what girl are you?

We are all photographers together, yes?

....but we do divide into smaller group depending what we like to shoot and the gear we shoot with... Canon, Nikon, Polaroid, Pentax, Olympus, Rollei, iphone....the list goes on.... and that’s what makes us all so uniquely different.

While I was on the shutter sisters Camp, I noticed the conversations between the ladies “oh I’m a Canon person", "I've always have been Canon...” or “I’m a Nikon” (although pronounced different on either side of the pond!)... "Nikon is the best" and there were so many proud “Polaroid girls...” saying "My heart belongs to Polaroid"

I shared this with a dear friend of mine and it sparked into a new collaboration to celebrate what you shoot with. We have created prints and badges/buttons for you to be proud of who you are. I am a Canon girl..... and know some of you are Nikon girls and Polaroid girls...

As we're so excited about this new project, we’d love to offer one print of your choice to you lovely girls out there, all you've got to do is tell me what girl you are.....Canon, Nikon, or Polaroid or something else in the comments below.... You have until tomorrow Sat 21st Jan midnight PST.....

Updated - the winner was Stephanie of http://bigmariolife.blogspot.com/ - If you would like updates of further products, please follow us at facebook.

Instant vs. Instant

Whip out a Polaroid camera and the children will come running. They will surround you and look at you and this strange camera you hold as if you are from another planet. And they will ask questions. Many, many questions. How old is that thing? How does it even work? Film? What do you mean, film? A few might tell you they've actually heard their parents talk about these cameras. But to most, the concept is brand new. To take a picture with a Polaroid SX-70 and watch the faces as the image quietly appears is to experience a special brand of magic.

Adults are often just as mystified. Pull out a Polaroid camera on any street in any city in the world and someone will stop you. Someone will want to talk to you about it. They will tell you they didn't know people still shot with Polaroids and didn't they stop making the film ages ago? Then they'll get all soft in the eyes when they tell you about the Polaroid camera they grew up using. 

As a Polaroid photographer, I'm thoroughly charmed by these interactions. I really am. But every once in a while, there's a gap in the conversation. A few seconds, a pause. And I know what they want to ask, I know what they're thinking. Their bewilderment is practically palpable. Why bother with instant cameras when digital photography exists? In an age where there are phone apps that reproduce the general aesthetic of a Polaroid image in a couple of seconds, where does instant photography fit in? A digital camera in most every phone means that image sharing has never been more immediate. With apps likes instagram, I can take a picture with my iphone, choose from a variety of film-like filters and share the results immediately with the online world. How can instant photography compete with that? The answer is that it can't. It doesn't have to.

Because there's just no substitution for the real thing.

There's no sound like the zzzip and whirrr a Polaroid camera makes as it shoots a photograph out, there's no feeling like the one that comes as you hold that picture in the palm of your hand and watch as the image slowly appears. And, hard as they may try, they just can't reproduce what instant cameras and instant films do with color and light. This is not to say that I don't absolutely love my nikon DSLR. Or that I haven't (joyously) fallen down a sizable instagram rabbit hole myself. I wholeheartedly acknowledge that digital photography and iphoneography have pushed the medium in wildly exciting new directions. They're just not meant to completely replace all that has come before them. And in a world where technology seems to be pushing us all along at breakneck speed, I think we can't help but be drawn to things that force us to slow down.

When I shoot with my Polaroid camera, this is exactly what happens. I slow down. Ironically enough, the technology that so many originally associated with speed causes me to slow things down. When I look through the viewfinder of my Polaroid camera, I take my time, I think about what I'm shooting before I press that little red button. And as the camera spits the picture out, I hold my breath. 

Image and words courtesy of our newest regular contributor here at Shutter Sisters Andrea Corrona Jenkins, also know as Hula from Hula Seventy. (crowd goes wild). We are giddy to have her here!

...........

In honor of Andrea and all things Poloroid (Hula's trueest passion) we are offering a giveaway today! A comlimentary registration to her soon-coming teahouse workshop! Instant Magic. Sounds dreamy, doesn't it?

