we love what we love ......

I'm sitting on my friend's sofa in California right now! I'm here on a little inspiration vacation. The thing is, hopping on a plane to Caliornia isn't a typical 'thing' for me to do. I'm such a home body... very content just to 'be' in my quiet world. I was telling my husband before I left how excited I was to see new things, take different photos, get inspired. I went on to say 'I'm always photographing Ben, my walks, pretty cups, old bottles and books...This will be good for me. Right?' I was feeling anxious about leaving home. I think I was trying to reassure myself, that this was a good thing.

I'm here, and YES I have seen all kinds of beauty and inspiration. I'm so grateful. California is just so beautiful. I'm so glad I took the leap to come. 

The other night Myriam made a cup of tea and there it was in front of me, just waiting for me to take a picture. I've taken many photos this week, but this cup is one of my favs. Myriam's home has so many splashes of the things I love; beautiful cups, old bottles.... art, and texture. There's such comfort in the familiar. I love it all! I've been taking many photos of the things I love.

We are who we are. We can change things up, choose different locations.... and that's so good. But it's okay to be true to who we are, recognize what brings us joy...and love what we love....

Today I ask you, what brings you comfort, lights you up and begs you to photograph it? Share with us today.

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December is almost here! Can you believe it? We have a new hashtag for the One Word photos, #ssdecember. Feel free to continue using #shuttersisters as well. Thanks so much for sharing your photos with us!

intimacy

    

The thing I remember loving the most about my years as a portrait photographer was the ability to capture moments rarely noticed by anyone else. Moments of connection, family life, love, laughter. I made it my mission to seek out the nuances that often got overlooked; the things, that when distilled through my lens felt like magic.

Of all the wonderful things I've been privileged to witness, the ones I feel most honored to share have been the moments of intimacy. The pauses in between the expected shots. The quick glance, the exhale, the gentle touch, the subtle gesture, the contemplative expression, the comfort, the ease.

Perhaps this is why I like to get in close to my subjects. Getting in close means you have to deliberately choose only a few  details amongst the bigger picture that you want to frame in your shot.  It means you're really looking, noticing, honoring that person, that moment, that intimate view into something or someone as if somehow been allowed in to be a part of something rare and wonderful.

Today, show us your version of getting up-close and personal with your subject, whatever or whoever it may be.

no distractions

Racing against the clock today trying get a million things done all at at once, I felt more scattered than focused. Late in the afternoon I was on a call with a friend (someone I'm working with on a big project) and  before we could even get into the work part of the call, I was interrupted on my end by my daughter bounding in from her first day of High School. I got immediately distracted, Uh, er, I think I have to go. But, I really need to talk to you about just a few things. Uuuuh, er, um...shoot. Let me think.I paused for a moment trying to figure out how I was going to stretch myself to be in two places at once; with  my work and with my daughter.

Go, go, my friend ordered,That is much more important than this. Go. We'll talk later.

Indeed.

How was it that so quickly I lost sight of what really was most important? How easily I tried to put off what was happening under my roof, with my kids and keep them on hold while I worked? There's a lot of that around here with projects and pressures and so many things to do. It's amazing to me how often I say, give me a minute.

But sometimes, there's the non-negotiables. The things that matter so much that everything else must fall to the wayside; the other demands of the day totally blocked out until all you can see is right in front of you; no distractions. There is such a freedom in those moments. The freedom of letting go and being all in.

When my kids were babies, there was a lot of that kind of time. When you didn't have a choice. When tiny mouths needed to be fed. When small bodies needed to be rocked. When bright eyes needed you to pay attention. No distractions. It's so different now and yet so much the same. Sometimes though, it's harder to see the need. But rest assured, it's still there.

Whether you've got teen-agers or babies or spouses or parents or pets or friends or neighbors or anyone or anything that might need you, remember the non-negotiables. When all you can do is be there and be all in. 

Show us today how you capture a moment through your lens that removes everything but what matters the very most.

