Updates From The Camp Site

Are you as excited about Camp Shutter Sisters as we are? If so, you won't want to miss checking out all the details on the Camp site today. From location to cost to which sisters will be there to information on when registration begins and other questions...it's all on the site!

In honor of Camp and the Great Outdoors, share with us how you feel when you're communing with Nature. As you can tell by the images above, I get pretty happy. My daughter captured this moment (on the right of the series) when we took a trip to Asilomar this past winter.

Show us the images today that have you celebrating the Wild Blue Yonder!

Camp Shutter Sisters

camp shuttersisters from xanthe berkeley on Vimeo.

Community Love

(From the shutter sisters pool on flickr) 1.my whimsy 2.little tao 3.tatiana 4.j.caron

I´m late for Valentine´s day, but since there is no such a thing as too late for love, I decided to post what´s been on my mind lately: community love.

Everyday we all support and inspire each other by sharing, commenting and following each other´s work. We are lucky to be surrounded by wonderful teachers, fabulous classes, prompts, discussion groups, and the inspiration we are sharing is not only bringing in the fun, but it is also allowing us to advance in our craft with confidence and grace. It´s a beautiful movement actually, because the world can be so competitive and intimidating at times, whereas here, we have each other to lean on and prove that we are better when we stick together.

So I want to invite you to do something different today. Instead of posting an image of your own, why don´t you kick back and send some link love instead?! Share a link of an image shot by a sister who you admire and tell us why her body of work or a particular image of hers inspires you.

I´ll go first :) All the ladies featured above have so much talent! I love how they capture color, beautiful light and a sense of story (and/or expressiveness) in their images.

Now it´s your turn! Share the love ~

opening my eyes (and a giveaway)

Polaroid sx70 camera, PX600 Silver Shade UV+ film

Of all the wonderful people I've met this past year, Gail is the one who has taught me how important it is that we, as photographers, remember to use our tools (our cameras) to create awareness and motivate positive change.

Since the last time I talked with her, many have rallied around her Kickstarter project to help her raise finishing funds for Opening Our Eyes, a documentary film about her 99-day journey around the world with her daughter to film the stories of people making a positive difference in the world. I can't tell you how much this project resonates with my spirit and feed my passion.

And you can help make a difference too! Here's how:

Today I'm giving away a copy of our book, Expressive Photography (UK cover) to one lucky and generous reader. All you have to do is back Gail's project on Kickstarter, make a pledge of a minimum 1$ amount and leave a comment here before December 24th midnight PST to be entered in a random drawing. I'll also throw in some Polaroid postcards and Polaroid mini prints.

We're so close to reaching our pledged goal! Less than 250$ to go, every dollar counts!

UPDATE: We made it! We just reached our goal! Thank you all so much! You can still donate and leave a comment here to enter the giveaway. Anything pledged forward will be shared with the subjects of the film for their causes.

And congratulations to Rachel for winning a copy of Expressive Photography! Thank you all again so much for your support, your generosity has made it possible! Happy Christmas!

we're focused on you

Can you believe that the first Shutter Sisters post marked the start of this community almost exactly three years ago? Gosh, we've grown so much since then and we're truly thankful that you've found a home in this sisterhood. As we look ahead to 2011, we've got some exciting new ideas to share! But before we get knee-deep in planning, we want to focus on you, your interests, and your hopes for this sisterhood. So, we've got some questions for you!

Please take our brief survey now (just 15 quick questions) to share your thoughts with us and we'll enter your email address in our drawing to win a fabulous Epiphanie camera bag courtesy of Epiphanie creator and Shutter Sister Maile Wilson. You've got until December 31, 2010, 11:59pm to be eligable for the drawing on January 1, 2011. We can't wait to hear from you!