get on the floor

One of the best ways to shake things up a little bit it is to take a photo from an unexpected angle. In our daily lives we tend to view things from about 5 feet up (give or take several inches…I know, I know). But try laying, squatting, or kneeling on the floor or ground with your camera and notice the difference. It’s a whole new world from down there! Those of you who have small children are probably not strangers to kneeling down and getting on their level, whether it’s to take a picture or to give a hug. That’s a great way to capture your little ones in their environment.

But there are a lot of other subjects that look amazing when shot from down below too like buildings, nature, and streets scenes. And there are a few different ways I tend shoot from the ground. One way is to get down low and then shoot up at something, like the shot above or this one from southhollisqueen. I also love the look of a super low, parallel-to-the-ground shot like this one from veridianblue. Or there’s the less extreme, but effective technique of kneeling but still shooting slightly down on a subject like jen_maiser did.

Okay, I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t always have to physically get down on the ground for this to work. You can use Sarah's Just Shoot It technique and hold your camera closer to the ground or actually on the ground and hope for the best. If you’re anything like me, it might save you from having some seriously sore thigh muscles the next morning.

So get on the floor and show us your results in the comments!

I just like to take pictures

For years, I've spent entirely too much time thinking about what I want to photograph and how I want to photograph it before I actually get behind the lens. Part of it stems from being an art school student, where I not only had to develop good composition and technical skills for my grade, but also had to attend critique once a month. In a room full of my peers and teachers, I had to discuss what I was trying to achieve in the photograph I chose for the session.

Being under the microscope like that made me start questioning what I was shooting and why. I almost stopped taking pictures all together, because I thought I was incapable of any artistic vision. But I stuck with it, and as I matured a little those college years, I started to realize that a lot of artists need "concepts" and "statements" and "hype" to get them noticed. I'm not that kind of artist. I just like to take pictures.

When I was asked to take part of Shutter Sisters, a part of that insecure girl from art school resurfaced. I asked Tracey if I could just post once a month instead of once a week and blamed it on my workload. In hindsight? I think it was because I was afraid my photos weren't strong enough for an online critique.

Then something Maile wrote really resonated with me, and just last week Sarah-Ji said 'just shoot it'. So I listened. And I captured moments like this. Shots that just... happen. Occurrences and surroundings I see every day and have missed as great photo opportunities. I'm having more fun with my camera then I have in ages.

What about you? What got you interested in photography? And how have your images changed since you first got behind a camera?

Love Thursday: March 20, 2008

“It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.”

 -- Irish saying

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I came across the saying above while looking for a quote for Love Thursday that was specifically (a) about love, and (b) Irish in origin, what with it being the week of St. Patrick's Day and all.  My first reaction when I read it was to giggle:  to be honest, I can't say that I love potatoes so much that it would that difficult to halve them with anyone; but yeah, I get the point. 

Then I started thinking about it a little more.  And I realized that it speaks to me in more ways than I first thought.

Recently, a friend of mine who is in the hospital awaiting a bone marrow transplant asked me to register with the National Bone Marrow Registry.  It turns out that it is very difficult to find a match for those of us who are from the Caribbean, because many of us are multiracial; so she asked if I would go ahead and register.  While the entire concept of undergoing surgery to donate marrow sort of freaks me out, I agreed to do it without hesitation:  after all, it is easy to halve the potato when there is love, right?

I registered online, and within a week or so, the swab kit arrived at my home.  I did the test and returned the swabs to the mailbox within 10 minutes, before I thought about it too much -- after all, this is to help a friend.  But of course, since doing so, it's been on my mind a lot:  since  there's no way to specify for whom I'd be willing to be a donor, the truth is the phone could ring at any time, telling me that I'm a match for a total stranger in need.

Though I'm not proud of it, it scares me even more that I may be called to undergo surgery to help someone I don't know.  However, the truth is I'm not sure that I could possibly say no, you know?  So as I ponder the Irish saying above, I realize that for me, there's really a lesson to be learned:

It is easy to halve the potato when there is love -- the trick, I guess, is to love broadly enough so that halving the potato just becomes second nature.

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Happy Love Thursday, everyone.  Please leave your links of love in the comments section, below -- and for inspiration, check out the great work left by Mrs. Eaves, Justmeagain2006,  and essaydoctor1 in our Shutter Sisters Flickr pool.

 And, at the risk of running this metaphor into the ground:  may you always find it easy to halve your potato. ;-)

Authentic

This is a shot taken from my first senior portrait shoot of the season. It started out the same way they all do. With me wondering if my clients think my minivan makes me uncreative. And with my clients wondering if I'm going to make them sit on a bail of hay and say "NUT BALLS". Kellye made it clear in an email to me beforehand when she said "I just don't want to look uber-cheesy". It was her way of saying  "make me look good". After fifteen years of shooting, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. And it's understandable. In all honesty, it's also easy part. Looking good is just about light, and posing and angles. It's about stuff that can be packaged up into a nice formula.

What can't be packaged up, is what my clients are really saying, which is: "Make me look good, and make me look like myself". This is the challenge. Because it's hard to find the real parts of a person when you don't know them. If you're looking for something real, you must be willing to be vulnerable too. Even then, the real parts of a person might still remain illusive. And that's okay. I've gone through many successful photo shoots, positioning people in pretty light, making them "look good". And it's enough. As an observer/photographer/human being, it's a rush when authenticity happens. But as it is in every day living, you never know when it will.

And that's how this shoot went. We started off posing. The light was as beautiful as she was (is). And it was fine. Then she got out her gi and her sword. And the girl who'd been politely smiling and posing, turned into a Force of Nature. Something in her eyes showed up, that was all her own. A Black Belt in Karate, she turned a sword fight into a dance. And I was completely mesmerized by her transformation. I realized that this was her Art. This was what made her feel most like her Self, and I felt privileged to capture it. It also made me think about how we all have that Thing that makes us feel like our Selves. Whether it's baking a cake, or writing stories, organizing drawers, or delivering babies...there is something that makes us feel at home. It's the part of you that that has always been there. The part that you don't question. What is that part for you?

The Details of Friendship

I was lucky enough to share some of my weekend with a handful of dear friends. This much needed girl time was like food for my soul; a time to slow down, to catch up, to unwind, to take in, to savor, to be present, to give and to receive. I rarely take my camera to these kinds of gatherings because I can get preoccupied with the photo part and I have learned to allow myself (and enjoy) being camera free. But lately, looking at endless photos of friends basking one another’s company, I have longed for my own visual treasures of my soul sister experiences. Needless to say, I took my camera this time around in anticipation of capturing the day in a way to help me relish and relive our time together.

I used the self-timer for a handful of gems (the kind of shots to go straight into a frame) and quickly clicked a couple more of things that caught my eye—pods I gathered from the patio, Lucy the dog and a few charming vignettes of my friend’s home. We were outside for while and although the light was harsh and somewhat uninspiring, I shot the photo above, just a quick click, with little thought in the midst of light and easy conversation.

When I got home and got the images up on the computer, I was delighted to discover this shot and how it made me feel. How can a just simple little detail of a friend stir up such rich feelings of gratitude? Is it her signature well-worn clogs and the playful way her toes point slightly inward? Or perhaps it’s the many layers of slightly ruffled fabric, skirt on skirt, and the textured hint of her brimming basket? Or maybe it’s her bare skin, being nourished and warmed by the vibrant sun of the perfect morning. It must be a little of all of these things and how they weave a story together, strand by beautiful strand, of our day, our friendship and how blessed I am to have women like this in my life.

Do you have a photo to share with us that stirs your soul, reminding you that life is good? You know we'd love to see it.