savor

 

savor~ to appreciate fully; enjoy or relish

Today we turn the page on our calendars and welcome in December. With it we introduce the new One Word for December, savor. Just as we begin ushering in the busyness of the holiday season, the endless lists, to-dos, and obligations that suddenly fill our calendars, don't you think it is perfect timing for this word? Rather than surrendering to the hustle and bustle that December can bring, give yourself permission to slow down, reflect, pause, honor and celebrate the beauty of these days through your lens. What am I savoring these days? The fleeting light of winter. Just yesterday, after many consecutive grey days here in my corner of the world, the sun shone bright. I wandered though my home chasing the light, honoring its presence, savoring a sun patch, capturing it's grace in my lens.

This month savor the quiet moments, the steam of a perfect cup, their smallness that is so fleeting, or perhaps savor something sweet.   Savor your time together, the wonder of believing, and the stillness of winter.

Today let's welcome in this new month and word together.

Share your images with us all month long in our One Word Project Pool on Flickr. (tag your One Word photos this month with the following: owp, savor, december)

What are you savoring right now?

There is nothing we savor more than THIS sisterhood. So what better time to announce the newest addition to our Bel Kai Capture Collection? You’ve asked for it, and now we’ve got it! The brand new Shutter Sisters Necklace (just in time for the holidays, we might add)!

We are giddy to be partnering yet again with the amazing Bel Kai Designs for this exclusive piece: an antique bronze setting and fine link chain that brilliantly showcases the iconic image of Shutter Sisters while the blue quartz bead charm paired with the pendant symbolizes the vintage flash bulb.

If you have been looking for a way to celebrate your passion for photography and declare your inner shutter sister, then the Shutter Sisters Necklace would be the perfect accessory for your everyday life!  

Please check out Bel Kai’s holiday shipping guide to be sure you get your necklace in time for the holidays!

We don’t know about you but we’d like to start savoring this season right now by offering our first giveaway of our new necklace! Leave a comment here between now and midnight tonight EST for your chance to win.

Hooray for the holidays and here’s to savoring the sisterhood!

Congrats to Leaca! She won the Shutter Sisters necklace! woot!

thankful for this

A month like the one we've had here, has been incredibly nourishing. To be reminded again and again of all the things there are to be thankful for keeps me in a grateful frame of mind; which is the best frame of mind to be in.

I've been really trying to live in the space of thankfulness; for my family and friends, for health and happiness. For living a creative life, for being surrounded by a community of incredibly inspiring women, and for photography. And from the look of the One Word Project flickr pool this past month, you've been focusing on the same thing.

Although today might be the last day we "officially' celebrate the word thankful, I know that if anyone can continue to carry that spirit into the next year, it's all of you. I look forward to that. But for now, let's share for one more day, what the last month has meant.

Share with us your quintessential thanksgiving (whatever it looks like to you). And because our gracious sponsor Hello Canvas encourages us to delcare our gratitude by enlarging it (canvas style), they are providing the last giveaway of the month. All you need to do is share your "thankful" here in the comments for your chance to win the random 20X24 canvas giveaway!

And as a little something extra, they'll also be giving away a 20X24 over on their facebook page today. All you have to do is visit them over there and share a comment on their facebook wall. Don't forget to tell them you're with the sisterhood for your chance to win the fb contest.

You have until midnight tonight EST to leave your comment here for your chance to win a Hello Canvas print (like the one in the photo above!).

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Congratulations Veronica! You won a canvas print from Hello Canvas! YAY YOU!

thankful for the path

 We are delighted to welcome November with its spirit of deep gratitude and thanksgiving. Can you already feel it in the air? We sure can. There is no better time to use our creative tools (whatever camera suits your fancy) to shoot in gratitude.

This month we are celebrating our One Word Project with the help of HelloCanvas as we use the word  thankful to inspire us.

Among a multitude of other things, we are thankful for photography. For our sisterhood. For being together. For friends and for family. For our creative path. For coffee in the morning and tea at night. For the color of the leaves. For the sun in they sky and frost on the ground. For warm fires. For music. For food on the table and for our many countless blessings!

We are also thankful for HelloCanvas as they remind us to not only shoot with gratitude but to celebrate what we capture through our lenses. Creating a canvas print of something you are thankful for is a perfect way to honor what we are most grateful for. We are excited to be offering a month full of free canvas prints courtesy of HelloCanvas.

Here's what you can look forward to this month:

Each Friday of November we will host a mini-photo contest. The theme? Various creative twists on this season of gratitude, of course! The prize? A 20x24inch print from HelloCanvas.

And if that's not amazing enough, they will give away a stunning 36x48inch canvas print as a grand prize to one thankful winner from our OWP Flickr Pool at the end of November! Plus, 4 honorable mentions for the month will win 20x24 inch canvas prints as well. 

To be included in the Novemeber OWP contest:

Please enter your thankful images to the OWP Flickr pool.

Please tag your images "thankful" & "hellocanvas" so we can find your images.

Please show hellocanvas how thankful we are for them by visiting them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Winners will be announced the first week of December.

So, let's starting seeking out all the things we're thankful for. We can't wait to hear what's on your heart and in front of you lens. Do share! 

moo and you

We tell the world a little about ourselves with everything we do. How we act, what we say, how we dress, what we carry. From our bags to our blogs from our coffee mugs to our cameras. Our words, our images, our facebook status, all express who we are.

In the theme of this month's One Word Project, we have partnered with MOO to encourage you to really express yourself this week! Who are YOU? Share it with us through your shots this week for your chance to win some super-cool prizes from MOO. MOO offers a ton of ways to express yourself through business cards, mini cards, post cards, stickers (total cuteness), and holiday cards. We know you know all about them (coolest cards for photographers ever) so why not offer this fun contest in celebration of MOO and YOU?

Here's the scoop:

For a chance to win – all you have to do is post a URL to a photo in the comments which resonates with this month’s theme of ‘YOU’. You know how the OWP works! We want to see shots that have YOU written all over them! We are looking for beautiful, creative, unque or just fun shots of/or about YOU.

Prizes from MOO

Grand prize – 100 business cards (or 200 minis), 25 Christmas (Holiday) cards, 20 postcards & 52 stickers!

2^nd place – 100 business cards (or 200 minis) & 52 stickers

3^rd place – 100 business cards (or 200 minis)  & 52 stickers

You've got until  Friday, 10/28 at midnight EST to leave your comments and links here for a chance to win.

We can't wait to see YOU in your entry image!

i am...

I love how self portraits can be so emotive. 

Whatever you are feeling on any given day can be expressed through the click of your shutter.

They often seem to fit this formula "I am ______ ."

I am... brave, sad, fragile, strong, unsure, sexy, powerful, scared, fierce, tired, trying, angry, loved, exhausted, beautiful, imperfect, worthy, creative , empowered.... the list is endless. One day we readily fill in the blank with something positive, and the very next day it may be quite the opposite. With each click we can express a number of emotions. Trust me, I do not find self portraits easy, but what I do find them to be is 100% cathartic, especially on those not so shiny happy days...  So, if you have not turned the camera on yourself, do try.  Trust that the beauty you find when pointing your camera outward is sure to be found when you turn it on yourself.  

In celebration of this month's One Word, YOU, fill in your own blank today.  What are you feeling right now, in this moment?  Express your word and yourself in a photo and share it with us here today. 

Me?  I am a work in progress ....