Love Thursday: messages for your heart

Over the last few months, I've been going through a bit of a transformation -- and it culminated yesterday, when I formally turned in my resignation at my job:  I'm going to be leaving the practice of law to pursue a more artistic and creative living.

As you can imagine, it's been a bit of a tumultuous ride -- it still is, and likely will be for a while, until I get my groove on.  That said, it gets better every day:  a few months ago, while I was still formulating my plan, I was in a pretty emotional state.  But as it happened, I decided to take a few days vacation from my life:  I went to a place I'd never been, with a bunch of women many of whom I didn't know, and rested and reflected.

It was there that my decision to leave law, a career about which I was never particularly passionate, was solidified.  It was also there that I wandered into a little shop, and found the tiny silver pendant you see in the image above.  I bought it on the spot, and made the decision that I would wear it every day until I submitted my resignation, as a reminder to stay true to my heart, and to my soul.  And I have, too:  because sometimes, even while we take care of our partners, our children, our friends and our families, it's good to take a little time to show yourself a little love, too.  For me, it was good to have this little token on me to remind me to do just that.

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Happy Love Thursday, all.  Please leave your links to your images of love in the comments below -- and if you have them, images of the little messages you've come across that help remind you to show yourself a little love.  The images uploaded by she saw things and barilynn8 into the Shutter Sisters Flickr Pool are great examples.

And try to remember to show yourself a little love today.

The Way Things Have To Be

He is standing by the pie counter, talking on the phone.  Nick’s at the bar doing shots before the show.  I am waiting—wondering what the hell I’m doing here, partying with twenty-somethings in Manhattan when in a few days I’ll be turning forty.  

“A girl?” I ask him, and he nods, sheepish, rolling his eyes.  “Do you like her?” I ask later, when he hangs up because he can’t bear me photographing him like this.   

“We used to be together a long time ago,” he says, confessional.  “So I guess I’ll always be in love with her.”  
I show him this picture, and he asks for a do over.  I take a handful more staged shots of him, talking on the phone and flexing his biceps.  We laugh, collect Nick from the bar and go to the show.

It’s only when I’m home that I see the pieces of a heart in his reflection and remember how he laughed to hear her voice, how he folded his body in tight when they said good-bye, remembering the way things are, the way things have to be.

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What photo do you want to share today?  What tiny truth do you see when you look through your lens?

The Great Indoors

So, as you probably know by now, I’m all jacked up on Ali Edward’s ‘a week in the life’ project. It has giving me the perfect creative nudge I needed and now, there’s no stopping me. Since this week is still the shooting and gathering phase I’m loving it (that sounded bad). Anyway, ask me how I’m doing next week when it’s time to actually put this stuff in a book. I’m a little afraid. But, I’m choosing to live in the moment and most of my moments are enjoyed in the comfort of my own home. This means, I’m doing a lot of shooting indoors this week. In light of that (I love photo puns, don’t you?) Ali and I thought it might be fun if I shared a few hints about getting the best shots possible when shooting inside your own four walls.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Look to the Light

-Getting to know the light of your home is the first and perhaps the best tip I can offer. It’s as easy as finding your windows and using them as your main light source for your photos. I’m not talking direct, bright sun though. I mean look for the soft, subdued light that can fill a room.

-If you’re shooting someone eating breakfast near the window in the dining room, use that window as your ‘light box’. Test out the placement of each chair to gage where the best light falls and then sit your child, husband, unsuspecting neighbor in that seat to best capture your morning. You can encourage your subjects to look into the light for a flat yet flattering effect on your subjects face or you can turn them a bit sideways to the light source to give their face a little more dimension. Each equally delightful I think.

-Before I go on a shoot at a new client’s home, I will give them the job to take a day to observe the light patterns around their home. When does the softest light flood the living room? What time of day does the light fill the new baby’s room? They can then offer a timetable to schedule our session and I am assured the light will be ample and attractive. If you can do this in your home and be mindful of when you opt to take photos around the house (of people or of still life shots) you’ll up your chances of getting better shots.

Rearrange your Routines

-Once you’ve established the light patterns around your home, every once in a while you can creative schedule a daily activity at the time and location that offers the best light. Yes, I am aware that this is a form of manipulation of your truest daily life but it’s not at all disruptive and can often make for a fun variation. When I know I am itching to get some fun shots of bath time, I will give my daughter her bath in the afternoon (instead of at night before bed) because the light in the bathroom is divine around 3pm. I know this from watching the light in the rooms of my house religiously.

-When my daughter was a baby I used to let her nap in my bed on days when I wanted to capture photos of her sleeping. The light in my room was perfect around her morning nap and I could snap away as she slept with beautiful light and perfect view free of crib bars.

Crank the ISO

-I know that many of us learn early on that a high ISO is a bad thing. Not always true. I shoot at a high ISO a lot and I’m here to tell you that it is FINE. And when shooting inside in low light, it can be a life saver. Or perhaps better said a picture saver. Changing your ISO to 800 or even 1600 indoors, in low light settings can be the difference between capturing the shot vs. missing it.

