friday's featured resource: photo style recipes from pottery barn

Recently on my own site, I talked about how, even with as much as I enjoy the holidays, I always feel a sense of relief at the beginning of the year.  What I didn't mention, however, was how much I go into nesting mode.  I think it has something to do with taking down the Christmas tree: after putting everything away, and seeing my house go back to the way it was before we decked the halls, I feel an urge to move things around a little, make a few adjustments.  Redecorate a bit.

Since I truly don't have lots of money to spend on redecorating (does anyone?), and, well, I've been known to take a photograph or two, I've decided to see how I can enhance our home using photographs.  What's sort of strange is that in general, I don't display my photography at home, save for a couple of family snapshots here and there.  But really, why not use my photographs to help make my house feel more like home?  It feels like a no-brainer, right?

And so, a couple of days ago, I dusted off a book that I purchased a few months ago, on a whim. Photos (style recipes) is a publication from Pottery Barn, and is chock full of really lovely ideas to store your photographs, display them in your home, advice on how to mat, frame and hang photographs -- even some ideas on how to assimilate and create collages of vacation snapshots.  I've already pulled a couple of ideas out of the book, and I'm loving the changes I've made to our fireplace mantle and our breakfast area, all for a pretty nominal fee of printing a few photographs and purchasing some standard frames.

While the book is available on Amazon, I can't find it on the Pottery Barn site, or anywhere else for that matter -- so it could be the book is out of print.  I really can't recommend it enough, so be sure to snap it up if you can.

And on a related note, I'm curious:  do you display your photographs in your home?  Are your displays limited to portraits of your family, or do you frame your art photography pieces as well?

show me yours

 photoclutch from Urban Outfitters

 My daughter got a princess photo album for Christmas (among a million other things, one of which was her own camera –surprise surprise). She picked up the empty album this evening and sighed, I don’t have any pictures of me and my friends to put in my album.

Ouch. Those words get a photographer right where it hurts. She’s right. Well, sort of. It’s not that there are no pictures of she and her friends; on the contrary; I have taken more photos of her and her friends than should be legal. But as far as real, tangible photographic prints, there are none. So, for a five-year-old, it feels like there are no pictures. What a strange irony considering I document every day of our lives with my camera and yet...no pictures.

When I shot film I used to get prints made of every roll. We all did. And even when I got a digital slr, I still vowed to treat each full memory card as film and get prints made. That plan lasted for a year and then card after card turned into disc after disc and the images on my computer has grown to an ungodly amount and just like that, prints are now few and far between. I will defend myself and saw that I have bookshelves of photo albums from years past. It’s just since the digital stuff that I have gone astray.

But, alas, it’s a new year! Time to turn over a new leaf. So, I ask, how do you do it? Do you enlarge your favorite photos and display them proudly on your walls? Do you create calendars or keepsakes? Do you scrapbook? Do you print your favorites and get them into photo albums?

And what about the photo albums you do have? Where do you get them? Do you carry a little brag book (I love the one shown above)? Do you print up books from Shutterfly or iphoto?

How do you keep yourself accountable in getting those luscious images you capture printed? We’d love to hear your ideas, get links to your printing resources, or hear your best kept album secrets. Spill the beans; show us what you’ve got.

friday's featured resource: family gratitude photo spinner

The words "I am not a scrapbooker" could never be more of an understatement than when they are applied to me. I mean, I'm seriously not a scrapbooker. A couple of years ago, I attempted to make a life book for my daughter, Alex, and while the final result does the trick, the craftsmanship could not be more laughable. So when I met Scrapbooker and Life Artist Extraordinaire Ali Edwards earlier this year, and I had the opportunity to turn the pages of some of her truly amazing creations, I could only smile ruefully when she said, kindly, "Karen, it's not about craftsmanship. It's about capturing memories." Easy for her to say. She "captures memories." I more imprison them.

