As I wander through the streets with my camera in hand I often like to play a game. I tell myself to look for things hidden in the landscape; hearts, faces, secret messages. One particularly low day, I looked up to see this, and felt like it was a sign from the heavens. More recently, I was walking with a friend who was overwhelmed with work and being pregnant and trying to keep up with all of it. She was in tears by the end of the conversation, not knowing what she should do. At some point we looked down and noticed that we were standing on a bike path that said "Slow down."

This week's challenge is to find a hidden message. It might be just what you needed to hear.

Cardstock to make cards from scratch: $5

Colored pencils, pens and stickers to decorate cards: $15

Postage to overnight the cards to the messenger: $45

A chance to send hope notes to the girls of Rwanda: priceless

As many of you know, our lovely Jen is leaving to take her sweet self, her zines, blank journals, pens, hearts, these handwritten hope notes and a film to share with the girls of Rwanda. Girls who need encouragement and support more than we can ever imagine.

For those of us who remain here while Jen single handedly delivers these messages (indeed, she is a superhero of hope), the photos and videos that she captures over there will be the only way we can truly share the trip with her. But beyond that, her photographs will serve as the only recent record that one mother has of her daughters. Imagine how it would feel to see a photo of your child after 2 years of not seeing any. Two years. And then comes a day when a rare and beautiful gift is handed to you through one photograph. A single image that would surely take any mother’s breath away.

Simple truths like this remind me that when we hold our cameras, we hold incredible power. How lucky are we to shoot photo after photo of our own children, of friends and family. Each image a gift. A gift that is indeed priceless.

As we send our sister off on the journey of a lifetime, let’s honor her with links to our own priceless photographs, shall we? It’ll be our little way of showing her our Shutter Sisters support.

Safe travels Jen, we will all be eagerly awaiting stories and photos. Lots and lots of glorious, priceless photos.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still basking in the Mother's Day afterglow.

Happy Love Thursday, everyone.  Please leave your links of love in the comments section -- and in honour of Mother's Day, feel free to include images of your mom, your kids, your grandmother, a friend who's a great mom, someone married to a mom, someone who at one point in his/her life had a mom, someone who can spell "MOM" ...

 ... and be sure to check out the amazing Mom photographs left by *VWC Photography* and PhotoMom86 for inspiration!

Forgive our hiccup today...this post got deleted on accident-things happen-but i know a lot of you commented and left links and we apologize but it seems we lost those too! Rats. Note to self-it IS really smart to write posts in a word document before getting them up on your blog. Whew.

One of my favorite magazines of all time is Wondertime. Have you seen it? It still surprises me when people haven’t. I’ve had a subscription since the minute I discovered it. The visual sensibilities are off the charts cool. Photography.to.die.for. The perfect mix of art and everyday; a visual marriage that particularly speaks to me. And then there’s the content. With contributing editors like Catherine Newman and Brett Paesel (love and love) and articles from women like Alice Bradley (more love) what, I ask you, is not to like?

But even with all this periodical alchemy, when I get the magazine each month I go straight to the very back page…first. See, they end the issue with a photograph (actually usually a diptych) titled no comment. It’s usually a coupling that speaks so poignantly of childhood in that perfect, I laughed, I cried kind of way that no words are necessary. It’s great.

I have only given you all of this background to say that now and again if you come across a post here at Shutter Sisters called no comment (and if we’re being true to the phrase, using only a photo and no words) you’ll know where the inspiration came from.

And if any of you are so inclined to share your own no comment photos, by all means, show us what you’ve got. And if you enter them our Flickr pool and tag them “no comment” you never know when one might pop up on a post (with your permission of course). Sometimes a good image—or two—says more than any words can say.

When I came across this image, it took my breath away. In her work, Crystal consistently brings together impeccable imagery and heavenly processing and I find myself astounded and inspired by the images she creates. This one is a particular favorite as the creamy warm tones of the shot overwhelm me with sweet melancholy and the mirrored gesture of the wind blown tree and wispy cherub curls makes me swoon. As I have studied every detail of this photo I realized that this little girl reminds me of what my oldest daughter looked like at that age. I'm certain that only makes me love it more. Heavy sigh.

I could go on and on but there are so many other Sweet Shots to share, I will leave you with a list of links. What could be better than to spend your day getting inspired by your fellow sisters of the shutter?

Beebee Mod is honoring this shot from camera shy momma.

Leah G. is honoring this shot from Laundry Girl Photo.

Sheri at Today is Pretty is honoring this Polaroid by haeshu.

Giggletwig is honoring this shot by homeshade photography.

Strawberry Goldie is honoring this shot from Hippy Happy Hay.

Bridge at Rides the Waves of Life couldn’t decide between this shot from Shalet at Peculiar Momma and the bottom image from this post at Five Flowers so she is honoring both.

Equilibrium is honoring shots from Laura’s Mommy Journal (I'm not sure which one so you can choose!)

Melissa is honoring this shot from Laywer Mama.

Mary Calissa is honoring this shot from Strawberry Goldie.

granica monotremata is honoring her mother’s shot at Studio Kaleta.

Maile is honoring this shot by Bee Bee Mod.

Camera shy momma is honoring this shot by Laundry Girl Photo.

Emily Quinton is honoring this shot from Leigh Taylor.

Paige is honoring this shot by Westart Photography.

Hippy Happy Hay is honoring this shot from Mommymac.

Stephanie is honoring this shot by Ink on my Fingers.

Shutterbugschink is honoring this shot from yesimkaleimages.

Sarah Ji is honoring this shot by amonick.

 & Dr. Lyn is honoring this shot from Molly A Certain Slant of Light.

Thanks to everyone who honored these fab images. If you would like to honor something for One Sweet Shot, we’ll be doing this whole thing again next month! Yay.