-If you’re still getting lots of blur in your shot, try to steady the camera with a makeshift tripod. Like setting the camera on the table (use one finger or book or napkin wedged in between the table and the lens to point it up a bit). Or prop your camera on something else around the house to keep it still. I’ll set my camera almost anywhere if I need to and almost never have the need for a tripod.

-And don’t be afraid of shooting blind; as in not looking through the view finder when you click the shot. Sometimes it can be tough to see through the viewfinder when your camera is on the floor. The featured photo above was shot blindly; proof that the results can be surprisingly successful.

Mellow the Yellow

-Ambient light is a beautiful thing. The glow of golden light gives a feeling of a soft and subtle moment that is undeniable. But sometimes the yellow hue that comes along with ambient light can be overwhelming and even distracting. If you’ve got a photo that tickles your fancy but is just too golden for its own good, try an easy edit in whatever photo editing software you might use to cool down the photo. This usually means that you need to add blue to the image which will help neutralize the yellow and even out the overall color of your shot. Some programs have a warm/cool slide to play with while other let you slide the color back and forth (like blues to yellows). Somewhere in the slide, you’ll find a happy place. For a before and after shot taken in the light of my dining room at our evening routine of a quick bedtime snack, check out my post at Mother May I today.

I encourage you to put these ideas to the test as you go about your life clicking the moments that make you happy. And, as always, you are welcome to post any links today where you’ve succeeded shooting indoors. Don't be shy about it either. If you've got some indoor shooting secret weapons, enlighten us.

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Congratulations to Praire Poppins,  Emily,  Dr. Lyn and Joanne. They will each recieve a copy of one of Ali Edwards' books! Thanks Ali and thank you all for your comments on our giveaway post! Woot!

Seeing is Everything

I wait for the waves to come swirling around my feet and when they do, I gasp. The northwestern Pacific Ocean waters are cold, so cold. Gorgeous but unapologetically frigid. Enough to send me running for the blanket, which I immediately sprawl out on. Ava refuses to let the cold water stop her. She wades bravely out into the ocean and I watch as her body takes on soft undulations, I watch as the waves slap unevenly against her skin. She calls out to me and I know what she wants. She wants me to join her. Too cold, I yell back. But she pleads with me, she wears me down. Reluctantly, I grab the Nikon, the Argus Seventy-Five (with the wacky cardboard contraption attached) and make my way towards the water. I look into the viewfinder of the old camera and find Ava. She fills the frame of the tiny glass square and I see her with new eyes. I point the lens of my Nikon into the cardboard device attached to the Argus and I begin to shoot. And I forget about the temperature of the water. My feet are numb but I am oblivious. I can't stop looking, can't stop shooting.

I first read about the Through The Viewfinder technique (aka TtV) back in 2006. I followed a link to a link to another link and before I knew it, I was constructing my first device out of an old cereal box. Through the Viewfinder photography is the using of one camera to take a picture of an image in another camera's viewfinder. In essence, using the second camera's viewfinder as a lens. Two years later and I have come to look at it as my secret weapon. When I am stuck in a photographic rut, I reach for my Nikon/Argus/Duaflex combination and hit the streets. I look down through the viewfinder and my framing changes, I see things so differently. I realize this can be said for most photographic techniques but something about TtV excites me in totally different way. It's the perfect combination of old and new. Simple but complicated. And so accessible. It's the next best thing to loading the camera up with film. And while it will never replace shooting with film, it comes in a very close second. I'll admit, I'm hooked. I'm riding high and waving the TtV flag. I'm not too proud to wave the flag.

And I'm converting sisters along the way. If this interests you, I've written a lengthier breakdown (which will lead you to a whole mess of TtV linkage) over on my blog. Enough to get you started, enough to get your feet wet. And I recommend getting your feet wet. Whether it's with TtV or something else. Whatever takes you out of your comfort zone and plops you right down in the middle of someplace new, whatever forces you to see the world differently, whatever that is for you. Wade out into the cold, unknown waters. It's the only way.

Picture and words courtesy of honorary sister/guess blogger Andrea Jenkins perhaps better known as Hula, woman extraordinaire behind Hula Seventy & girlhula a la Flickr.

photographing photos

There's something very endearing about Kathya's photos. They exude simple beauty. They tell lovely stories. Their sense of warmth draw you in like a big, soft blanket on a chilly day. And they make you hungry.

Kathya's On my little white table Flickr set is one of my favorite places on the Internet. Her digital photos of Polaroid shots (like the one above) are brilliant composition-wise, and the unique way she uses natural light and color always sprinkles some kind of magic into my daily life.

"The reason why I chose to take a digital photo of a Polaroid was mainly because I liked the idea of film in digital" Kathya says, "I'm a big fan of analog photography and that's what I mostly shoot, but sometimes I enjoy the clarity that digital brings."

Have you tried this? If not use Polaroid photos, old photos (younger/older shots), opposites (night/day or before/after), etc. and take photos of your photos! The possibilities are truly endless. Show me your best shots and please leave your links in the comment section below.