A Dream In Tangible Form

The greatest achievements were at first and for a time dreams. -James Allen

Sometimes there is something that happens, some big thing (light a lightning bolt of awareness) or some small thing (a sight or smell or sound) that reminds you of the tiny seed of a dream you once had. You're taken back to the time when that seed just began to take shape and you can trace back the markers along the way; the little successes, the setbacks, and the many milestones. You are reminded of the journey and how nothing was ever wasted and that what you knew and felt, intangibly, deep in your heart would eventually be made tangible in some way.

Shutter Sisters began as a seed of a dream. And now, here I am sharing my thoughts in a hotel room at our second Shutter Sisters gathering, Oasis. Today, tonight, this week, I am reminded that this dream of mine has come true, in large part, because of all of you; those of you sharing this special time at Oasis with us, and those of you who are sharing this sacred space online with us every day. You are all my dream weavers. You have shown me my dream in tangible form. I am deeply grateful.

What do you dream of today? Share the seed and let's watch it grow together.

last call for Oasis registration

Don't let us disrupt your Sunday plans, in fact, we're only interrupting your weekending activities to remind you that registration for the Shutter Sisters event Oasis will end on Friday, Sept 7th at noon PST. There are only a few more spaces that are open and they'll only be available for a few more days.

We've been spending a lot of time in Palm Springs lately, specifically at Ace Hotel and Swim Club and we can only say, we are bursting at the seams with excitement at being there with so many sisters of the shutter. It's pretty much going to rock and it's only a few months away. We are counting down the days and would love to have you doing the same with us!

Today's prompt is "books" and we do hope you choose to book your spot at Oasis before it's too late. 

weekending by W*mina

Today's featured image courtesy of W'Mina. She shoots images like this with her Olympus and spends her weekends kayaking, running, and exploring Austin, spending time with her family and, when no one is looking, sneaking in a nap like her dachshund. You can find her at Flickr  as gottarun  and on Facebook.

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Ah, the weekend. And a three day weekend for many of us living stateside. You know what that means; sleeping in, eating a leisurely breakfast, reading the morning paper or your favorite blogs. Okay, I know that might be going a little overboard. You might get a little of that but maybe your weekends look all together different. Whatever the case may be for you, you've gotta eat a little something in the morning, right? Before you either start your busy day, or curl up for a mid-morning snooze, you've got to serve up some breakfast. And that is exactly what our word is for today. Breakfast.

We've got a brand new list of One Word prompts for September. Wheeeee! But since we've got a word a day each day, there's no One Word this month. Because we're crazy like that. In other words, each day, you'll get your word to shoot for, to visually translate in any way you'd like. And since we're cutting out the One Word, we're going to go really simple and begin using #shuttersisters as our forever hashtag. It's simple, easy to remember and it's got a nice ring to it.

So, we will spend our weekends here like we used to, getting back to featuring your weekending shots or your photo essays right along side our daily word prompts. It's like photographic multitasking.  If you've got something to share for our weekending series (a single shot or a photo essay) please send it over. So yes, this is a little change up of the best kind. A little rest and relaxation along side some creative encouragement. What could be better than that? Nothing really, except maybe blueberry pancakes.

Breakfast anyone?

Embracing Family

 

With this month’s prompts all being inspired by Elevate the Everyday, I have been delighted by all of the images and comments you’ve shared. Obviously the contents of the book are near and dear to my heart which makes your responses that much more meaningful. Thank you so much!

Today, as you visually translate the poignant prompt of family, I am beyond excited to share with you that today’s post and prompt has even more collective energy than usual. Today, Shutter Sisters has the honor of being one of the stops along the way in the Blogust Blog Relay for Good. That means that each and every one of YOUR comments today will translate into a $20 donation to Shot@Life (also near and dear to my heart) to get vaccines to children who need them most. Yes, $20 per unique comment, up to a maximum of $200,000 to reach 10,000 children. WOW! And not only will your comment count on today’s post here, it will also count over on my personal blog as well. In other words, with 2 simple comments today (one here and one on my blog), you are inadvertently giving $40 to Shot@Life. That’s donating all of the vaccines that two children need for a shot at more family time. And that is pretty awesome!

And because we share our support, encouragement and responses through visuals around here, be sure to add the #blogust tag to your images too (in addition to #sselevate) to help show your support and spread the word so that other shutter sisters (and brothers) around town know to come participate too. The more the merrier when it comes to social good, wouldn’t you agree? And speaking of other shutter sisters, Anne Geddes is a part of the campaign as well. We're in good company.

So be sure to leave a comment today, go hug your family and take your camera with you to document it! Then tag your images and help spread the good word. We’re a part of something very special over here and we want everyone to join us! That's how we do it here...together!

To keep up in the Blogust relay, check out the calendar of bloggers so you can follow along all month long to help us reach our $200,000 goal! 

Elevate the Everyday

"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life and elevating them to an art." -William Morris

What better way to spend the whole of August than to turn our attention toward all the details of our daily life and elevate them to a photographic art? As we kick off a brand new One Word Project, we invite you to join us and the amazing folks at Paper Coterie as we ELEVATE the next 31 days.

Inspired by the arrival of my new book Elevate the Everyday, we want to focus on all the parts of our lives that can so often be overlooked; those spaces and places, affections and connections, routines, milestones and details that make our ordinary life so extraordinary. And there is no better time to begin than right now!

Stating today we will prompt you to discover something that you can elevate, through your lens, from your heart. August promises to be full of inspiration and insights, gratitude and creative joy. Just take a peek at our calendar and you'll see what I mean! We are so excited to have you with us as we elevate the everyday together.

And just to elevate things, Paper Coterie is offering a 25% discount when you buy a copy of the book and/or any of the lovely products from the companion series. There's even a limited edition bookmark signed by yours truly included in your book order while supply lasts! Fun!

We will also be giving away a few copies of the book this month too...starting right now! Just leave your comment here between today and midnight Friday night EST for a chance to win your copy! Wheeee!

Be sure to tag your elevate images with our tag #sselevate in whatever social media platform you're on! And don't forget we've got a OWP flickr group too so add your images to the pool for a chance to be featured here.

YAY! We can't wait to elevate!