And we’ll end with a little something else you’ve been looking forward to…

Congratulations to Anna of the blog Hank and Willie. She is the lucky winner of the Blue Poppy Motherhood necklace. Hooray for Anna! Thanks to all of you who commented. It was nice to get your Mother’s Day wishes. We hope yours was wonderful.

There are certain moments in time when you can feel the intensity of Mother Nature – the weight of her breath and the boom in her voice.

Severe storms and a string of tornados danced across the southeast on Mother’s Day morning. And as my husband and I ventured home from a weekend trip to the coast, Mother Nature’s devastating effects humbled us. Elderly trees uprooted from the earth. Pines arbitrarily snapped – their branches littering the roads and swaying from power lines. A crumpled barn. A tin roof wedged within a stately oak. As we slowed our pace through the small rural town, I quickly pulled out my camera on instinct to capture the moment. The scene. The effects. And after I snapped the first image, I stopped myself.

As we continued to journey home, I realized that much of my joy in photography is capturing the beauty of Mother Nature and her precious creations. New blooms. Plump raindrops. Aging leaves drenched with color. Thick blades of grass.  I like the way she sprinkles light like gems on water. How she breathes life into leaves as they whisper in her wind. And I love that she restores peace to the sky without fail and sets the sun to rest.  

How do you seek Mother Nature with your lens?

Happy Mother’s Day Sisters!

In honor of the mother’s out there, the generous and ever-so-talented sisters at Blue Poppy Jewelry are offering one lucky shutter sister their thoughtfully created motherhood necklace especially for Mother’s Day. It’s our first ever giveaway here and we are delighted it’s come from Blue Poppy. You know we’re big fans. As a matter of fact…we’ve got a very exciting project in the works with them that will soon be revealed (here’s hoping your interest is now officially piqued) but for today, it’s about our little celebration of motherhood.

Because many of you are busy basking in the glow of handmade cards and clay handprints, today we’re making it easy on you. All you have to do to be included in the random drawing for the Blue Poppy Motherhood necklace is leave a comment here anytime between now and Monday at midnight EST and on Tuesday, we will reveal the lucky winner. If you’d like to share a link to a photo that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy in that mama way, you are most welcome but the only thing you have to do is leave a comment.

Speaking of warm and fuzzy…what about this gorgeous and poignant self-portrait a la Toyfoto? Her work makes me weepy. Weepy or hysterical with laughter. And as synchronicity has it (I swear it was a total coincidence), it’s her birthday today. Happy Birthday to you Siobhan! Is it me or is there something kinda magical about that?

Again, Happy Mother’s Day to you. May you enjoy every minute of your day. And don’t forget to hand over the camera (or at least use your self-timer). You can always use a photo of the day to enter the MamaFocus contest too. Just a thought.

edited to add- Congratulations to Anna of the blog Hank and Willie. She is the lucky winner of the Blue Poppy Motherhood necklace. Hooray for Anna! Thanks to all of you who commented. It was nice to get your Mother’s Day wishes. We hope yours was wonderful.

I don't know about you, but when I am editing photos after a shoot of any kind I like to have options to work with. Sometimes a pose or angle that I thought was great at the time ends up falling flat when I see it later. But if I am able to get a variety of shots, I feel much better when I start looking at them on screen.  Obviously it's not always easy to shoot your subject in 10 different ways. When it comes to photographing kids I think we just take what we can get. So a beautiful little vase of flowers is a luxury to play around with.

These are just 4 of the best shots from the 30 that I took. But I love being able to pick and choose the best.  If you have a chance, try it out and show your options in the comments section.

 That question has been with me long before I had heard of the poet Mary Oliver or dared to picture myself on  daring adventures to faraway lands.  I couldn't have imagined then, that a ten day trip to Rwanda would be in my future.  In a little over a week, I will be visiting villages, making new friends and trying to uncover the plans waiting to be revealed for more than one African schoolgirl like my little friend above. 

 I'll be taking not one camera, but two.  One for me, and one for my host.  Of all the things he could ask me to bring, he's wishing for a camera more than anything.   He has an artist's eye, my friend tells me.  He knows how to see things.

 I hope I'll know how to see things, too, when I finally arrive.  I don't know if I'll have the luxury of waiting for late afternoon to capture my subjects in the best light.  I don't know if the sun will work against me in a place not too far from the equator.  I'm still such a new photographer that I'm still learning how to see the shot when the sun is shining bright.

 Do you have one capture in particular that really shines in bright light?  What are your best tips for taking photographs under these kinds of conditions?  Bring them one and all--I'll be taking notes.  I don't want to miss the moments that are waiting for me in what is sure to be a wild and precious chapter in my life. 

When we bought our home a year ago, one of the characteristics we loved was the mature landscaping around the house -- not because we're such amazing gardeners, you understand, but quite the opposite: we figured that the longer the plant had actually lived, the less likely we were to kill it.  Sad, but true:  I know nothing about plants.

Anyway, spring has sprung, so yesterday I grabbed my camera and my 60mm AF Micro Nikkor lens, to see what I could find.  The garden didn't disappoint:  there were lots of buds and slowly unfurling flowers.  But I found the blossom above particularly striking:  because of Love Thursday I find myself intrigued by hearts that occur in nature, and to me this flower looked like it had three tiny hearts, each surrounded by a golden halo.  So I took the shot.

Besides, I loved the teensy little grasshopper on the petal. 

Happy Love Thursday, all.  Please leave your links of love in the comments below, and for inspiration, check out the really cool hearts-in-nature captured by work2snap and cherryvanillastudios and shared in the Shutter Sisters Flickr Pool.

And may you see symbols of love all around you today.