Shutter Sisters

when stories come alive

By

 

I went out there with my camera feeling like a ghost hunter. And I was, in a way. Looking to find evidence of spirits that exist in this very place, or in some other parallel version of it.

Plenty of things make you a medium. Words, a camera, a paintbrush, an instrument. Voices whisper and nudge, wanting to be passed on, and so we do. And hope to god we don’t get a tick in the doing of it (IN THE EAR NO LESS).

What you see above is the land where it all happens — this is where a story was born which became a book, and where Eric, the pirate hunter, lives in that other dimension. That’s his farmhouse, which smells like fresh cut wood. His parents bake bread in a kitchen wood oven, a glowing iron hearth that is the pulse of their home. They keep peacocks and they milk goats and yes, Virginia, there are ticks.

Eric and Missy, and Joe, and all the others — they talk to me, whispering in a way I’d never hear if I didn’t know to listen. They tell me how they need things to be. One day the pirate hunter said to me You’re going to have to show them. You‘ve got to convince people it’s real, just like I had to.

I know,  I replied. But I don’t know how.

Didn’t I tell you?  he replied. I’ve got my dad’s old polaroid. That’s how I record the evidence that’s too big to fit into the sailmaker’s chest.

And so on his behalf I became a twelve-year-old boy on a mission. I became my character. I skulked through the woods watching for clues, and I felt watched. What I ended up with was a peek inside Eric’s journal, complete with observations, speculation and context.

Photography helps stories to crackle and spark, don’t you think?

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Today, show us how you’ve applied photography to storytelling, or applied it in other mediums. Show us scrapbooks and collages, canvas prints and websites. Or, show us processing that lends a vintage or artistic feel. What about that treatment made your photo feel ‘done’ — and what role does photography and processing play in your storytelling life?

Thanks to all of you for bearing me as I pull the trigger, to share this enormous day. It’s my birthday, and the day of the book site reveal (in preparation for the release in October). The photographic aspect has been the cherry of the creative process. Pure maraschino joy. Shutter Sisters is my home, and when I’m at home and happy I dance around naked like a fool. And so here you have it.

Comments

  3. oh kate! i can’t’ believe it’s already today. happy day! and happy birthday.

    photographs seem to pull words like taffy for me. it’s just a matter of giving it the time they deserve (being aware that you consciously have to give it). i’ve learned so much from you through your process. you are an inspiration!

  8. This is sooo cool! Congrats on the book! I can’t wait to hunt it down and read it!! And what a cool way to bring photography into the writing… You are inspiring me too!!

  9. Kate, I will comment on this WHEREVER you post it…once again, so damn pleased for you…What is cool is that where most of us DREAM of doing this kind of thing…you are DOING this kind of thing!

    Pirate-Power!

  11. I recently bought a book called "Vemeer’s Women" in which the author wrote poetry to fit some of the artists’ work…the words added to the mystery and beauty of each painting.
    Sometimes a picture will be taken and it just captures emotion and truly a moment in time sparks the imagination…here are a couple I did with my daughters last week…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyhadding/3734423063/
    and
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyhadding/3734420481/in/photostream/
    I want to do more photography like this.

  15. first, happy birthday.

    second, congrats!

    third, i am about to launch a blog with the other five members of my family called sawdust and jazz, which will be a place for us all to upload photos and writing about my father who passed three years ago. he was a carpenter and a lover of jazz music—thus the name. but it will be a place for us to put anything that reminds us of our father/husband and will tell the story of his life through our eyes. i’m actually very excited about it.

  19. Congratulations on your book. You are courageous as well as talented. The journey to show others the world only you can see is a long one. Congratulations on your perseverance and bravery.

  21. This was very timely for us. My baby girl has had a lot of health issues creep up in the past 5 months. And yesterday was her ear tube surgery. I felt silly bringing the camera. But this baby’s life is well documented with stories.

    One day in Lily’s life
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/59339563@N00/3745043734/?edited=1

    I am not exactly amazing at storyboards and what not. So this was just done through bighugelabs. But in each of the individual photos, I have told her story.

  22. You are most inspiring Kate. I have a feeling I’ll be up late reading very soon. The picture of the Mabel is my favorite.