Mohr

 

Today, as we continue to savor the moments, we encourage you to pay attention through your lens. Share a thought, a word, an image where you’re focused on this  “sweet brightness, aliveness, take-me-now-ness that is life.”

………..

In the End is one of the poems featured in Your Other Names, the new book of poetry by Tara Sophia Mohr. She is graciously giving away a copy of her exquisite book today. All you have to do is leave a comment between now and midnight tonight EST (12/5).

For more information about Tara, visit her website. And for more information about her book visit the Your Other Names web page. We’d like to thank Tara for sharing In the End with us here, just as she shared a poem with us almost a year ago. It’s always pleasure to have her.

thankful for this

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A month like the one we’ve had here, has been incredibly nourishing. To be reminded again and again of all the things there are to be thankful for keeps me in a grateful frame of mind; which is the best frame of mind to be in.

I’ve been really trying to live in the space of thankfulness; for my family and friends, for health and happiness. For living a creative life, for being surrounded by a community of incredibly inspiring women, and for photography. And from the look of the One Word Project flickr pool this past month, you’ve been focusing on the same thing.

Although today might be the last day we “officially’ celebrate the word thankful, I know that if anyone can continue to carry that spirit into the next year, it’s all of you. I look forward to that. But for now, let’s share for one more day, what the last month has meant.

Share with us your quintessential thanksgiving (whatever it looks like to you). And because our gracious sponsor Hello Canvas encourages us to delcare our gratitude by enlarging it (canvas style), they are providing the last giveaway of the month. All you need to do is share your “thankful” here in the comments for your chance to win the random 20X24 canvas giveaway!

And as a little something extra, they’ll also be giving away a 20X24 over on their facebook page today. All you have to do is visit them over there and share a comment on their facebook wall. Don’t forget to tell them you’re with the sisterhood for your chance to win the fb contest.

You have until midnight tonight EST to leave your comment here for your chance to win a Hello Canvas print (like the one in the photo above!).

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Congratulations Veronica! You won a canvas print from Hello Canvas! YAY YOU!

love, light and being together

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You know how everything is better when you’re together? That’s obviously the way we feel about things here at Shutter Sisters! That’s why I would like to personally invite you to join in the fun this year as we Picture the Holidays.

Many of you might know of the Picture Series I have taught over at Big Picture Classes for the past year and a half. Many old friends and new ones too have gathered to spend some creative photo fun together in these classes. With every prompt and with each class my hope was to inspire people to see the world around them with a brand new perspective. My other hope was to bring people together; to learn, shoot, and share a space where like-minded, like-hearted women could gather in the name of creativity!

Keeping all that in mind, I would like to give you all a personal invitation to join us this year to experience Picture the Holidays. I am delighted to announce our partnership with Paper Coterie for this years versionof Picture the Holidays! I would love for you to participate in the daily photo prompts (that will come right to your inbox) as well as join the conversation in our private Facebook group.

If you are in need of a way to slow down enough to actually enjoy your holiday season (and who isn’t?) then this experience is exactly what you need! All you need to do is sign up at Paper Coterie on thePIcture the Holidays homepage to “become a member”. This gives you a membership at Paper Coterie AND enrolls you in the Picture the Holidays “Prompt Me” experience. If you’ve taken Picture the Holidays already last year, you’re invited to do it again! If you’re already a member at Paper Coterie, you still need to fill in the “become a member” prompt with your current member information and you’ll be enrolled for the prompts. Upon becoming a memeber you will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to get into the facebook group if you’d like to join us there too! The prompts for Picture the Holidays are complimentary. I hope by offering the 31 daily prompts to EVERYONE we can start our own Holiday Revolution and take back this Season! It’s time to remember what it’s all about; love,, light and being together!

At the end of 31 days of inspiration and imagery, you will be invited to create a photo book of your very own featuring the photos YOU took during your December. The book is optional, but encouraged. It’s a perfect gift to afford yourself for reclaiming your Holiday season! And it was designed specifically for Picture the Holidays which makes it extra special.

