just be.

Take my hand and I will pull you through
The light is gone but I am still here with you
You are so far away thinkin’ you should roam
My arms are ready for you to come back home

Can you feel me, feel my reach?
Take it easy, honey, and just be.
from the song "The Reach" by Miranda Lee Richards 

When difficult/bad/sad things happen in my life, I have a system in place.  I acknowledge whatever the difficult/bad/sad thing is, shove it to the back of my mind into neat little compartments and go on my way. I've always done this and it's worked just fine.  This past year I've had more than my normal share of things occur and once again, I used my 'system' of dealing with everything and again, it's been working just fine...or so I thought.

While at Oasis, during a talk Kim Klassen and Xanthe Berkeley gave, Xanthe showed a video she had made for One Day on Earth.  I'd seen it before. Numerous times, in fact.  But on that day while I watched it again, one of my neat, little compartments that I had shoved to the back of my mind cracked open and I began to cry one of those ugly, snot-nosed cries (Thank you, Siobhan Wolf, for the use of your shoulder that day).

I realized at that moment that I had stopped enjoying the most simplest of things in my life and had essentially been just existing.  When I should have been celebrating all the little things in my life, I had been in a fog, waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, for the bad things to get worse.  But you know what?  That other shoe has not dropped and in watching that video made up of Xanthe's gorgeous photos celebrating everyday life, I had an 'aha' moment.  I realized that I could take what I had been shoving away, examine it a little closer, acknowledge it fully and then move on.  I was going to be okay. 

Thanksgiving is this week and my immediate family is no longer here.  This saddens me greatly and once again I put my famous system back into place just like I've always had, but this morning while looking for something in my desk I came across a photo of my brother and grandmother, both of them tucked together in the very back of my desk drawer. I held them in my hand looking from one to another and at that moment, I let myself just be.  I cried a little, but at the same time I knew that I was meant to find those photos.  My brother has been gone 13 years and my grandmother 3 years. I'll celebrate them this week and remember them lovingly, making their favorite Thanksgiving dishes to share with my husband and my boys and tell them stories of holidays past and when the day is done, I'll feel blessed and full of love for all that I have...and just be. 

Today, share with us those photos that move you and in celebrating the holiday this week remember to give thanks...and to just be.  

mail

My best friend of many years was here visiting from Alaska last month.  I've known her since I was in the 3rd grade.  We grew up on the same street, only 3 house apart.  Even though she went to a private school and I went to public school, we were inseperable and were together everyday after school.  When it was time for high school, she moved away, but not so far that we didn't spend most of our weekends together.  It wasn't until she married and moved to Alaska that that all changed.  She may have been thousands of miles away, but our friendship was permanent. 

Last month, on her way to Colorado for her daughter's wedding, she made a detour to California to see me.  It had been ten years since we had last been together.  I cherished every minute of the week we had together and before I knew it, it was over and she was off to Colorado.  After she had gone, I went through all the photos I took while she was here and wanted her to have something to remember our time together, so using some of the photos I had taken using Instagram, I first made a collage using the Diptic app. Then, using the Sincerely Ink app, I used the collage to make a postcard.  I sent one to her as well as myself.  I don't know when I'm going to see her again but until then, I have this postcard.  It sits on my desk where I see it every time I sit down at my computer and apparently, it's where she keeps hers, too.  We may live in a digital world, but thanks to apps like Sincerely Ink, I'm rediscovering 'snail mail', and that's a good thing!

Speaking of snail mail, who wouldn't want to receive one of these gorgeous necklaces in their mailbox from the lovely Stacy De La Rosa of Bella Wish?!  Stacy has graciously offered to give one away to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment here no later than midnight Wednesday, Sept. 26th!  Stacy's also giving our readers who wish to purchase a necklace a 10% discount.  Promo code: ShutterSisters10

UPDATE: Congrats to Shari Sherman!  You're the lucky winner of the the gorgeous necklace!!

stolen moments

Just when I thought my night was ready to wind down, my son tells me he has nothing for breakfast the next morning and that we're out of bread to make sandwiches for his school lunch.  To say that I was not pleased about having to go the store at 9 p.m. is an understatement.  I grabbed my keys and purse and stomped out of the house while grumbling all the way to the car. 

