Shutter Sisters

weekending by Libertad Leal

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“A couple of weekends ago my little family and I woke up at 4:30 AM to drive an hour to Galveston, TX to see (and photograph) the sun rise over the ocean. It was something I had wanted to do for a very long time and it did not disappoint. It was peaceful, beautiful, magical, exciting and by the time we left I felt awoken and alive.” -Libertad

Libertad Leal shoots images like this with her Nikon D80 with a 50mm 1.8 lens and spends her weekends juggling quality family time, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, family/social commitments, errands, and chasing after a very active toddler. But she always tries to carve out some time for photography.

You can find her on her website Libertad Leal. 

How do you make time for photography?

Today’s prompt: music

Sunday’s prompt: red

Squared

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Lately I’ve been loving square photos. It’s funny, it goes in stages; from square to landscape to portrait. For several months, before the square thing, I was cropping almost everything 4 x 5. 

Maybe it’s an instagram thing….seeing the world squared? I’m not sure. But I do know I’ve always been drawn to square photos. 

How ’bout you? Do you crop? Squares… love ’em? not so much? Share with us today.

letting go

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Each fall, I watch as the weather cools off and the ground becomes littered with yellows, browns, oranges and reds. The trees shed their leaves and turn their attention inward, gathering the energy released by the decomposing leaves and transforming it into the new beginnings of spring.

Just as the trees must release their old leaves to make room for new ones, we must let go of things in our lives that no longer serve us, especially our fears, in order to make room for new possibilities. It can be a difficult process, though. Even when I know my fears are not serving me, I wrap myself in them like a cozy, old sweater because I have grown comfortable with them.

When I don’t know where to start, I pick one fear and name it. By starting with just one fear and giving it a name, I make it into something more manageable – something I can release, taking the bits of knowledge about myself that I find within it and transforming them into something new. Just as trees lose one leaf at a time, we can choose one fear at a time and let go of it. 

What are you letting go of this fall? How are you making space for the new leaves that will appear in your life next spring?

Gennifer Carragher was raised on the beach, grew up in the woods and now spends her days capturing the magic of these places with her camera and sharing her photo adventures on her blog. If you love fall as much as she does, consider joining her in Embracing Fall, her newest e-course.

I Love L.A.

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I am a born and bred Southern California girl and have lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles my whole life. Where else on the same day can you go surfing in the morning and then skiing in the afternoon? Within a 90 minute drive I can be in Santa Barbara, Palm Springs or Mexico. While there are things I definitely do not love about living here (smog, traffic, prices), there are so many things I would never see or do if I lived anywhere else.  

When I heard the Endeavour space shuttle would be making it’s final flight over L.A. before landing here for good, I knew there was no way I was going to miss this historic event.  The list of places that she (yes, in my mind, the Endeavor is a girl!) would be doing flyovers were many and I was close to all of them. Heck, all I had to do was stand outside my front door and I would have seen her but I wanted a bird’s eyeview.  The flight would be low, only 1500 feet.  Griffith Park Observatory, which was on her list to fly by, is at 1100 feet. At only 400 feet above me head, I could almost reach out and touch her!

I expected a crowd to show up so I planned accordingly.  We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and 90 minutes later we exited the freeway.  What is usually a 10 minute drive up to the observatory took almost 90 more minutes.  When we finally got to the top of the hill with what felt like the entire population of Los Angeles, the excitement was palpable. 

Eyes turned to the sky for what seemed like forever, when first one person called out and than another. “There it is! There it is!”.  There was a dot on the horizon that slowly grew larger and as she got closer, the crowd grew louder.  Hundreds (probably a thousand, easily) of cameras and cell phones pointed to the sky, awaiting for that one moment in time that would never repeat again.  When the moment finally arrived and she flew over, the jet engines so loud that you couldn’t hear anything else,  it took my breath away.  I suddenly became emotional at the thought that a part of history was coming to an end.  There was cheering and clapping and the crowd began to chant “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”.  That glorious piece of machinery gave us a show and flew over and around us 3 times.  It was magical, awe-inspiring, amazing and I would do it all over again.  I mean, really, only in L.A. are you going to see a space ship right above the Hollywood sign and never think it’s an odd sight at all.  I love L.A., I really do.  🙂

How about you?  Everyone has something they love about where they live.  Today, share with us what that is. 

Stumbling Upon Kindness

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What this world needs is a new kind of army – the army of the kind. ~Cleveland Amory

I recently shared an Instagram image of my husband and I standing on a street corner in NYC near a chalk-drawn heart at our feet.  A friend asked on the feed, “Did you bring your own chalk?” The comment made me laugh. It sounds like me actually, to do something like that but in this instance, it was someone else who brought the chalk. In fact, it was what I would consider a random act of kindness. We found a number of these chalk hearts along our walk around the city that evening.

