Our Legacy in Photos

This is my great-aunt Sallie Myrtle Cook, born in 1896. I have just begun to start researching my family tree and I came across this photo of my great-aunt which I found online.  When I saw this photo for the first time, it hit me just how important old photos of any kind can be.  I myself have hundreds of old family photos going back to probably the 1930s, but nothing earlier.  Suddenly, the need to preserve my family photos is more important than ever.  We are lucky that being in the 21st century, it's easier than ever to do.  Still, I'm thankful to those family members before me who kept those old shoeboxes full of old photographs. 

How about you?  Do you have shoeboxes full of old photos tucked away in a closet somewhere or yellowing in an old photo album?  Have any thoughts of what you may do with them? Who knows, maybe one day someone will find one of your old photos when researching their family tree!

Encouraging Words

The day I received these little "I Love You" cards in the mail, I was out the door and leaving them at all kinds of different places.  The day I took this picture, my husband and I had gone to lunch.  As we were leaving I quickly slipped one into the holder and then quickly took a picture.  I love to keep a little photo momento for myself.  I so enjoy leaving little cards or notes for others to find.  I find myself wondering about the person who finds my card.  Did it bring a smile to their face? Did they maybe take it and pass it on to someone else?  If I don't have a card, sometimes I'll leave a little hand written note which works just as well.  Either way, hopefully I've made someone smile. 

Want some cards of your own to leave for someone to find? The ladies over at Kind Over Matter have some gorgeous free, downloadable quotation cards that you can print out.  Print some up, tuck them in your purse or camera bag.  If you decide to leave one somewhere, take a picture and share with us.  We'd love to see the joy you're spreading, too! 

 ("I Love You" cards available here)

Life Lessons

This is my third year photographing the kids at my son's elementary school as they learn and rehearse for their annual school musical.  My goal is to capture, in candid shots, the joy the children get from doing this and to share it in a slideshow for their friends and families to see on the night of their performance.  It's no secret that I love to photograph children.  Out of the hundreds of photos I get to take of these kids, there's always one or two shots that reach right inside of me and give my heart a squeeze.  I am amazed at how comfortable these kids are in their own skin, not worrying about what anyone thinks or if their outfit for the day matches perfectly or not.  As an adult, I can't remember when I last felt like that.  It's those shots that are little lessons in my life, courtesy of another beautiful child.

How about you? Do you have that one shot that has captured your heart? Do share!

These Things I Need to Know

Oh, how I love this man, Dr. Nix. My Photography 101 professor. I didn't intend to pursue photography as a career at the time, but was intrigued with it enough to take the class as an elective en route to my BFA. Dr. Nix taught me how to make a pinhole camera with balsa wood to emphasize the importance of learning to control light with the simplest of tools. He taught me how to develop film and make prints in the darkroom. But beyond all the technical stuff, he encouraged me. And hearing him say, "you've got a great eye" is (to this day) one of the best compliments I've ever received.

We reconnected a few years ago when I realized that he lived just 30 minutes from my door. Spending time with him in his home with his wife is such a gift for me. Last Friday, we talked about the start of his photography career as a photojournalist and the excitement of being called in the middle of the night to capture news in the making. "Have you ever seen an ole' 4x5?" he asked. I hadn't. And so my lesson began. Within minutes he returned to the sofa with a black box, pieced together his Crown Graphic 4x5 press camera (weighing in at a hefty 8 pounds), and demonstrated the very manual process of making images "on the fly" back in 1953. And giving a sweet glance in the direction of his beautiful wife, he even told me about the time he had to change his film under a sorority girl's lengthy skirt.

I'm grateful for this time with him. The wisdom of his life. He gives me a window into a past I'll never know. Share a portrait of wisdom with us today, or make it a point to seek it out.


This Is How the Universe Says 'I Love You'

You cannot convince me not to love this photo.  And yet, this was one of those shots that I almost deleted the  moment I captured it without even looking at the result because I had not meant to take a 1 second exposure.   When I finally saw the image for the first time on my monitor at home, however, I was instantaneously smitten.  Yes, it's blurry and partially blown-out and not anything like what I thought I wanted to capture, but upon first sight, I knew it was perfect.

Was it merely good luck or a happy accident that produced this photo?  Perhaps a little of both.  Nevertheless, I prefer to see it as the Universe's way of whispering 'I Love You' to little old me.   It's probably not evident to anyone else, but what I recognize in this photo is the fluttering of my heart as I witnessed beauty unfolding before my eyes, the beauty I am woven into as part of my little community of love and faith.  In between the blur and fuzz, I see grace and hope embodied in the bended knees of people I cherish dearly, people who bow their heads in love not to ideology or religiosity or unexamined faith but to the humble task of leaning on one another and carrying each other's burdens.

The Universe knew I would never think to take a long exposure, and so she intervened on my behalf and left me this little love note, and for that I am ever so grateful.  It is personally more powerful and more meaningful than any image I could have captured with my own human eyes.

Please share with us today your images of serendipity/luck/happy accidents/gently whispered messages from the Universe, those images that unexpectedly made your heart skip a beat.