Come as you are

As I began to think about my post for Shutter Sisters this week, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of doubt. What do I have to offer? What if I fail? 

I noticed that these questions often arise for me in Writing, but never in Photography. Writing is definitely more vulnerable. It requires me to stand still and hold my reins firmly in the open fields of thought, in the land of “wild horses”. Writing takes me galloping on an emotional journey, and only if I am lucky (and blessed with unexplained divine intervention!), it brings me back to what is simple and real. Sigh. It is that good when the writing process comes full circle, isn’t it?

Photography, on the other hand, by its own mechanism, grants me permission to release, both the shutter and the expectation. It invites me to keep it simple: to show up and see, to focus and release. It is a process rooted in the present. It whispers to me: Come as you are. It seduces me: Whether you’ll miss it, like it or not, you’re about to enter the truth of a moment. How can one resist, right?

Indeed, it is in the merging of both of these Art forms that this post and I exist. I had to roam freely, tame fears, and in a moment of clarity, remember to let myself be charmed by what I love, and release. So now I tempt you to join me and “Come as You Are” as well. Show me whatever you’ve got today that represents your journey, your process, without any worry, without a plan, just with the truth of what is.

So excited to introduce Alex de Souza of Gypsy Girls Guide fame as a new regular contributor here. Yay!

Fridays Featured Resource - Photoinduced takes lunch

I met the amazing Damon at an event sometime ago and was immediately impressed with his jovial spirit and his larger than life personality. It didn't hurt of course that he was so supportive of what we were doing over here at Shutter Sisters. A guy after my own heart. On top of all that, he's a fantastic photographer and the man behind Photoinduced, a great photography resource site. Tech stuff, events, contests, interviews, photo gear, expo coverage, videos, you name it, Photoinduced covers it.

Oh, and then there's the yummy contest he's are hosting over there right now. Let's do Lunchis a cleverly themed contest (love this idea) which has a charity driven focus. In other words, you enter your images of you 'doing lunch' (I told you it was clever) so you can be entered to win some pretty awesome prizes and a percentage of your entry fee goes to local food banks. With a great way to give back and a creative contest to shoot for, I told you Photoinduced is cooking up some cool stuff over there.

Today, show us how you do lunch.  And be sure to enter the contest and show 'em how us Sisters do it!

the beauty of stillness

I pulled myself away from the iphone and my ridiculous addiction to searching on ebay and went to that peaceful hammock between two oak trees.  I laid down and could hear the millions upon millions of leaves stretching over acres to create this rhythmic rustling sound. It was a sound that made an overwhelming sense of peace flow from my head to my bare feet.  When I look up at the vast sky, it's impossible to not feel like a part of something bigger.  To realize that we may be only one piece of this larger-than-life puzzle... but our piece matters because it is part of what completes the picture.

In our day-to-day demands, we sometimes become that furry hamster on the wheel.  We get lost in the humdrum of our normal rhythm and miss the beauty of stillness. 

So take time today to be still.
Take a walk and soak in the turning autumn leaves.
Lay a blanket outside tonight and look up at all those twinkling lights in the sky.
Let nature be your soundtrack.

We'd love to see some of your still moments today.

Picture and words courtesy of Honorary Sister / Guest Blogger Rachel Brooke. For more inspiration, visit her lovely blog.

Teacher Johnson Goes to School

It is the last day before everyone leaves.  The internet lab--the first of its kind in Arusha and maybe even Tanzania--is humming as the kids type their tweets back and forth to one another and then their new counterparts around the world.  Teacher Johnson, handsome as always in his dress shirt and freshly polished shoes, logs on--could it be?--on the last day, for the first time?

Teacher Johnson!  You don't have any followers!  Where are all your tweets?  I don't know what he'll do on Monday when everyone is gone.  Did you go to the class for the teachers?  He feels my panic and flashes me that sheepish, worried smile. We both know how hard the volunteers worked; how insistent they were this could happen, that it would be easy, even if we both had our secret, silent doubts.

I'll get it.  I'm getting it, he says, as he hunts and pecks his way forward into his new responsibility as internet advocate extraordinaire. 

This is how it is when we bring new things halfway around the world.  We have no idea how foreign things  feel.  We glide right over how strange it is to trust that we'll still be together when we've always been so far apart.  We have no comprehension of what it means to be over and over again left behind and then in one instant, forever included.

I promise to retweet him religiously.  To help him get the most followers of any tweeter in the school.  His eyes flash with the spark of competition.  His fingers move a little faster as we joke and smile.  He is deciding to believe it might stay, this tiny thread connecting divergent worlds.  He is deciding to put a sliver of hope in it.  He is deciding to try.

You can follow Teacher Johnson's clever quotes and honest questions at @teacherjohnson1 on Twitter.

The Power of Glass and Mirrors

 

There is a belief shared by some cultures that photography has the power to steal a soul... imprisoning it within its amalgam of polyester, celluloid, salts and gelatin.

What do you believe?

For me, what used to be camera shy, still is. But I'm finding over the years it has evolved from the worry of soul stealing into the peace of soul searching. The more I put myself in front of my own lens, the more I see the layers peeling away to reveal something I had long forgotten. It's me. The less I realize it's being stolen, the more I realize I am giving it freely. There is beauty in that.

Are we really the projections we put out into the world? Sometimes I joke that people might not recognize me in real life if they only know me through images or words. There might be truth to that. Can photography catch those collective bits of me to make me whole? I only know that I hope to become the person I can {sometimes} catch on film.

Tell me, how do you see yourself? Is it hard for you to step in front of the camera? Be brave and show your self. In truthiness, in art, in mystique... whatever your comfort. The self you put out there might be the one you most want to be. Today you might be the peace before the storm or the rage after the rain. You might be humbled, blessed, joyous, tired, overwhelmed, or bored beyond belief. Discover something about yourself by peering into your own lens. There are alot of stunning self portrait photographs in the Shutter Sister's collection. Have a peek... and know this:

We are powerful, those of us who wield a camera. We can pull emotion through glass and mirrors.