 Just comment here between now and Tuesday night (8/23 at midnight ESTP) with a warm welcome to Andrea to be entered to win. And feel free to share something you captured in an instant (with your camera of choice).

riding the wave

 

If you can believe it, I'm still thinking about yesterday's post. I feel like I'm not quite done with that thought. Maybe it's that I can't believe how taken I am with my iphone. If I were looking for the most simple answer, I would say yes, that must be what it is. But, I can't help but thing there is something really revolutionary about the way we are now communicating; Less words (hello twitter) and more images (a la instragram).

Is it that we are all so busy we can't find the time to sit down and write? I can vouch only for myself when I say, yes, that is the case sometimes. But I have my suspicions that we are finding ourselves getting better and better and using images to express ourselves.

The more we shoot with our photo tool of choice, the better we get at creating the images that we are excited about. The more excited we are means we are more confident about our images, and the more eager we are to share them. It's the ripple effect of camera ease and accessibility. Combine that with equally easy methods of sharing and Viola! You couldn't stop that wave of creativity and sharing if you tried! And who wants to?

As we continue to stay connected through these quick and creative exchanges of "instant imaging" please continue to use our secret sister code (#ssconnect) so we can readily find each other out there in the pool of inspiration. It's much more fun swimming with friends!

Share a a splashy shot today (something you captured with your camera of choice) as we wade together in the deep blue sea of photography.

collections of the heart

When I was a child, I collected rocks.  It didn't matter where they came from.  If I liked a rock I saw, then into my collection it went.  When I became pregnant with my first son I started collecting antique, silver baby spoons.  I scoured antique stores and and eBay looking for just the right spoon to add to my collection all the time.  I think it's a no-brainer then that being a photographer, I'm going to acquire things that have to do with photography from vintage cameras to funky jewelry to cool t-shirts.  What's even better is that those who know me well always seem to find something that, as my girlfriend who gave me the necklace above said, "When I saw it I knew I had to get it for you".  I'm the one who will carry that awesome camera tote and wear the cool camera earrings and have the cute little keychain.  I love what I do and I 'wear' it with pride.  And, like Martha Stewart says, that's a good thing.  

How about you? What collections do you have? Take a picture and share with us.  I know I'm not the only out there!

for the love of film

January of course brought the New Year and for me, the end of my 365 project. The empty space that surrounded me was welcome. You see, what my mind has been craving is peace, stillness, and a sense of s.l.o.w.i.n.g down.

Digital photography often gives me space, but in comparison, film is a slow stroll in the park. I've not dabbled in film for many many years, yet something about this new {again} inspiration seemed just right for me. And so in January, I stepped into those waters again after so much time away. I got my hands on a nifty toy camera. The Blackbird, Fly. It's a sweet little twin lens reflex {toy!} camera {this means plastic lens} that happily takes 35mm film. I was beyond giddy to get my hands on it to explore and play.

Do you remember the first time you got behind the steering wheel? My mom took me to the big church parking lot on the corner in our neighborhood.  The keys jingled, the clutch brake and accelerator got jumbled under my teenage feet, the road was too vast, the windshield too constricting ... not to mention all the gears and knobs and spedometer! I crept along hurkey jurkey nauseating my mother and myself across the empty parking lot as I figured out how to control the machine I was driving.

Patience, grasshopper.
Getting back to film was kinda like that for me. 

It's exactly the slowing down that I need. It's quite the opposite of the gluttonous-continuous-shutter-release of my 4-frames-per-second-nikon-dslr that comes fully equipped with instant-gratification-kapow! And so ... it's exactly the learning curve I am desiring. To feel that newness again, that quiet unfamiliar sense of not.knowing.anything but going for it anyway simply for the pleasure of it, the intrigue, the curiosity, the love.

I dropped off three rolls of film at my local print shop. 

I really had no idea what to expect. I had never before in my life shot with a toy camera. And certainly not a dizzying twin lens reflex camera. {It makes me laugh outloud, to be so dizzy. It makes me feel like a kid again. And I take that as a very good sign.}

What I got with a hand full of contact sheets was a face full of smiles.
And a new {again} obsession.
Tell me, when was the last time you dabbled in film?
Share with me your favorite film camera, toy or otherwise.
And leave some photo love in the comments!