Sunday School: Break the Rules

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes?  If I'm really honest?  I get tired of taking photos.  I get bored with the same old angles and depth of field and eye-popping color.  When this happens, it's usually related to taking pictures of my daughter Cadence because Lord knows I've taken thousands of shots of her.

I've serendipitously found that the best thing to do when I hit the shutter block is to break the rules.  Now, now, I know we would mostly agree that there aren't hard and fast rules in photography, but if we're honest, we probably set up rules for ourselves in the way that we personally shoot on a day-to-day basis.   Sometimes they start out as habits or preferences, and then they subconsciously turn into rules.  Or some rules, we create because we're afraid we'll take bad photographs if we do things a certain way. 

You know what?  Those rules?  No one's watching to see if you're keeping them.  In fact, I bet if you start breaking some, it'll inject new life and creativity into your art.  So go ahead.  Shoot into the sun.  Shake that camera during a long exposure. Shoot at an f/8.0 instead of wide open.  Crank up the ISO.  Get down low.  Embrace the blur.  Turn off the flash.  Turn ON the flash.  Whatever YOUR rules may be--you've gotta break 'em every now and then.  It's one of the ways to improve and grow as a photographer.

What are some rules that you've consciously or subconsciously set up for yourself?  Which ones do you plan on breaking?  Please share, and don't forget to include links to images if you've broken rules. 

Superhero Photo Challenge: Join us on the Shutter Sisters walk!

Who: Andrea in her superhero boots, photo by Tracey
What: Alltop Kirtsy party
Where: Guy Kawasaki's house

Shutter Sisters will be leading a photo walk at Blogher today! If you find yourself outside of San Francisco, we invite you to stroll virtually with us. Take a photo walk in your neighborhood, at the beach, the park, wherever you find yourself today and post a link to your photo here. This way all the sisters near and far are connected...

We want to see the world through your eyes and celebrate this amazing community of women.

the inner voice

When I was browsing through all the images from one of my latest photo sessions, it was this one in particular that I was drawn to the most.

There was just something about her reflection, how the liquid quality made it appear gentle, smooth and comforting that had me linger. As I looked deeper, my thoughts went to the idea that there is a side to each of us, an inner voice within, sharing these same gentle qualities. I imagine that this part of us is our most centered selves, that voice of reason, holding all of the answers we are searching for.

We all have those inner gremlins that attempt to penetrate our hearts and minds with negative self talk. A while ago, my husband brought to my attention that if we take a moment and truly listen to what those gremlins sound like, they sound harsh and shrill and perhaps panicked.

But there is a softer voice within. It sounds gentle, wise and empowering. I choose to believe that this is the inner voice that speaks our truth. An inner voice that if we pay more attention, those gremlins would eventually grow weaker.

Many times I get distracted from this gentler voice. I am easily influenced by the harsher ones but deep down I know that it is my inner wisdom I trust the most.

This is a constant message that has surfaced throughout my long fertility journey and one I have found surfaces for others throughout their own life journeys. It surfaced again recently when gazing at this photograph. I saw this inner voice embodied in her reflection. This image brought to life the idea that this part of us is always present, helping us to stay grounded as we take each step. We just have to trust that it is there.

I love how when we open our hearts and pay attention, we discover some amazing wisdom and lessons through the images we capture with our lens. I suppose in a sense, our camera carries the essence of our third eye.

If you have had a similar experience with a profound message you discovered through an image of yours or someone else’s, do share in the comments if inspired.

Photo and words courtesy of Honorary Sister/Guest Blogger Boho Girl Denise Andrade.

Love Thursday: July 17, 2008

I've been going through my archives over the past few days, and I stumbled across this photograph of my daughter resting her head on her father's shoulder.  At the time, Alex was about 2 years old.  She's only 4 now, yet the feeling of nostalgia that washed over me as I looked at this shot was palpable.  Alex and my husband remain as close as ever; but this image made me realize how long that closeness has existed.  I love the soulfulness in her eyes.  This is definitely one she'll hang in her college dorm room.

Happy Love Thursday, everyone.   As always, please leave your links of love in the comments section below, and be sure to check out the beautiful shots left by lorelairoark and VWC Photography in our Shutter Sisters Flickr pool.

For those of you who will be attending BlogHer, I look forward to meeting you at the Shutter Sisters Photo Walk!  My husband bought me  a point-and-shoot camera (a Nikon Coolpix!), and I have NO idea how to use it.  I'll be looking for tips from you all!

And may you shoot lots of memories today.

Grand Collaborations

View from the Navy Pier in Chicago at BlogHer 2007

As I tie up loose ends and back my bags for the weekend’s festivities I am giddy. More than anything BlogHer has become a block of time to be in the true physical presence of some of my favorite women that for the most part, I only get to spend time with virtually. It’s something I look forward to all year.

This year feels extra special though.

At last year’s BlogHer I was talking up this great idea I had of a unique collaborative photo blog for women that I had planned to launch called Shutter Sisters. People would ask for details and I remember saying, I’m not exactly sure what’s it’s going to be. I just know it’s going to be amazing. And it is truly amazing. I had an idea of what I hoped it would be but little did I know the caliber of community that has come to surround and support the blog would surpass my wildest dreams. You all have helped make Shutter Sisters what it is today. And it just keeps getting better. Thank you all so very much.

This year BlogHer for me will be an even richer celebration of sisterhood and some of the contributing sisters and many of our community will be gathering, walking the streets of San Francisco, clickin’ around town together. It feels almost surreal and I eagerly look forward to Saturday’s PhotoWalk. What’s more is that, thanks to Blurb, we will be kicking off the Shutter Sisters Collaborative Book Collection! You asked for it. You got it. The book will be called ShutterWalk and it will be full of some highlights from the PhotoWalk images captured. All participants have to do is upload their PhotoWalk Photos into the ShutterWalk Flickr Group, tag them with ssphotowalk08 and our favorites will be chosen for our book.

Since there are so many of you that aren’t able to join us this weekend, we are also going to begin the process of choosing the images for our second book. Yep. That’s two. We’re pretty ambitious, aren’t we? This is so that everyone can get into the spirit of starting our library of books. It will be called The Daily Click (crowd goes wild). The photos that will be chosen for the book from our Daily Click stream will be up to you!

Between now and August 1^st it is your job to be book curator. All you have to do is click through all The Daily Clicks and comment on the ones you hope to see in our book. The photos with the most comments will be featured in our First Annual Daily Click Collection. We can’t wait to see which photos you choose!

Once the books are done, they will be available at the Blurb Bookstore. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the best cause we could think of, Jen and Odette’s Girl Power Afrcia fund.

Thank you again to all of you for being involved here and so wonderfully supportive. It means to the world to us. Especially to me. Sniff sniff.