weekending

Weekends seem to come and go in the blink of an eye. Often it's the only time we have to take care of the responsibilities that we don't have time for during the week. But it's also important to spend some time relaxing and gathering with the ones we love. Last weekend I traveled home to visit my family and enjoyed the ability to relax and forget about anything else. It was nice to spend a little time wandering around in my dad's yard with no agenda other than photographing the beautiful view. I was immediately struck by the bright green grass contrasting with the brown, bare trees in the background. I wish all my weekends could be spent wandering outside and shooting beautiful scenes like this.

We are putting out the call once more with An invitation to your weekends.

If you would like to submit your weekend images for consideration in our weekend series, please send your shot(s) via email to us at click [at] shuttersisters [dot] com with the subject: weekending. We love sharing your weekend stories and photos and can't wait to see them!

we love what we love ......

I'm sitting on my friend's sofa in California right now! I'm here on a little inspiration vacation. The thing is, hopping on a plane to Caliornia isn't a typical 'thing' for me to do. I'm such a home body... very content just to 'be' in my quiet world. I was telling my husband before I left how excited I was to see new things, take different photos, get inspired. I went on to say 'I'm always photographing Ben, my walks, pretty cups, old bottles and books...This will be good for me. Right?' I was feeling anxious about leaving home. I think I was trying to reassure myself, that this was a good thing.

I'm here, and YES I have seen all kinds of beauty and inspiration. I'm so grateful. California is just so beautiful. I'm so glad I took the leap to come. 

The other night Myriam made a cup of tea and there it was in front of me, just waiting for me to take a picture. I've taken many photos this week, but this cup is one of my favs. Myriam's home has so many splashes of the things I love; beautiful cups, old bottles.... art, and texture. There's such comfort in the familiar. I love it all! I've been taking many photos of the things I love.

We are who we are. We can change things up, choose different locations.... and that's so good. But it's okay to be true to who we are, recognize what brings us joy...and love what we love....

Today I ask you, what brings you comfort, lights you up and begs you to photograph it? Share with us today.

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December is almost here! Can you believe it? We have a new hashtag for the One Word photos, #ssdecember. Feel free to continue using #shuttersisters as well. Thanks so much for sharing your photos with us!

treasures

“First I smell that smell and am overcome with a sensation of elation. Like a tight faucet turned open, everything floods from me. I scan the view, take a deep breath, and inevitably utter, "God, I love it here." I stride quickly to where the sand is still wet from the previous tide and then, and then I am gone. There is no thinking, just being. I have no awareness of time or of myself. If I am searching for glass, it is rote, with no more or less consciousness than a jellyfish searching for sustenance. It is not mindlessness or oblivion, as I am wholly aware, but in a way that preempts any reality outside of the moment. There I am seaweed, I am water, I am stone, I am fish. I am a grain of sand, warm in the sun. I am reduced to nothing, but part of everything. I am home, I am free, I am one with the sea, I am the primordial me, and the glass is just my excuse to be there.”
― S. Fields

I collect (and photograph) many treasures. Living near the coast, most of my treasures are gifts of the sea.  Feathers, beach rocks shaped like hearts, a few sand dollars, tiny starfish, and of course sea glass.  Finding these tiny pieces of glass, smoothed by time and sands, feels like finding a bit of magic.   Each piece unique in its beauty. My family has a favorite little cove we go, we have coined this cove "sea glass beach" for the bounty of these particular treasures you can find there. We just plunk ourselves down in the rocky sand and sift handful after handful of stones to reveal these tiny pebbles of glass.  It is truly meditative. Even my little ones will sit and sift with me. We weave stories of mermaid's tears, and lost pirate jewels. We stuff our pockets full, not feeling greedy at all since each time we go there is just more and more to find..  We bring them home, wash them and then place them in one of several glass mason jars strewn along our mantle and windowsills of our home.  Little glass gifts of the sea.  Thank you ocean.  

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Today's one word prompt is "glass", perhaps you have some tiny glass treasures like me, or maybe you will pour yourself a glass of something good today. Click and share your "glass" with us today.  Tag your images #shuttersisters.

b is for blur

Because it's how I remember things. It's how memories unfold in my mind. when I close my eyes and try to remember, this is what I see: lovely, blurry scenes. I've been shooting this way for a while, for three or four years now. Not exclusively, of course, but more and more. I intentionally throw the focus until it feels rights. Until it looks like what I see in my mind. So often, these are the images I revisit, the ones I come back to again and again. These are the photographs that tell the real story. They spin like records on a turntable-- soft, scratchy, inexplicably magic. 

If you've not yet tried it, go ahead. Today, I invite you to intentionally throw your focus. Fiddle with the lens til you find magic. And please, share the blur. Share it with us here today.  

Sending a Message for Giving Tuesday

Over the past week many of us have been through a full gamut of experiences. From travel to family to food to shopping, it's been a packed past few days. We've been grateful, we've been satisfied and we've been gearing up for the momentum of the season as we transition from one holiday to the next. I can think of no better time than right now to focus on moving forward in a spirit of giving, especially on the heels of the many wonderful things we have been getting (nurturing, nourishment, sale prices to name just a few).

Today marks the first annual Giving Tuesday, a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. What a grand way to kick off the next leg of this season! 

When we give, we are quite simply sending the message that we care. To be on the receiving end of that kind of caring, means that the love that is being sent, is being received, felt and appreciated. That's the way giving works. And it's what makes the world a better place. Whether you choose to give money, items, your time, or any combination of these things, today, we encourage you to mindfully send a message of love, caring and compassion.

Today as we celebrate Giving Tuesday, share with us where/what/how you have given this season, what you will give today, and/or how will continue to give during this ongoing season of love. Please be sure to tag your images, posts, updates with the official Giving Tuesday tag #givingtuesday so we can all work together and help to put this national day of giving on the map for it's very first year!