trusting inspiration

 

I picked up the camera so many times and looked through the viewfinder.  Maybe fired off a couple of frames half-heartedly.  Sometimes I deleted them in the camera, but there are hundreds more sitting on my hard drive, unedited, unviewed.  The light stopped speaking to me.  The camera body no longer fit my hands like a beloved tool.

If I can’t see images, how can I think of myself as a photographer?  Worse yet, what does it say about the way I’ve filled my life, if it doesn’t inspire so much as a snapshot?

It was a long way to fall.  I finished a 365 project last October, totally inspired, totally proud of myself, totally grateful.  It is a powerful exercise to keep your eye and heart attuned to the beautiful and the remarkable in the midst of your everyday life.  To have a photographic record of your progress over a year.  To begin to see yourself as an artist.

But with the year up, I stopped shooting every day.  I stopped being so mindful.  I bought myself a fancy new camera but immediately lost my courage.  It is a Serious Camera.  In my head this camera deserved to shoot Serious Things instead of my everyday life.  I shot less.  I felt it as a little death, this loss of a fledgling creative life.  It’s not the sort of thing you hold a wake for though.  No one brings you red wine and casseroles while you wonder why your eyes don’t work anymore.  There was grief but it was mine alone.

But recently I’ve started to notice shadows again.  There is the color of autumn leaves.  There are long eyelashes and kids in mismatched prints and wet dog noses.  My eyes are hungry.  My hands are a little itchy for the heavy camera body, even though it still feels awkward in my grip sometimes.  I’ve started carrying it with me again, so I’m ready when it calls to me.

I’m starting to understand that it wasn’t a death after all.  It was just the change of seasons.  I’m starting to believe that just as I know that autumn always follows summer, I can trust inspiration and vision to return.

Have you ever had a dry spell?  How did you work your way out of it?  What inspired you to start again?

Image and words courtesy of the wonderful Corinna Robbins of Bird Wanna Whistle.

Stumbling Upon Kindness

What this world needs is a new kind of army - the army of the kind. ~Cleveland Amory

I recently shared an Instagram image of my husband and I standing on a street corner in NYC near a chalk-drawn heart at our feet.  A friend asked on the feed, “Did you bring your own chalk?” The comment made me laugh. It sounds like me actually, to do something like that but in this instance, it was someone else who brought the chalk. In fact, it was what I would consider a random act of kindness. We found a number of these chalk hearts along our walk around the city that evening.

Sometimes when we engage ourselves in activities like leaving hope notes, or sidewalk messages, we forget that others might be doing the same. To stumble across gestures of kindness from strangers is nothing short of wonderful. It reminds me that we are all called to be a part of “the army of the kind”.

Today, share a story that expresses the power (and beauty) of kindness.

taste

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” -Henry David Thoreau

This is the time of year when the weather begins to turn and with that, the food and drink we serve up follows suit. Is it me, or does this time of year beg for soups, stews, pastas, and bread? Everything warm, rustic, and deeply satisfying. Autumn is officially upon us. Today, tell the story of what you taste this time of year and share it with us. In other words, make our mouth’s water!

Evening

There's a sweet relief that comes with evening. The light shifts from gold to blue and like clockwork, I feel my shoulders drop, the hard angles of my body soften. As the sun goes down, I know I can count on the routine of the evening to get me through. There's nothing particularly unusual about it-- dinner, conversation, laughter. Last minute playtime, last minute homework, a collection of bedtime rituals. And then the house is quiet. The sky, finally dark. We collapse onto the big green couch, my husband and I-- let it swallow us whole. Well, we say, we made it through another day. We look around. Dirty dishes, everywhere. Stacks of books, papers, dirty socks, legos scattered like confetti. We're exhausted but we made it through another day. And we're thankful.

Today's prompt is 'evening'. What do evenings look like at your house? Please do share an image or two with us today.

a weekend harvest

1. lily on fire island, 2. Apples, 3. My Neighbor the Painter, 4. Cheers to Your Weekend, 5. Bike bell, 6. family, 7. Backyard, 8. oceanside, 9. Napkins and Kitchen Towels, 10. Untitled, 11. Fall basket with pears, 12. 46:365, 13. i walk the earth with my bare feet, 14. waders and coats, 15. Untitled, 16. As you wish...

They say the seasons are changing but you might not know it, depending on your demographic. Regardless, it's collections like these that warm our hearts. We are loving all the amazing images that you upload to our Flickr group every day. There are over 400,000 awesome shots that you all have shared with us. That is sweet! Keep them coming!

Share your bounty of goodness with us this weekend and tag your images #shuttersisters whether you're using Flickr or instagram. We love it all.

Today's prompt: harvest

Sunday's prompt: words