Sometimes when we engage ourselves in activities like leaving hope notes, or sidewalk messages, we forget that others might be doing the same. To stumble across gestures of kindness from strangers is nothing short of wonderful. It reminds me that we are all called to be a part of “the army of the kind”.

Today, share a story that expresses the power (and beauty) of kindness.

shoes

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We are all quite obssessed with picturing our feet in cute shoes to show wherever we are standing, aren’t we? So I thought I’d propose something new! How daring! 🙂

Today I invte you to share a shoe with a story. 

These ones picture above were my daughter’s first chucks! She had just taken her first steps when I bought them, and so they marked a whole new beginning for us. I am forever grateful I pulled my iphone and actually snapped this as soon as I unwrapped them. As much as we can see her wearing this pair in all sorts of photos, this is my favorite shot because it tells in itself the story of an important milestone in our lives. Simple and quick to do. It will last a lifetime.

How about you? Show us that special pair you wore in that first hot date, the one you wore at your wedding, or the one your dog chewed on over the weekend. Tell us your cinderella moment if you must! We want to see and hear it all. 

Give us a shoe with a story.

weekending by Susan Licht

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they come by bus, by car,
by foot, by bike
by stroller, and by wheelchair
the young and the old
to shop, to eat
to smell the flowers,
the rich aroma of roasted coffees
and freshly baked breads
 
to take advantage of all that freshly harvested goodness
or just to stop and chat with neighbors and friends
a little slice of life
a celebration of community
-Susan Licht

(Soonie2)

Susan Licht shoots images like this with her Nikon D3000 and spends her weekends outdoors as much as possible, be it exploring the streets of Boston, walking the beaches of Cape Cod or hiking the many conservation trails in and around her hometown.

You can find her on her website Licht Years. 

Are there any farmers markets or pumpkin patches in your weekend plans?

Today’s prompt: mug

Sunday’s prompt: apples

playing with polaroid

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A great opportunity popped up London last month – a Polaroid workshop run by Cyrus Mahboubian with the Impossible Project and Rough Trade. My friend Kirstin told me about it and today she’s sharing her experience here. The workshop offered a little bit of history of polaroid and what The Impossible Project have been up to the past few years. We looked at other polaroid artists and were shown tips on shooting – like shielding your photo as it pops out, although there was much excitement about recent the launch of the new film, but it wasn’t available at the time. Then you get given a pack of film from the Impossible Project as part of the workshop ready for a photowalk. 

20 of us headed out into the glimmering sun and dreamy blue skies, all giddy with excitement and ready to shoot. A photo can be taken at every turn of the Brick Lane area in East London, it’s so cool; a mix of bars & restaurants and market stalls, with graffiti and colour everywhere. We took photos of each other and random things found. It really was liberating knowing that we should just play and shoot our 8 frames of instant film, just experiment and learn from each other… and embrace all results, perfect or not, as part of the learning experience. It was fabulous to see what everyone shot; a mini exhibition spread across the cafe table at Rough Trade.

Here are my four favourite polaroids of the day… I’m so excited to shoot more when I’m at Oasis in a couple of weeks with the other polaroid sisters. Yay!

What have you done with your photography lately that’s different from your usual routine? Have you played and experimented with something out of your comfort zone? please share with us today.

If you’d like more information about other polaroid workshops in your city, please visit the Impossible Project calendar – there’s even another one in London next week. If you can’t take part in a workshop, why not gather some other photographers and take a photowalk of your own.

Sights to See

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Oh my…such a crazy month September has been. Thank goodness for my boy Ben. If it wasn’t for his sweet persistance each day; twice a day….I may just have missed all this…choosing to work rather than  walk.

This fall has been extra lovely….so thankful for Ben’s gentle push…and an iPhone to capture it all. 

What’s your world looking like these days? Share with us today.

 

saturday at the market

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Two weekends ago, I rode the train to New York City with a of film, a few cameras (two Holgas, a flash, a Pentax K1000, some 120 and 35 mm film, and an iPod Touch—4thgen.), and a notebook. The plan was to photograph the bustling Union Square Greenmarket (with 140 regional farmers, fishermen, and bakers and 60,000 or so shoppers) on Saturday.

The minute I crossed Broadway into the sea of white tents and people rushing by, I wondered if I was in over my head even as I reminded myself how many times I’d photographed such scenes before. I took a breath. Loaded both Holgas, one with color film, the other with black and white.

I circled the market, noticed the light, and watched for moments. Slowly I started shooting. Frame by frame. I tuned the chaos out. I discovered small moments. I shot until I ran out of film. Nine rolls, plus thirty-some iTouch images and ten minutes worth of video. These photos reflect some of what I saw.

Photo essay courtesy of Nikki Gardner. You can find her work at Art & Lemons and find out more about Nikki’s latest workshop, Saturday at the Market: a photography workshop for Food and Film Lovers. Her next workshop is Saturday, October 20, 2012. Union Square Greenmarket, NYC. The workshop is limited to 12 people, so sign up early!