Nine days ago, I was on a plane reading A New Earth. The author talks about the illusions of the past and future, and about how happiness is always found in the moment. At one point, he used a quotation from the Bible, “This too, shall pass.” I’d always heard that scripture in reference to painful events…when people lost a loved one, or went through difficulties. He introduced it as a way of perceiving everything. When a baby is born, when you’re laughing with friends around dinner...this too shall pass. All of a sudden, that temporary space in time, takes on more importance.

Three days ago, I was on vacation looking out of this window, surrounded by my family who rarely gets to be together. When the anticipated days finally come, I feel like everything should be monumental. Then I get up to the actual moment and realize my expectations were my imagination (again). And that what’s real is even better (again). And even the grandest of events, are just made up of lots of Sweet Ordinary. A trip to the grocery store together, a good movie, a laugh and a story here and there. What’s grand, is what’s ordinary. And that’s why it’s easy to overlook.

Today I sit here a little melancholy and homesick for my family. Distance between people that love each other, always feels like a waste. It’s like having a million dollars, but not being able to access it. Or maybe it feels  worse. But even in the sadness, I feel a certain contentment because I know I was paying attention while the time was passing. And that's all anyone can ever really do, anyway.

How are you passing the time these days? 

Picture and words by Maile.

View from the Navy Pier in Chicago at BlogHer 2007

As I tie up loose ends and back my bags for the weekend’s festivities I am giddy. More than anything BlogHer has become a block of time to be in the true physical presence of some of my favorite women that for the most part, I only get to spend time with virtually. It’s something I look forward to all year.

This year feels extra special though.

At last year’s BlogHer I was talking up this great idea I had of a unique collaborative photo blog for women that I had planned to launch called Shutter Sisters. People would ask for details and I remember saying, I’m not exactly sure what’s it’s going to be. I just know it’s going to be amazing. And it is truly amazing. I had an idea of what I hoped it would be but little did I know the caliber of community that has come to surround and support the blog would surpass my wildest dreams. You all have helped make Shutter Sisters what it is today. And it just keeps getting better. Thank you all so very much.

This year BlogHer for me will be an even richer celebration of sisterhood and some of the contributing sisters and many of our community will be gathering, walking the streets of San Francisco, clickin’ around town together. It feels almost surreal and I eagerly look forward to Saturday’s PhotoWalk. What’s more is that, thanks to Blurb, we will be kicking off the Shutter Sisters Collaborative Book Collection! You asked for it. You got it. The book will be called ShutterWalk and it will be full of some highlights from the PhotoWalk images captured. All participants have to do is upload their PhotoWalk Photos into the ShutterWalk Flickr Group, tag them with ssphotowalk08 and our favorites will be chosen for our book.

Since there are so many of you that aren’t able to join us this weekend, we are also going to begin the process of choosing the images for our second book. Yep. That’s two. We’re pretty ambitious, aren’t we? This is so that everyone can get into the spirit of starting our library of books. It will be called The Daily Click (crowd goes wild). The photos that will be chosen for the book from our Daily Click stream will be up to you!

Between now and August 1^st it is your job to be book curator. All you have to do is click through all The Daily Clicks and comment on the ones you hope to see in our book. The photos with the most comments will be featured in our First Annual Daily Click Collection. We can’t wait to see which photos you choose!

Once the books are done, they will be available at the Blurb Bookstore. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the best cause we could think of, Jen and Odette’s Girl Power Afrcia fund.

Thank you again to all of you for being involved here and so wonderfully supportive. It means to the world to us. Especially to me. Sniff sniff.

Do you ever feel like your images are not the ones you'd envisioned? For me, they're usually better or worse. And it makes me think about the idea of expectation. We can plan out our lives and photographs, but things never play out exactly the way we think they will. I don't delete the planned photographs more than the lucky mistakes. But if they don't "turn out", there seems to be more dissapointment associated. When you step in to arrange things, you're more attached to the results. But lately, I like the "mistakes" most. They're like little glimpses of the parts I didn't know, or didn't see. And that's more exciting than what I was expecting. Do you have any lucky mistakes to share? We'd love to see them!  

I'm used to the way my camera feels. I don't think about the buttons or dials. It sits more as an extension of my hands and my eye, and it feels natural. But sometimes I think about how un-natural it must feel to my clients. Me (a stranger) pointing a big microscope at them, hoping they'll trust me enough to show me something real. It's asking a lot, and I try to remember that. Even though, it's far from being a formula for success. There are so many variables that go into that delicate dance of getting to know someone on a shoot: newborns peeing on laps, fathers who want to be somewhere else, exhausted pregnant mommies, weather that doesn't cooperate. You never know what you're going to get. But no matter how different each photo session looks or feels, there's only one thing I'm ever looking for. Honesty. Saying cheese is easy. Expected. And sometimes it's necessary to go through the motions to get to the good stuff. But the cheese is never interesting. Not in a conversation, and not in a photograph. It's always a form of honesty that inspires me. We find ourselves in each other, and that makes us feel connected. I think the most important tool that a photographer has, is his or her ability to be vulnerable first. We must be willing to show our selves, before we can expect others to reveal their true moments to us.

It’s that time of year again. If you read my last post, you know where I’m at; bobbing up and down in the tide of melancholy. It doesn’t take much these days to get me teary. Even a simple request to reminisce on family time at the sea shore got my sentimental wheels turning. When I noticed that the prompt was inspired by diapers, the motivation began to dwindle because my kids are out of the diaper phase. Uh oh. Here comes the rush swelling emotions. My children are long out of diapers. Dang it! Here I go again. My babies are growing up. I’m telling you, I’m hopeless.

When it comes to looking back on my life, the beach is the consistent strand that connects all the things I want to remember; family, fun, laughter, relaxation, nature, simplicity, peace, perspective, clarity. Our days (and evenings) spent at the beach are some of my fondest memories. I guess it would make sense logistically speaking as we live only a mile or two from the So Cal coast but even still, we are die hard beach people. Summer, winter, vacations, you name it, we head to the ocean—to dig in the sand, splash in the sea, snack on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, walk on the beach, discover treasures, and rediscover each other. And I always bring the camera.

What about you? Where are your most sacred memories found? Is there a place you visit and revisit where you find your soul at its most content? Is it a multitude of memories that make it special or one single instance when it was as if the planets aligned just for you? Where ever or whatever it may be, I’ll bet there’s a photo that helps encapsulate it, isn’t there?