Coming home to my camera

Over the past year or so, my DSLR has been gathering dust. It hasn’t been intentional. I have just gotten more and more accustomed to using my iPhone for all of my daily photography. Easy, efficient, and synched to Instagram, I have found the convenience of my phone camera beyond sufficient to satisfy my creative cravings. That was until the past week or so. I can’t really explain it but I have been feeling a little photographically parched. To try to quench my thirst I decided to pull out the DSLR and play over the weekend.

I totally forgot what I had been missing.

Minutes turned into hours as I lost myself in my photography process. Light—click—aperture—click lenses, focus, the feel of the big camera in my hand—click click click. It felt so good. The featured shot above came straight out of the camera. It was the first of that day and it’s my favorite. I felt so at home and so happy. This doesn’t surprise me. I know my artistic rhythm calls for a new muse time and again. Who knew that the muse I needed next was in my camera bag, just waiting for me to return?

What’s your muse these days? What’s beckoning you?

2013 photo calendar templates

These mini calendars always get such a positive response, so I'm excited to share the Photoshop template with the Shutter Sisters community once again! They are perfect for personalized holiday gifts or just as a special gift to yourself. Many of us don't take the time to print our photos, so this is a wonderful way to have physical evidence of our passion for photography all year long.

Download the files HERE.

The files include basic instructions for creating your custom calendar pages in Photoshop. Then just print them on photo paper or cardstock and cut them out.

These templates are sized to fit in a cd jewel case, but they can also be fastened together with a binder clip and hung on the wall. If you choose to use a cd jewel case, you'll just need to carefully take apart the case and put it back together so that it stands up like the photo above.

Enjoy! And please let us know how you plan to use these cute little calendars!

weekending by Polly Scott

Polly Scott shoots images like these with a Canon Rebel T3 and spends her weekends camping and paddling!

You can find her on her website destinationdriftless.blogspot.com and on Flickr as DriftlessDestination.

What's the most adventurous thing you've ever done with a camera in hand?

Today's One Word Project prompt: two

Sunday's One Word Project prompt: marigold

What Catches the Eye

It's no suprise that I move through the day with my iPhone camera in my hand. Sometimes I use it to make calls, but mostly, it's a magic device for collecting moments that catch my eye. I shot this image with the Cameramatic app and processed it with Snapseed on my iPhone 4S. Two of my favorite apps.

If you're looking to expand your creativity with mobile photography, join me a host of talented mobile photographers for a day of iPhoneography at the annual MacWorld / iWorld event on January 30, 2013 at Moscone Conference Center in San Francisco, CA.

Texture

I did not use to notice and play with texture in my photography until very recently.

When I first picked up the camera, I was interested in color. Color juxtaposition, colorful walls, details, etc. Color, color and more color! Later I discovered portrait and became completely enamored with capturing expression. People, styles, the beauty within, emotion, etc. Then I began to learn more about photo technique, and lighting naturally emerged as my next big interest. Morning light, golden hour, back light, and flares. 

But texture has been making an appearance in my photos lately. I often catch myself looking for the right table to set my latte on (just so I can shoot it). I look for the right rug to step on, the right background to blur, etc. Texture can add a lot of spice to an otherwise seemingly uninteresting subject matter, and in some cases, it can also completely ruin a picture if it creates clutter. Our eyes like the effortless mix and harmony we find in nature. The smooth against the rugged. The lacey, sparkly, and furry, against the luciious soft skin. 

But my point is... The more we shoot the more we learn how to see, and the more we see, the better we can capture and express our feelings. Texture is just one more of these things we can incorporate in our photos to help us get our point across.

How about you? Do you notice texture? How much do you play with it in your photos? Are you are up for some texture play? Share with us some texture candy today?