bits and bobs

When he's in his highchair I can't resist: my hands find their way underneath to squeeze his legs, my nose to his nose as he wracks in giggles, squeals in my ear.

Three months premature and just two pounds when he was born, his first shoes are a size three, newborn-sized. He's two weeks shy of his first birthday.

As adorable as they may be, full-term babies are comically enormous to me now, linebackers. Under the cuff of these pants I can feel his calf between forefinger and thumb, his skin chilly there as it always is, skin soft, mine. I could look at this photo in fifty years and have that sensation as clear as today.

Someday he'll be a man, hardened and fuzzy all over, muscled and definitive both in personality and stride. And I'll remember him as he was, lying in humid incubation next to his mirror-brother, waiting for life to begin.

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Baby-feet, lover-torso, sisters holding hands. Show us piecemeal photography today, will you?

Small Is Beautiful

I don't know about you, but I've often wondered why I even bother to share my stories on my blog or post photos on Flickr when there is already a cornucopia of awesome bloggers and mindblowing photographers out there on the world wide web.  It's hard to fight the feelings of insignificance and unworthiness that creep up every time I post a story or a photo, as I nervously wonder if anyone else out there will find what I have to share even remotely interesting. 

Fortunately, I discovered the Small Is Beautiful Manifesto (curated by Magpie Girl and our own Jen Lemen), and boy, what a load off my back that was!  Read it for yourselves, and you'll know what I'm talking about.  While that little manifesto was written with bloggers in mind, I think it's just as applicable to photographers.  I really do believe that our photos matter, regardless of who actually sees them.  If a photo you capture holds meaning for you, or stirs your soul, or makes you laugh or smile or think or cry, then it matters, even if the profundity or joke or wisdom or sentiment may elude every one else.  If you are passionate about photography, then taking photos for the pure love and joy of it is more important than how many views or comments you receive on Flickr or your photoblog.

Go ahead.  Experience the freedom that comes from believing that Small Really Is Beautiful.  You won't regret it.

And feel free to share a link to a photo that matters to YOU. 

*Edited to add: Just to be clear, the  book pictured above is E.F. Schumacher's book about "economics as if people mattered" and NOT the Small Is Beautiful Manifesto, which is not a book at all, but a short statement of beliefs that will take most people less than a minute to read.  So don't be afraid to click on the link! 

Captured

There have been so many times in my life when I’ve uttered the dreaded phrase; I wish I had a camera. Too many to count actually. Like the time when we were in Spain and the battery in my camera died on our long, meandering walk through the countryside of a tiny village where we had spent our day. We were roaming up and down sloping hills, and as we dropped into a still valley, through the tall brush rose the ruins of an old church. Dark, time-worn stones still held a sacred shape on the overgrown holy ground. And right above the still pointed tip of the remaining peaked wall was the glowing moon, dangling in the late afternoon sky; a sight so breathtaking I was weak in the knees. And yet, I had no camera to capture it. At least not a camera that worked.

Photography is an art that can often take us by surprise. A moment we weren’t expecting happens right before our lens and-click-we grab it just like that. Events and expressions happen around us everyday that are photo-worthy. Although I don’t carry my camera everywhere I go, there are times, by a stroke of good fortune or maybe even synchronicity that I’ve had my camera with me at the perfect moment.

The other day as I was driving away from a portrait session, down the steep hill away from my client’s quite street, I headed toward the hustle and bustle of an LA Blvd. As I slowly approached the signal, there before me was an impossibly blue sky, dreamlike billowy clouds and this architecture that made the whole landscape come alive. It was as if everyone came out to play and I had stumbled across the fun. Sitting beside me, in the passenger seat was my trusty companion. What luck! Click.

Are there any pictures you’ve captured when you were especially glad you had your camera? Share your clicks.

Get Silly

When was the last time you got silly? This weekend, get outside. Walk around the block with no shoes on. Pick flowers out of your neighbors' yards and wear them in your hair. Let your kids stay up past their bedtime. Build a fort on your couch with sheets and pillows. Make up silly lyrics to your favorite songs. Watch a scary movie with all of the lights off. Do cartwheels and spin in circles until you fall down.

And don't forget to take pictures.

Love Thursday: April 17, 2008

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."  -Galileo Galilei

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We can't wait to see all the Love you discovered this week.  Happy Love Thursday Everyone!