Instant vs. Instant

Whip out a Polaroid camera and the children will come running. They will surround you and look at you and this strange camera you hold as if you are from another planet. And they will ask questions. Many, many questions. How old is that thing? How does it even work? Film? What do you mean, film? A few might tell you they've actually heard their parents talk about these cameras. But to most, the concept is brand new. To take a picture with a Polaroid SX-70 and watch the faces as the image quietly appears is to experience a special brand of magic.

Adults are often just as mystified. Pull out a Polaroid camera on any street in any city in the world and someone will stop you. Someone will want to talk to you about it. They will tell you they didn't know people still shot with Polaroids and didn't they stop making the film ages ago? Then they'll get all soft in the eyes when they tell you about the Polaroid camera they grew up using. 

As a Polaroid photographer, I'm thoroughly charmed by these interactions. I really am. But every once in a while, there's a gap in the conversation. A few seconds, a pause. And I know what they want to ask, I know what they're thinking. Their bewilderment is practically palpable. Why bother with instant cameras when digital photography exists? In an age where there are phone apps that reproduce the general aesthetic of a Polaroid image in a couple of seconds, where does instant photography fit in? A digital camera in most every phone means that image sharing has never been more immediate. With apps likes instagram, I can take a picture with my iphone, choose from a variety of film-like filters and share the results immediately with the online world. How can instant photography compete with that? The answer is that it can't. It doesn't have to.

Because there's just no substitution for the real thing.

There's no sound like the zzzip and whirrr a Polaroid camera makes as it shoots a photograph out, there's no feeling like the one that comes as you hold that picture in the palm of your hand and watch as the image slowly appears. And, hard as they may try, they just can't reproduce what instant cameras and instant films do with color and light. This is not to say that I don't absolutely love my nikon DSLR. Or that I haven't (joyously) fallen down a sizable instagram rabbit hole myself. I wholeheartedly acknowledge that digital photography and iphoneography have pushed the medium in wildly exciting new directions. They're just not meant to completely replace all that has come before them. And in a world where technology seems to be pushing us all along at breakneck speed, I think we can't help but be drawn to things that force us to slow down.

When I shoot with my Polaroid camera, this is exactly what happens. I slow down. Ironically enough, the technology that so many originally associated with speed causes me to slow things down. When I look through the viewfinder of my Polaroid camera, I take my time, I think about what I'm shooting before I press that little red button. And as the camera spits the picture out, I hold my breath. 

Image and words courtesy of our newest regular contributor here at Shutter Sisters Andrea Corrona Jenkins, also know as Hula from Hula Seventy. (crowd goes wild). We are giddy to have her here!

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In honor of Andrea and all things Poloroid (Hula's trueest passion) we are offering a giveaway today! A comlimentary registration to her soon-coming teahouse workshop! Instant Magic. Sounds dreamy, doesn't it?

 Just comment here between now and Tuesday night (8/23 at midnight ESTP) with a warm welcome to Andrea to be entered to win. And feel free to share something you captured in an instant (with your camera of choice).

reoccurring themes

Sometimes we don't really notice patterns when we're too close them. Day in and day out we carry on with our routines and rhythms, repeating actions, activities, habits and rituals. We wake and walk and work. We lift our forks to eat, our pens to write, children to love, our cameras to click. Every day with little fanfare.

I've recognized my love affair with coffee mugs for years. The shape, the feel, the message, the color, the rim, the handle. I notice and take note of all of these things each time I lift my mug to sip. And yet, it wasn't until I began to use my iphone (and instagram) that I really noticed how much I really observe the beauty, simplicity, and poetic and hopeful aesthetics of this simple everyday object and how this one seeminly mundane item takes center stage in so many of my photographs.

Is there something you have found that often takes the center of your attention? The subject matter of your images that occurs again and again in ways that might even surprise you?

Take a good look at what it is that captures your eye and your lens and share with us the reoccurring themes of your daily work.