Life in Black and White

Rain earlier in the week made way for a beautiful, warm Southern California weekend for a volunteer beach cleanup that my husband, son and myself participated in.  Well, actually, I just followed along with my camera, but atleast I was there!  The sun was high and bright in a gorgeous blue sky but when I saw this picture I knew it would tell the story so much better in black and white.  With no color to distract,  it was just my husband and son walking side-by-side as if they were the only two on that beach. 

Today, show us your black and white photos and let them tell us their stories. 

what you don't see

I have to tell you how amazingly freeing it is to show you the photo above.  When I started writing this post and looking for photos that show the, “what you don’t see”, I started finding and laughing at all sorts of discarded photos in my computer files.  What you could perceive from the first fireplace photo is that my house is perfect enough to get this shot or as one comment I received on the fireplace photo, “It’s like you live in a magazine”. ..ha, not with four kids and a dog! That is just photography magic (and clever cropping) my dear friends. I’m pretty sure a magazine wouldn’t have an unfinished fireplace, dusty wood floors, a discarded newspaper and wires poking out where once there was a flat screen. There is so much we don’t see in photography.

 I took the “pretty” fireplace photo before we were finished because I needed inspiration.  Priming and painting an entire two story, floor to ceiling fireplace is not an easy task and taking this photo kept me focused. It reminded me that soon, hopefully soon, I would have a wonderful showpiece in the house in which to hang our family’s stockings and decorate with each new season.

Photos speak volumes in both what it shows and doesn’t show the viewer. Often times what you don’t see, the real shot,  is the most beautiful part.  I have a photo of one of our newly arrived chicks sitting on a window sill looking out.  In hindsight what I wish I had done was take a step back or two.  What you would have seen then was my sweet husbands’ hands cupped underneath the window sill, steadying himself there just in case miss chick decided to jump, simply because I had asked.  To me, that memory means so much more than the professional looking chick photo. It reminds me how real and wonderful life is outside the perfect point of focus.  How although a pretty picture has its place to keep us inspired, the not so perfect shots (or uncropped versions) shouldn’t be so easily discarded, because they too have a story to tell. The newspaper on the ottoman in the right side of the fireplace photo…my kids sharing a chair, laughing and reading the Sunday comics in pj’s.

A dear friend of mine posted this photo on flickr a few years ago. Out of  the hundreds of beautiful and perfect shots she has taken through the years, this one stands out most in mind.  Why?  Because it is so real.  It is her and I adore her.  It is her life on her farm summed up in a single photo and I find it so achingly beautiful. Today, show us the real, the perfectionist, the messy, the inspirational, the uncropped and the gorgeously, beautiful parts of YOU.

Images and words courtesy of the lovely Andie edwards.

tunnel vision

I'm feeling pretty unfocused these days. It's a busy time of year and I am being pulled in many different directions. And yet, I haven't said 'no' to any new commitments. So I have nobody to blame but myself for feeling overextended. When I start to feel scatterbrained and flustered, I have to force myself to compartmentalize and focus on one thing at a time. There needs to be a balance between seeing the big picture and zeroing in on the task at hand. The photo above seems like a pretty acurate representation of that balance. My eye is drawn to the end of the walkway, and yet I still notice some small details along the way.

Do you have any photo representation of the way you'd like to be operating right now? It could be calm, joyful, organized, motivated or slow-paced.

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We are giving away one $100 Paper Coterie gift card EVERY SINGLE DAY of September to one of YOU! All you have to do is share a comment each day before midnight EST for your chance to win that day's random drawing. And be sure to keep shooting your own stories and adding them to the OWP Pool on Flickr where you have a second chance at winning one of those $100 Paper Coterie giveaways.

A New Season

I'm a true California girl. I live for summer, so when the days grow cooler and the days become shorter, it has always been a difficult transition for me.  I would pout my way through autumn, because really, finding a true fall season in Southern California is pretty much impossible. A couple of years ago I decided it was time to stop pouting about it and find fall on my own and I have.  Pumpkin patches? Check.  Apple picking? (yes, even here in SoCal!), check.  A yummy pumpkin latte? Well, that's a given.  But what truly signifies the changing seasons for me?  Football!  High school, college, professional, it doesn't matter.  Fall is in the air, people.  Even for me, this born and bred California girl.  :)

Share your stories of how you celebrate the changing season. Show us your autumn.

We are giving away one $100  Paper Coterie gift card EVERY SINGLE DAY of September! Share a comment each day before midnight EST for your chance to win that day's random drawing. Be sure to leave links to your story shots. 

A Healing

 

"I was born with a camera in my hand", is a common phrase said by some of the best photographers.  Unfortunately, this is  not a common phrase for me.  Photography was something I had always loved, even as a little girl posing My Little Ponies, but photography came in a different way for me.

As I grew older, got married and had children, my life was put on hold to be a stay-at-home mom.  Although many sacrifices came with this job, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  A little over 3 years ago my husband bought me my first DSLR camera.  I started off by taking photos of tutus that I was making and selling but found that I was getting more attention for my photos than I was for the actual tutus.  Over time, I started to get more and more requests to take photos of friends and family.  Shortly thereafter, like a lot of other people in this country, my husband lost his job.  This came as a huge sadness to our family as we lost our home, the majority of our belongings and even our beloved dog, Dougie.

This change in our life is what gave me the opportunity to finally go after what I loved: photography.  The passion to fight to make the business a success came with the struggle, hardship, hurt and pain of this new change.  I loved photographing and capturing the happiness in families, the joys of newborns, the true love of weddings and the success of graduating seniors.  Photography is what made me happy and healed a lot of fears and frustrations that were occuring in my own life.  Being able to photograph all these great moments in other people's lives reminded of what is truly important. 

This is now my business and I am loving every moment of it.  Running your own business can consume you but I have been blessed with meeting so many amazing photographers and clients, many who I can now call friends.

What has photography done for you? Today, show us how much you love photography and show us the photos you love.

Images and words courtesy of the lovely and talented Desiree Niumata of Desiree Niumata Photography.  You can also find her on Facebook and her blog, as well.