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! 

sunday school: confessions of a photoshop flunkie

I will be the first to admit that I would rather eat a big box of prunes than try to figure out Photoshop.  For the first 5 years that I was taking photos digitally, I did all my editing in Microsoft Photo Editor, which came bundled with Office.  I finally broke down and bought Adobe Lightroom last August, but I have stubbornly resisted using Photoshop for anything.  Believe me, I've watched and drooled while everyone around me was adding supercool textures to their photos or doing other nifty powerful things possible for those willing to delve into the world of layers and lassos and burning and dodging, etc.

Recently, I came across this photo by Quixotic Pixels in which she uses pantyhose as a filter.  This gave me the idea to take the photo above using Cadence's pink tights stretched tightly over my lens.  I really like the softness  and very subtle grain that this technique adds to the photo.  I hope to find other ways of adding texture or other effects to my photos without having to resort to learning Photoshop.

How about you?  Do you have any shortcuts or tips on bypassing Photoshop?  Please do share, as this Shutter Sister can use all the help she can get.

Sunday School: Just Shoot It

 

Back when I used to shoot with a film SLR, I often agonized over shots before I actually took them because a) film wasn't cheap; b) decent processing/printing wasn't cheap; and c) I had no idea if my settings were capturing the shots the way I wanted to or if I was wasting my entire roll of film.  I still have deep respect for the film format, but I have to admit that I'm glad to be living in the digital age when it comes to photography.  

Since I usually carry around enough memory to shoot as many photos as I could possibly want (and then some), I like to practice what I call Just Shoot It.  Basically, that's when I devote a period of time (say, 5 minutes or so) to pressing the shutter without thinking too much about the framing, the subject, exposure, etc.  I'll walk around and go *click* *click* *click* *click* in rapid sucession, sometimes without even looking through the viewfinder.  There's no pressure to get that perfect shot during these few minutes.  There's no worrying about missing a Kodak moment.  It's actually quite freeing, especially if you are in the middle of a somewhat stressful shoot like at a wedding.  

Some folks may feel like that's just a waste of memory.  Others may feel like it's faux-art if you don't put enough thought into it or scrunch your forehead just so while you're shooting the photo.  Years ago, I probably would've agreed.   Now, however, I know that there is a particular brand of joy derived from finding a gem of a photo in post-processing that you didn't even know you had taken.   In fact, I now get excited about going over my Just Shoot It photos because I never know what I'll find. 

The photo above is an example of what I'm talking about.  It was taken during several minutes of freestyle shooting at my husband's cousin's wedding.  I fell in love with it the moment I saw it during post-processing, and I knew that I could've never taken that shot if I had been thinking too much about it. 

Do you have a favorite photo that you took without too much thinking or didn't even know you had taken?  Please share with us!

P.S.  If I could set this post to music, it would be to  Click Click Click Click by Bishop Allen.

sunday school: how i learned to stop worrying and love the blur

I love natural light.  It is my illumination of choice when shooting photos.  However, since I don't have the power to keep the sun up high on the horizon or to crank up the moonlight to an acceptable level whenever I want, I sometimes find myself at the mercy of the glow from a lamp, candle, stagelight, chandelier, streetlight, cellphone, etc.  I'm sure many of you have also experienced this lack of supernatural power.  What's a Shutterbug Mama to do in a situation like this?  Put away the camera?  Use the flash? Crank-up-the-ISO-and-set-the-aperture-wide-open- then-underexpose-and-fix-the-shot-later?  I have to admit that the last option is the one I usually chose, often with *bleh* results.  That is until I finally came to my senses and learned to stop worrying and Love The Blur.

I came to the realization one day that sometimes life happens so much, so fast, and the light available to take it all in is so limited, as is the ability (for most of us, anyway) to bend the time-space continuum, that even a single moment in time comes out to be a blur.  And you know what?  That's okay.  If that's how life is, then that's how I want to capture it in that moment.

So now, instead of performing technical gymnastics to get a crisp shot, I simply slow down the shutter speed a few notches and let the shot be what it will be.  I now love doing long(ish) exposure photography, especially at night and especially with artificial light.  

And it's not always a lack of light that makes life blurry.  Spend 5 minutes with my daughter Cadence (or any kid, for that matter), and you'll know what I mean.  Sometimes the natural light is there, but when you're dealing with your own little whirlwind, it may not be enough to freeze the frame, and sometimes a blur is the most appropriate way to capture the playfulness and energy of that moment.

Whatever the situation may be, it's so liberating To Embrace The Blur, To Love It, To Make It My Friend.  Cuzamora,  Shama-Lama Mama and  Molly |A Certain Slant of Light know what I'm talking about.

How about you?  Do you Love The Blur too?  Let's see your favorite Blurry Moments!

sunday school: frame it

Welcome to the very first edition of Sunday School on Shutter Sisters!

So, I have a confession. I am one of those people who do not like to read manuals. In fact, I don't like reading anything non-fiction unless it's biographical/historical. It's not that I haven't TRIED to read the numerous manuals that accompanied my cameras and lenses and speedlights and filters and software. It's all mumbo-jumbo to me and goes in one brain cell and out another. Part of it is that I am an experiential learner. Fortunately for me, photography is very much a bend-the-rules kind of medium (at least it is to me), and there's so much you can learn by trial and error if you don't have the patience or learning style to read the instructions or take a formal class.

One of my favorite aspects of photography is framing the shot in an interesting way by using objects that are already in the environment. Sometimes, though, I feel a little lazy, and I'll bend that un-rule and actually grab something to help me make the photo a bit more fun. Recently, I found just the thing to function as an easy and cheap way to frame a shot uniquely: cardboard tubes. You can play around with different kinds and lengths--toilet paper, paper towel, all those empty Christmas wrapping paper tubes you haven't recycled yet. Heck, you could probably just roll up a piece of paper and create effects by trying different colors.

And THAT, Shutter Sisters, is my very technical (not!) tip for our very first Sunday School! I do love seeing "natural frames" in photos, and you can see some cool ones I've found in our Flickr pool by hashak, mrs. vigushin and skwirler.

Feel free to share links to your favoritely framed photos or your own tips on Framing The Shot.

P.S. We are now featuring a photo from our Flickr Pool EVERYDAY on The Daily Click!  We've got so many spectacular photos being added to the pool everyday that once a week just wouldn't have been enough.