Still, since she posted her latest project in partnership with Big Picture Scrapbooking, even I'm inspired to give it a try. The Family Gratitude Photo Spinner you see above is such a clever way of displaying photos, and as Ali says on her blog, this project is a great way to get your photographs out in the open and display them in your home -- and for those of you in America, this would even be a great centerpiece for the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

Since my multinational family rarely celebrates Thanksgiving (and, in fact, we'll be out of the country visiting in-laws this holiday), I won't likely attempt this in the next few weeks (but you certainly should!). I do think, however, I might use this as a Christmas gift idea -- perhaps for my mom. Or maybe, I'll just do it for myself in preparation for next year.

This project can be purchased and downloaded for a mere US$ 12 here. The purchase price includes color handouts with step by step instructions, downloadable PDF templates (for transparencies and titles), full supply list with links to products, an audio message from the lovely Ali Edwards herself, a private gallery for sharing your projects with others in the class, and access to a message board for sharing thoughts and ideas as you work through the project.

Happy creating, all.  And if you make this, please upload it into the Shutter Sisters Flickr pool -- I'm sure we'd all love to see how they turn out!

sweet mystery

I’ve noticed that I can no longer look at the world around me without a photographer’s eye. So much so that I don’t realize I’m doing it until someone reminds me. Like when I comment about the way something simple looks so complex or the mundane looks somehow illuminated, I will often get either a blank stare – huh? or someone’s light bulb moment—wow! I would have never noticed that but now that you mention it…

For the most part when I turn my lens to the subject at hand I like to think that I am choosing or even controlling how I capture it; the point of focus, the compositional framing, the direction or intensity of the light. But the flipside and perhaps the balance is that I gladly and willingly rely on the help of the mystery of the medium itself. For me, this magic is what breaths life into my work, not me.

And sometimes even when I think I know what I am creating in a photograph, the subject, the light, the alchemy of all of it mixed together in some kind of creative stew brings tastes and smells that I could have never concocted on my own. Maybe that’s why I’m always hungry for more. It’s always one succulent visual feast after the next.

My favorite photographs are usually those that surprise me. The ones I didn’t see coming. When something extraordinary has developed from the ordinary. An image that draws me in and questions what it is I’m really seeing. Something refreshingly stimulating and curious.

What about you? Do you have images that have brought their own magic? Share with us the shots that challenge your senses and tickle your pallet with mystery and intrigue.

sunday school: frame it

Welcome to the very first edition of Sunday School on Shutter Sisters!

So, I have a confession. I am one of those people who do not like to read manuals. In fact, I don't like reading anything non-fiction unless it's biographical/historical. It's not that I haven't TRIED to read the numerous manuals that accompanied my cameras and lenses and speedlights and filters and software. It's all mumbo-jumbo to me and goes in one brain cell and out another. Part of it is that I am an experiential learner. Fortunately for me, photography is very much a bend-the-rules kind of medium (at least it is to me), and there's so much you can learn by trial and error if you don't have the patience or learning style to read the instructions or take a formal class.

One of my favorite aspects of photography is framing the shot in an interesting way by using objects that are already in the environment. Sometimes, though, I feel a little lazy, and I'll bend that un-rule and actually grab something to help me make the photo a bit more fun. Recently, I found just the thing to function as an easy and cheap way to frame a shot uniquely: cardboard tubes. You can play around with different kinds and lengths--toilet paper, paper towel, all those empty Christmas wrapping paper tubes you haven't recycled yet. Heck, you could probably just roll up a piece of paper and create effects by trying different colors.

And THAT, Shutter Sisters, is my very technical (not!) tip for our very first Sunday School! I do love seeing "natural frames" in photos, and you can see some cool ones I've found in our Flickr pool by hashak, mrs. vigushin and skwirler.

Feel free to share links to your favoritely framed photos or your own tips on Framing The Shot.

P.S. We are now featuring a photo from our Flickr Pool EVERYDAY on The Daily Click!  We've got so many spectacular photos being added to the pool everyday that once a week just wouldn't have been enough.