So, what are you waiting for? Click over to Paper Coterie and pre-registerby becoming a member. Oh, and if you register before 11/23 you are entered to win an Epiphanie Bag too! YAY!

Join us and come December 1, we will be on our photo path to enjoying the Holidays together! I cannot wait to begin!

How do you enjoy your Holiday? What helps you slow down and savor?

Let’s Find Fall

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Early frost, snow storms, power outtages? Sounds to me winter is coming, with little regard to Fall. There may not be too much of a winter’s chill yet where I am but the weather even around these parts has been as unpredicatble as the tide.

I don’t know about you but right around now is when I long for Fall. As in crisp cooling air, round orange pumpkins, leaves covering the ground, gratitude, a fire stoaked, something sweet in the oven, cuddling blankets, family and cider.

Whether you are trying to beat what feels like a late summer heat or hold back the rush of winter, today, let’s find Fall.

Wherever you are, share today an image that conjures up the quintessential element of this season.

seeing a different side of you

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‘Tis the season for being someone or something other than who we really are. It’s not that we’re trying to hide our truest selves, no way! This dress-up game is just for kicks. Scary, funny, adorable, whatever it may be, it encourages us let our hair down and have a little fun.

Who doesn’t like a little make-believe now and again?

Whether it’s you in disguise or your little ghosts and goblins behind those masks, share with us how you will celebrate this All Hallow’s Eve.

moo and you

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We tell the world a little about ourselves with everything we do. How we act, what we say, how we dress, what we carry. From our bags to our blogs from our coffee mugs to our cameras. Our words, our images, our facebook status, all express who we are.

In the theme of this month’s One Word Project, we have partnered with MOO to encourage you to really express yourself this week! Who are YOU? Share it with us through your shots this week for your chance to win some super-cool prizes from MOO. MOO offers a ton of ways to express yourself through business cards, mini cards, post cards, stickers (total cuteness), and holiday cards. We know you know all about them (coolest cards for photographers ever) so why not offer this fun contest in celebration of MOO and YOU?

Here’s the scoop:

For a chance to win – all you have to do is post a URL to a photo in the comments which resonates with this month’s theme of ‘YOU’. You know how the OWP works! We want to see shots that have YOU written all over them! We are looking for beautiful, creative, unque or just fun shots of/or about YOU.

Prizes from MOO

Grand prize – 100 business cards (or 200 minis), 25 Christmas (Holiday) cards, 20 postcards & 52 stickers!

2nd place – 100 business cards (or 200 minis) & 52 stickers

3rd place – 100 business cards (or 200 minis)  & 52 stickers

You’ve got until  Friday, 10/28 at midnight EST to leave your comments and links here for a chance to win.

We can’t wait to see YOU in your entry image!

small snippets

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Sometimes days are long and time is short. Sometimes we have more to-dos, work, and responsibility than we even have time for. Sometimes we are far too busy to muse, ponder or reflect. This is what life feels like for me these days. And when it gets like this I find it hard to pick up my camera, to update my blog or even to blurt something out on facebook. But my story being written every day of my life, whether I have time to acknowledge it or not. The things that happen, the people I meet, the places I go, the time I spend…it all means something. It’s all a part of my story.

I am finding lately that it doesn’t take much to document my life these days. As a matter of fact, these small snippets of my days and nights captured with a simple camera phone are enough. This is what my life is like right now. Tiny slivers of light. Stolen moments in time. Amidst a very tight schedule my story is being written.

And as you go about your daily life, whatever it looks like, yours is being written too.

Today, as we end what has been an inspiring month of stories, share a small snippet today. Something that may have only taken a split second to capture but means the world.

Today we want to give a very special thank you to Paper Coterie for affording us so many lovely giveaways and encouraging all of us to tell our stories. We are giving away our last $100 gift certificate today. Please leave a comment here for your chance to win.