In your hands

As I search through the treasure trove of the one word project, I see treasures held beautifully in your hands. Treasures found, kept and held as a memory forever...

Summer’s here!! the season that brings a delicious explosion of vegetables & fruit, beautiful and bountiful.

Eclectic treasures from the sea, big & small...

I’m admiring collections made and added too. Something bright or delicate, something precious, someone loved.

Treasure to the beholder, the believer, the collector, the receiver...

What treasures are in your hands today?

Grandpa's Letters

Long before I knew what our One Word would be for this month, I wrote the prompts for Picture Summer (the class I am teaching over at Big Picture Scrapbooking this month). The prompt for Thursday had to do with capturing in a photo, a personal treasure. Sweet synchronicity!

When I saw the above image in our classroom gallery I was stopped in my tracks. When I read the brief caption under it from the photographer Julie, I got goose bumps.

I am honored that Julie agreed to share this story with us about this undeniable treasure:

Sixty-five years. 

These letters are sixty five years old, written by my grandfather in 1945 to his young bride as he served his country as a medic during World War II.  My grandfather was deeply in love with my grandmother.  He never stopped referring to her as his girlfriend throughout their long lives together, how sweet is that?  Their young love was even sweeter. 

I am very lucky, as the oldest grandchild, to have inherited this treasure. To make it even more special, these letters were written to my grandmother when she was pregnant with her first child, my mother.  I am so grateful that my grandmother kept these letters.  They were very dear to her then as they are to me now.  Each letter was carefully opened with a letter opener and after it was read it was returned to its envelope to be stored in her cedar chest.  Today these letters call my cedar chest their home. 

My treasure. 

Image and words courtesy of Honorary Sister/Guest Blogger Julie Allaway.

treasure

As I look through the millions of pictures I have taken over the years, I realize I have collected the things that I treasure most; the thing I hold dear. My family, friends, pets, nature, my daily life, experiences, adventures, beauty and love, to name a few.

It's what we all do as photographers. We are treasure collectors.

What better word to use this month then than treasure? We knew you'd love it too. And we can think of no better word to describe the jewelry of BelKai Designs, our sponsor for the month. If you haven't heard, we've paired up our own photographic treasures with the designs of BelKai and the Capture Collection was born. Sea, Sand, Sky, Wish and Taking Flight...the beginning of our Collection.

And we are looking forward to introducing more of these offerings this month. And maybe even a giveaway or two.

But, more than anything, we encourage you to share with us your photographic treasures with us this month. If you're not familiar with the way it works, head over to the One Word Project about page and then add your images to our OWP Flickr pool. You might just find your treasure featured here.

Happy treasure hunting!

endings

We have started summer off with a splash around here, that's for sure! With all of the hellos you know there was bound to eventually be a good-bye. Sniff sniff. But never fear, we have one last random giveaway from our gracious sponsor Hello Canvas today. Leave a comment here and if you'd like to share with us a shot of "the flip side" we'd love to see it!

And there's still today to order your own canvas at 40% off! Keep in mind as well that our 25% discount will be extended all the way through July! Hello!

But now we really must say good-bye. Just remember that with one ending comes another beginning...

Wheeeeee!

Hello Summer!

This summer I'm co-hosting the Mondo Beyondo Dream Lab, an online class about rest, play and the power of kindness.  Since I knew we'd need a new collection of images to post with the lessons, I commissioned my kids (plus four or five more neighborhood friends) to help me stage a little photo shoot.  All the children involved were a little bit too grownup for bubbles (mom, we're tweens, not kids), but everyone really got into it when I showed them how the bubbles were showing up in the screenfinder.

Whoa, Mom! How did you do that?? That's cool!

I didn't do it on purpose, but I had to agree.  There was something about the combination of shooting in the golden hour, taking an extra step in and turning slightly toward the sun that took our bubble shots to a whole new level.  Add some giant circle earrings and a circle wand, and you're good to go.

So c'mon, sisters, it's summertime afterall! Bust out the bubbles and show us what you can do.  I'd love to see what other cool effects we can get with a little water, sunlight and suds. If you don't have your bubble wand in hand then show us anything that speaks to you of summer. Yes! This is yet another photo contest!!

Show us what you’ve got between now and Sunday night at midnight PST over in our OWP Flickr pool and leave a comment here with a link to your shot. Only one image per person please and only those images shared through links in the comments here will be considered. There will be one “Grand Hello” winner that will receive a 36X24 canvas (Hello!) and 2 runners up that will win a 20X24 canvas compliments of Hello Canvas, of course!

For more summer inspired photography prompts like this one, it's not too late to sign up for Picture Summer with Tracey Clark.  Class starts next week on July 1st! Hello summer!