solstice

“Summer Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, when the sun is at its peak and the days abound with the promise of life’s fullness. It is a serenely powerful time in which the beauty of the natural world can infuse our spirit, bring us alive to the present, and perhaps awaken a deeper sense of relatedness to the community of life, to the Earth, and to the cosmos.” - Paul Winter

Show us how you plan to spend your time today. This: sun standing still day. This: longest night of the year. Sunrise, sunflare, sunset, or starshine... lay it on me! Leave your images in the comments below, but most of all... enjoy this most beautiful solstice!

ablazed with color

Color is everywhere! Have you noticed? Have you captured it through your lens? My guess is you have. It's that time of year after all when the world is waking from the last few months of cool slumber.

In honor of the season and all things colorful, we are giving away 2 complimentary class registrations to Picture Color. Leave a comment here between now and Friday, 5/27 at midnight EST to be entered in a random drawing. And for another chance to win, visit Mortal Muses. Those girls rock! Oh, and the gals at Write.Click.Scrapbook? Yep, they are awesome too and are giving away some Picture Color spots in the next few days so head over there too! See what I mean? Color IS everywhere!

And with that in mind, let us celebrate the coming colors together. Show us blazing, beautiful color today!

explore your senses

As I look up through the tress, and be in the moment....

I hear delightful birdsong,

I feel the soft breeze on my face,

I see the dappled light through the leaves,

I smell the intoxicating lavender at my feet.

My senses are alive.

Where have you been lately that brought your senses alive? Share your moments here today.

feeling a shift

February hit me hard these last 2 weeks.  I felt a funk grabbing hold and digging in deep.  It was mocking my ever waning resilience I fought hard to have this winter as if to say, "HA! go ahead pick up that camera. I dare you to find anything pretty around here right now!", and so my camera sat quiet. The very last day of February I woke to sleet and freezing rain pouring down on all our snow, the grumpy oil guy was here trudging snow and muck through my house, my teenager flooded her bathroom, I felt the weight of it all crushing down on me.  If I had a white flag I would have waved it. Then yesterday, just one day after I had felt so defeated and uncreative, I woke to sunshine, the first in days.  Puddles emerged from under the ice.  A bowl of handpicked lemons, a gift from sunny California, sat basking in in that beautiful sunshine in my kitchen,  I picked up my camera and for the first time in some time I felt happy as I clicked the shutter.  All at once I realized the ice was not the only thing thawing. I flipped the calendar page, gladly saying goodbye to February.  March feels full of hope and promise to me. Tomorrow I may get knocked down by winter again,  but somehow by turning the calendar page it all feels doable now. I feel a shift, do you feel it too? Hello March, I think I love you.

What do you do creatively when you feel in a rut?  Do you let your camera sit silent, or do you force yourself to pick it up anyway?  Share a happy hopeful image here with us today to welcome this new month.

window shopping

I'm introspective by nature, so on most days you can probably find me doing some kind of soul work and pondering about art + life. On those many days, if you see me out in the streets with my camera, I probably have a faraway contemplating look, I'm starring at the horizon, and I am most desperately looking for something beautiful to catch my eye, just so I can shoot it and find some sort of relief to my longings. I know... Eeek, right?  I am proud of the fact that I try to live my life artfully, and with intention and mindfulness. On the other hand, living life (and shooting) like that can be too intense...

That is why some days are meant for window shopping! :) Shooting fun window displays has become one of my favorite pastimes. There is opportunity to explore composition, color, lighting, patterns, reflections, and the styling is already all done for us! There is no room for heaviness here, because why? Well, it's shopping, for heaven's sake! And shopping without the spending (which is even better), with the extra bonus of coming back with lovely photographs to keep. In addition, there is always the possibility to come back for more at the same exact spot, because windows change with the seasons, holidays and collections, offering the chance for a fun documenting project as well.

So who is up for some retail therapy? What do you say if we all lighten up, kick the winter blues, and share some cool window shots today?!

And if window shopping is not your thing (YET!), what do you shoot when you need to lighten up? Show us what you've got.

Also, you can probably tell I'm really digging polaroid these days, can't you? The sx70 has also helped me lighten up on gear and processing. I'm so glad there is a photography toy for every one of our moods out there ;P