Sunday School: Shifting Focus

There's a lot going on right now in my life.  From work projects to a family vacation in our beloved Pacific NW to Cadence starting preschool at the end of the month, among other things.  Busy stuff, hard stuff, good stuff, fun stuff.  I've never been all that good at multi-tasking, so I'm having a hard time finding my focus these days.  In fact, stringing words together into a coherent post is kind of beyond my grasp right now.

Which brings me to the point of this week's Sunday School.  I've discovered that when you're on a shoot, and there's a lot going on and you just don't know what image to capture first, you can often get an interesting photo by shifting your camera's focus onto something that's not the actual focus of attention and letting everything else blur into the background (or foreground).  Doing a few shots like this may give you a clearer vision of how you want to document what's going on.  You may even find that what you're really interested in capturing is not what's actually the center of everyone else's attention.

Hmm...Maybe I can apply this little tidbit to my life right now.  Maybe what I need is to focus on something less obvious or even nothing at all for a while.  One of the things I actually like about the photo above is that when I stare at it, I feel like I'm zoning out, but in a really meditative way.   It's actually quite soothing.

Check out this uniquely focused and meditative photo by Amy Sahba, or this one by jennyhud and this one by Danisoul.  How about you?  Have you shifted focus lately?  Please share your images and/or stories.

Superhero Photo Challenge: Up with silly!

This was one of my favorite photos from the Shutter Sisters walk during Blogher. (This photo is by Damaris) We had walked for over an hour through Chinatown, meticulously shooting paper lanterns, colorful umbrellas all in a row, a bride and groom rushing down Stockton Street...But in the end, this is the shot I love best.

We're at the end of our walk. We finally found the chickens hanging in the window that one of the food bloggers wanted to capture, and we all decided to devour some potstickers. This photo is of course a full documentation of said potstickers.

In my constant search for beauty, in my quest to be artistic, I often forget to capture the silly, the messy, the moment.This week's challenge is to do just that. Up with siily! Up with the snapshot! Let go of technique and show us something that just makes you grin.

Friday's Featured Resource- Digital Photography School

Darren Rowse of Problogger fame has got one awesome photo resource blog out there called Digital Photography School. I’m sure many of you already know all about the site as it is choc full of everything a photographer (or budding photographer) wants to know. Personally, I subscribe to the weekly newsletter because it recaps the week’s features for me in a handy email so I can click over at what sparks my creative interest.

Dig through the archives to find info on almost anything photo related from cleaning your lens to understanding white balance to Photoshop shortcuts. And if you're ooking for insights on how to photograph waterfalls, fireworks or mushrooms(pictured above) DPS has got tips for all of these things and more.

What caught my eye this week was Darren’s take on curiosity as one of the traits of a good photographer. I loved his follow up post too- How to be a Curious Photographer.

I love that he encourages us to play and break the rules (a photographer after my own heart) but many of his tips also encourage asking questions, working with a buddy and learning from each other. I'm pretty hip to the community thing so I really appreciate his ideas.

Curious? I thought so. Now click on over and see for yourself why Digital Photography School is our very first* Friday’s Featured Resource.

Feel free to share any of your own curious captures with us today and we'll see if we can figure them out.

*Yes, that means that we will be featuring more fantastic photo resources on Fridays. Got a website, blog or any other photo resource you can’t live without? Shoot an email to click at Shutter Sisters dot com and tell us about it!

Love Thursday: Private time

As you've probably guessed by now, my favourite images to capture are private moments of people expressing their love. The image above was taken early one morning on the Oregon coast -- i was taking a walk with a friend of mine when she noticed this father taking his baby boy out to see the ocean.  They were beautiful, and it was a beautiful moment.

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Happy Love Thursday, all.  Please leave your links of love in the comments below.  Also, be sure to take a look at the private moments captured by girl seeking grace and angs*photos left in the Shutter Sisters Flickr pool.  

And may you share a quiet moment of love today.

Crowd Goes Wild

It’s that time again when the children among us head off into the annual ritual of structure and routine that is school. Another year older, more articulate, confident, sure. More…grown up. I am left now reflecting on the journey and what its taken to get to here—the hard work and growing pains, the exhilaration of approaching a milestone; breathing in the goodness of the day, arms to the sky celebrating where we have been, where we are now…how far we’ve come.

I can see it in my daughter’s face as we pack her backpack for middle school. She is giddy with growing up. I thought she’d be nervous, pensive, hesitant—but she’s not. She’s thrilled! And she should be.

The same should go for us. We should mindfully create a time in our own lives to take stock; look back at the past, nod in respect and appreciate how much we’ve grown as people, as women, as wives, as mothers, as friends, as photographers. No matter where we are in the journey, we have traveled to get here and our present place (where ever that may be) is worthy of acknowledgment.

Good news often greets me with words from this community—photo milestones, projects, awards, recognition. Reasons to celebrate. That’s what we’re here for. To encourage one another in our creative work. So…I urge you all to recognize how far you’ve come. Celebrate yourselves and each other as we all raise our lenses to the infinite blue sky and bask in the accolades we so deserve. Whether it be through the recognition from the public or capturing an image that sings to our own soul, what you are all doing, the creative strides you are all making are amazing.

So, out with it. Is there anything you want to say today to take that step in giving yourself a loving and appreciative pat on the back? What about those photos? If there’s a shot you want to celebrate, post it here. Today is all about bragging rights. I can hear the roar of a collective applause already!