Once I arrived at the store, I grabbed a basket and continude my grumbling as I headed out for the items I needed.  Of course the items I need are on both ends of the store.  First I grabbed a loaf of bread on one side and then stomped my way to the other side of the store to the cereal aisle.  I located the requested box of Fruity Pebbles and tossed the box into my cart.  As I prepared to move on, in front of me was a couple, both easily in their 80s.  With their basket sitting in the middle of the aisle, they stood there arguing about which cereal to get and just listening to them made me smile.  

Now I have tell you, I have a thing for the elderly.  I mean, I really do.  If I had a choice of sitting in a room of my peers or a room of senior citizens, seniors win, hands down.  I want to sit with them and soak in as many life lessons from them as I can.  I miss my grandparents tremendously which is why I think I tend to gravitate to seniors so much.  Being near this couple made me miss them even more.   

As I stood there in the company of this sweet couple, my irritation instantly disappeared.  I grabbed my phone and took this photo as they finally decided on their cereal choice and made their way slowly down the aisle. It was my little gift to myself, a stolen moment just for me and I reminded myself that life is too short to sweat the small stuff, fruity pebbles and all.

Today, share your photos of stolen moment with us and let us have a peek inside, too. 

the art of composition

Composition starts when you situate your camera in space in relation to the object. For me, photography is the exploration in reality of the rhythm of surfaces, lines, or values; the eye carves out its subject, and the camera has only to do its work. That work is simply to print the eye’s decision on film. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

For quite some time I've been conjuring up and creating content for my soon-coming class "The Art of Composition"; recalling all the lessons I learned in past art classes, observing my process of compsosing shots, examining my images and those of others and taking a lot of notes on all of it.

All up in my own head, I've been eager to learn more about what some of the photographers of the past have said on the topic of creating and composing their images.

I stumbled upon a collection of Henri Cartier-Bresson's quotes and I read page after page of his thoughts on photography; so many of which deeply inspired me as I nodded my head along with his words, yes, yes.

But, the more I read the more I would find a line or two; a comment or belief where I wasn't so sure. Do I agree with that? Does that ring true for me?

And then I did the same for a number of other world renowned, well-respected photographers. Reading, contemplating, agreeing and also disagreeing. Of course that's the case. It would be highly unlikely and very unnatural to agree with everything another photographer thought about photography. But, it was so illuminating.

The fact is, our photography is ours. How we approach it should be unique to who we are.  How we live our photographic bliss is totally up to us. There will be so many things we will agree on. Our passion for photography for one thing. But not everything. And that is totally how it should be.

What is photography for you? Share your thoughts or better yet, share a photograph. Something that shows us YOUR photography.

life in a day

The other evening I had the honor of seeing the unique documentary Life in a Day. It is the project that brought National Geographic and YouTube together with a mission to tell the story of one of day on earth. Let me tell you, it was wonderful. You can read more about the concept of the film and how it was created (the idea in itself is totally inspiring) at the Life in a Day site. Once you watch the trailer and all the hair on your body stands on end, you'll know what I mean when I say wonderful.

The points of view, the perspectives, the subject matter, the video shorts themselves; all totally unique and even still, there was a Universal cohesion, beauty, and honesty that left me feeling so grateful to be alive on this planet.

With our One Word Project wordthis month celebrating life, today I ask you to pick up your camera and capture yours in way that's both everyday and unique. Capture a moment of your life, just as it is, that you never ever want to forget.

And be sure to visit Ali Edwards this week as she's inspiring us to document our life all week with her Week in the Life. Talk about sweet sisterly synchronicity!