Hiding Behind The Lens

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say I'm much more comfortable behind the lens, than in front.

To be perfectly honest, I do not like having my picture taken. It makes me very uneasy. 

Over the past few months I've been getting a little braver, slowly finding some comfort in front of the camera. I have a long way to go, but I am working on it. 

How do you feel standing in front of the lens? Like it, love it, loathe it? Do tell! Please share your thoughts and images with us today.

YOU.

“Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than YOU.”
-Dr. Seuss

We welcome in October and with it a new one word to explore for the month, YOU.

YOU are beautiful

YOU are strong

YOU are creative

YOU are brave

YOU are enough

YOU are loved

YOU are needed

YOU are perfectly imperfect

YOU inspire

YOU give

YOU shine

YOU ROCK!

Yes YOU

Share with us the beauty of you.  All the lovely, quirky, silly, fragile, fierce, complicated, amazing pieces of you.

This month is gonna be good! I can feel it already. Can YOU? 

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You can read more about our monthly One Word Project here. Use the one word as a bit of inspiration all month long and add your images to our OWP Pool on Flickr . Don't forget to tag your photos this month with the following 3 things, owp, october, & you.

everyday life is sometimes messy

Looking forward into a hurricane.
Looking back into the muck from where we grow.

Everyday life is sometimes messy, we all know this. And yet so often we try our best to clean it up. We shine it and polish it and make it presentable. We photoshop and airbrush and texturize and soften and I do all these things too because I want to see what is aesthetically pleasing and so I sweep the dust bunnies under the rug. I arrange photos to put chaos into order. Yes, I do. But what is real is what is true. And if photography is mostly optical illusion, then there's something to be said for hidden beauty that is found in the mess. In the cluttered table top, the forward the backward dance of multi-tasking, the child hanging from the apron strings, the toys scattered after a morning of busyness.

This is the truth of how I work. Old school headphones to drown out the mess. In this moment I realized how funny this must look. And yet how important it is to recognize this time of my life. So I put myself at arms length to see my life for what it is right now: messy.

Messy is still beautiful to me.

Today I challenge you to put yourself at arms length. Take a look around you (or at yourself) and revel in your life for what it is. Chaotic, turbulent, or a peaceful oasis. Try to see the mess as the canvas, as the backdrop to the story of our life. Put it in your frame...today share with us what is real and true about your life. What is hard for you today? What are you trying to overcome? What makes you, you? I'm finding that when we share our truths and even our (gasp!) flaws, the more real and beautiful life becomes.

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.

shine your light

We are all good at shining the light on others. Singing praises, commenting on the beauty of everyone else's art, photos, and lives. Why do we forget that our own light is so very precious and needs to be nurtured and deserves to be praised? As women are we just so busy taking care of others that we forget to stand in our own light? Or do we buy into the belief that such behavior is boastful and prideful, rather than brave and confident? Have we been conditioned to hide our own light? Do those dreadful words, 'who do you think you are?' ring in your ears? I am guilty of this. Someone praises my photography, or something I wrote, and I can feel the heat rising in my face,  I actually get a physical response to it. Forget about tooting my own horn, ugh, no way. But why not? If I cannot believe I am worthy than who will? Allowing myself to stand in my own light is something I am truly working on.  Just when I needed it, a very special gift came my way. A locket, a keeper of treasures and sacred things, worn near my heart. Inside, a whisper to my soul... "Stand in your light". Four little words that speak big to my heart.

We each have our own special gifts to share with the world, rather than being shy or embarrassed by that, why not shout it out instead!  Today shine the light on YOU. Have you done something new or exciting with your photography?  Perhaps a gallery showing, a first photoshoot, opened a shop, entered a contest, been published, taken a class, printed one of your own photos and had it framed just for you? Perhaps there is just a certain photo you are SO.VERY.PROUD.OF.  Go ahead, tell us! Show us! Celebrate it! Whatever it may be, share it with us here today.  Say yes to you and your light.

Like the locket says, stand in your light, you deserve to feel the warmth it holds.

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As extra incentive to shine your light with us, the multitalented artist Liz Lamoreux, creator of the beautiful locket above, is gifting one simple soul mantra locket necklace to one lucky commenter here today. Liz's shop, soul mantras and other stories, is filled with beautiful pieces each imprinted with special words that speak straight to the heart and soul. Perhaps there is a message your soul is in need of right now. Just leave a comment here by midnight PST to be entered in today's giveaway.

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GIVEAWAY UPDATE: congrats to Amy, the winner of the simple soul mantra locket giveaway. xo Amy!