archived posts
Saturday, April 7, 2012 by Shutter Sisters 
Ai shoots images like this with her Nikon D40 and spends her weekends "brunching" with friends and enjoying time outdoors.
Ai can be found online at Ai Loves...
Now, share with us your weekending table. Let's see what you're serving up. And don't forget to submit your weekending images to us via email. We love being inspired by your weekending shots!
Sunday, February 5, 2012 by Tracey Clark 
Morning, noon, night, we are fortunate to have some kind of bounty on our tables. Whether it's a home cooked meal, a late night snack or a glorious night out where the food is graciously prepared and served with a smile, there's something about food that not only satisfies hunger (or thirst!) but also serves as instant subject matter for the next quick pic.
I have never before captured so many table shots as I do now that I have taken up mobile phone photography. It's as if I just can't help myself. And why should I? Creative bursts come in the most unlikely places...like at the dinner table.
Snap a shot from your table today. Show us what's being served or what you're serving up. Make our mouths water.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by Tammy Lee Bradley 
When my brother and I were growing up, we would help my mother make desserts for the holidays. She would dig out her favorite holiday recipes and we would bake dozens of sugar cookies with sprinkles, homemade fudge, Peanut Butter And Butterscotch Rice Krispies Treats, and milk chocolate marshmallow treats called Church Windows. It was the one time of year when a silly contraption known as the Cookie Shooter came out of the pantry.
It was always an afternoon filled with laughter, love, holiday music featuring Gene Autry on the record player, and mugs of hot cider with cinnamon. Each year, the memory of this tradition brings me back to my parent's kitchen and fills my heart with warmth.
Today, I invite you to share a favorite recipe that fills your family with cheer, year after year.
Thursday, October 13, 2011 by Guest Shutter Sister 
I had lunch with a friend today. When you’re self-employed and work from home like I do it’s always a treat to meet a friend for lunch somewhere lovely: today it was Jamie’s Italian in Bath. When our starters arrived I whipped out my iPhone, stood up and took a few shots of the bruschetta slathered in olive oil and crushed borlotti beans—luckily Hanne knew not to start eating until I’d got my shot. The same thing happened when our pasta arrived, and our coffees too. It’s not often I get to eat in restaurants so taking photos to record the occasion makes sense. But I also do this when I’m at home. And when I’m in the supermarket. And when I’m eating breakfast with my 18 month-old nephew. I take photos of the fallen leaves at my feet and broken doorways and daisy circles. I take photographs to anchor myself more firmly in the moment and use my cameras to capture the potential photos I see everywhere I look. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing—for as long as I am able to take a breath and lift my camera to my eye, I will be creating images with pixels and film. Do you have this urge too?
My constant—some would argue obsessive—picture taking is simply the way I move through the world. Photography is like a form of meditation for me and when life is feeling harder than usual I take myself outside and look at the world through my lens. There’s always a new way to see things—it’s uncanny, really. When I was grieving the untimely death of my partner it was my camera that helped me reconnect with myself and my world, and it’s the reason why I know that creativity is the fastest way to access our truest selves.
Next month I’m leading a brand new e-course sharing everything I know about photography. Photo Meditations: Infusing Your Images with Soul is a five-week exploration of the inspirational and the practical for anyone who wishes to sink deeper into their own photographic journey. We’ll be diving into compositional theory, self-portraiture, shooting for your blog, story-telling and so much more. I should probably mention right now that I’m not a very technical sort of photographer—I’m going to be sharing some important basics in the first week, but I’m not concerned with histograms and what have you. What excites me, and what I hope to pass on to my students, is a passion for creating pictures that tell stories. That move the viewer. That convey what I feel. That hold layers of meaning. That delight the eye. That’s what we’ll be exploring in Photo Meditations.
Would you like to join me?
Please leave a comment here between now and Friday (midnight EST) for a chance to win a complementary registration for Photo Meditations!
Images and words by Susannah Conway; photographer, writer and the creator of the Unravelling e-courses. A Polaroid addict and very proud aunt, her first book, This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart (Globe Pequot Press), launches in June 2012. You can read about her shenanigans at SusannahConway.com. Registration for her new class, Photo Meditations, opens this Saturday, October 15th.
**Congratulations to Julie Fairchild for winning a spot in Susannah's class! Thanks to all for commenting.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 by Guest Shutter Sister 
Food is for me is like paint for a painter. At the farmers market, all I see are endless possibilities for color combinations, textures, and patterns. The food is so close, so vulnerable, I love being able to reach out to touch and hold it in my hands. Somewhere between looking, feeling, smelling, and even tasting, my mind is formulating an image. My sensory exploration of the scene helps me capture the essence, the feeling, of what I’m immersed in that very moment.
Every time I make a picture that conveys a feeling, I well up with gratitude and joy for having been at the right place and the right time. I have nothing to do with creating those moments, because they are already happening all around me. I love the challenge of communicating life’s fleeting ephemeral and sensual moments via a picture.
Pictures of food speak volumes. There are endless metaphors about life and food that have been ingrained in so many of our minds via society and culture. There are also endless hang-ups and road blocks folks have when it comes to the kitchen, many of which I’ve experienced myself at one time or another. But what if we were to shift our outlook just a little, and approach the kitchen like we do a photo: with curiosity and eyes wide open. Next time you open the fridge, take a good look at the color of your fruit, feel the texture of your mustard, feel the weight of your carton of milk. Try looking at the items in your fridge not just as necessary edibles, but fresh paint for your palate of ideas. Then let us know if something in there surprised you, or maybe even became a muse.
Images and words courtesey of the lovely and talented Tricia Martin of Eating is Art.
