Search
Categories
"photo essay" #hdmoment #shuttersisters #sscolormonth #ssdecember #sselevate #ssmoment #thewrittenwords abstract adventure aperture archives art autumn babies beauty black and white blur bokeh books business camera bags camera gear cameras camp shutter sisters celebration, change childhood children cityscapes classes color community updates composition contests crafts creativity creatures details diptychs discovery documentary documentary dreams elevate equipment events events events everyday exposure expressive photography fall family fashion featured products film flare flash focus food found words found words framing fun gallery exhibitions gather giveaway giving gratitude guest blogger healing heart holidays holidays holidays home inspiration instant interviews interviews introspection iphoneography iso jump kitchen landscape landscapes laughter leap lenses life light love love macro mantra medium moment moments moments, mood motherhood motion muse nature nature negative space night photography Oasis one word project patterns perspective pets photo essay photo prompts photo walk, picture hope place places play poetry polaroid portraiture pov pregnancy presets printing process processing processing project 365 reflections savor self self-portraits sepia series shadow shop shutter speed simplicity sisterhood skyscapes soul spaces sponsors sports spring step still life stillness stillness story storytelling, inspiration style styling summer sun table texture thankful time tips tips, togetherness travel truths tutorial urban, video vignettes vintage vintage effects visual poetry water weather weddings weekend weekending windows winter words workflow you

archived posts

Entries in spaces (18)

Thursday
Aug022012

favorite space

As I looked at the Elevate the Everyday prompt for August 2nd and began to think about my favorite space, I started by doing a mental tour of my house. As I imagined each room, nothing stuck out in my mind quite like this corner of my son's room. Before naps and bedtimes we snuggle into this comfy rocking chair to read books and sing songs. These are rare quite moments amongst days filled with constant activity and motion. I am grateful for this space and what it represents.

We are ready to elevate the everyday this month! Show us your favorite space in the links below and add them to the One Word Project pool on Flickr. And be sure to tag your images this month with #sselevate.

Tuesday
May292012

the six questions with Sarah Louette

We are delighted today to share some questions and answers from emerging French photographer Sarah Louette.  In her words her images “aim at mirroring the feelings and emotions that lie deep in ourselves. Bliss, innocence, greed, hope and despair.”  And her inspiration comes from her “readings” and her own “reveries.” Love that!

Her images are breathtaking and it’s an honor to share with you her answers to our burning questions:

1. What's the story behind this photo?
I was on a family day out. The weather was fine and I wanted to show a shooting session to my sons. I initially wanted to take a picture with lots of accessories and colors, but when I parked the car, I noticed the way in this green field that looked so photogenic! I took my camera and gave it a try with the timer and my umbrella.

There are many birds of prey in the fields of my region, and one of them chose to pay us a visit. I took a picture of it. Later, I layered the two pictures to re-create that magical atmosphere our daily walks can have.

2. What was it that lit your photography spark? Do you remember a particular camera, course, person, roll of film?
I've always been attracted to visual arts, but fine art photography seemed a bit out of the reach. Digital photography changed it all, because you could try new things, get it wrong and then try again without worrying about the price of the film. To me, this is an Art revolution that allowed everybody to open the doors of creativity. I remember I bought my first digital camera with a reverent bliss and I immediately used it as an artistic medium. This first camera was very basic but it became a marvelous companion.

3. What's your photo philosophy? Does it reflect your life philosophy?

This question is a good one because it makes me ponder my artwork. When I take a photo, I tend to recreate a dream. I visualize a kind of fairy-tale scene, something that can exist but that we barely do or see. It's not surrealistic nor realistic, it's a beautiful reality.


In my daily life, I want to live fully in the real world but without being held captive by my environment. I wouldn't define myself as a dreamer, but I'm a very idealistic person who believes in creating her own life.  My Art probably unveils my aspirations for creating beauty. 

4. Where do you look for inspiration? 
I think inspiration is a fascinating interaction between our dreams and reality. In my case, it comes like a vision. I see a picture and I try to recreate it in order to give it birth.

In my latest series though, I realized the power of the translation of my imagination. For instance, one of my images "the Shelter" was clearly inspired by Stephen King, and another one "Dancing in the Stains" by... Snow white!

5. What would you say is one of your 'signature' editing tricks, themes or style? What do you think makes an image recognizable and uniquely yours?

That's hard for me to be objective with my work.  I don't want to stick to a certain kind of picture, because creativity suffers from these artificial boxes.  Bur, our identity is always present, as long as we're true to ourselves.

At the moment, I'm quite obsessed by the silhouettes and the effects on colours and I can see painting is another one of my inspirations. If you, the viewer recognize that I have my own unique style, of course, that would be a wonderful compliment. 

6. What aspect of your photography are you constantly working on, trying to improve?

My initial focus tends to be on colours. What I am trying to improve on is my ability to sense pure and striking shapes. I think beauty is universal. It's a harmony that everyone can read. The real challenge is having the ability to write it.

7. If you could go anywhere in the world for an epic, weeklong photo excursion all by your luxuriously unhurried self - regardless of money, time or childcare issues - where would you go and why? 
I would go to South America. I have travelled in many countries in the world, but for me, it is the ultimate destination. Besides the fascinating cultures and landscapes, that's one of my very first child dreams. Being there would mean discovering a world apart and meeting an aspect of myself I would like to share again. That's how it goes, you also travel to meet your dreams. In travelling and creating, the process is often very similar.

8. Are there women out there that you consider your shutter sisters? Who, and why?

 I'd say the women of family. Without being artists, they all had a link to visual arts and they all are an inspiration to me. Each photo I take is a present I give them.

...........

If you'd like to share a dreamy image with us, or just share a comment with Sarah, we'd love to hear from you.

For more on the Sarah Louette and her exquisite work, visit her website, check out Subconscious Photography or say bon jour on facebook.

Wednesday
Apr112012

In Pursuit of Light 

In a forum such as this one where people gather and connect about their shared love for photography it’s no wonder to me that there’s a running conversation about the value of light. As photographers it’s what we do. We search for light and we seek to capture any bit of it that enchants us. Sometimes it’s about replicating a feeling or documenting a moment and other times it’s about creating a new one. However you view your photography, your camera may be the brush, but it’s the light that you mix on your pallet.

Some people I know, are moved by melody; others by prose. More still, by taste, style or sense of place. Of course any combination of these in the right dose and application hold meaning for me, but nothing touches my soul like the sun. My love affair with the stuff (and consequently my roller coaster relationship with darkness) started before I ever picked up a camera, though. 

Every door I walk through, the first thing I see is how the light enters the space. If I'm coming to visit you, don't waste your  time cleaning up, just draw open the blinds. The corner of a room where sunlight gets caught fascinates me, and golden glowing edges of cheekbones or jars are the things of my dreams.

I know exactly where the sun falls on my sofa at every hour during every season and nothing makes me more melancholy than august evenings when the light begins to fade and I know what lies ahead.

Scientifically it’s a thing—this need for the ultraviolet. For those of us who are afflicted, there’s a piece missing and we are at risk during winter’s shorter days. Here’s where the camera comes in for me.  I’ve learned to get through those darker days by absorbing every ounce of sunlight I possibly can and drawing it up to the surface when I feel the weight bear down. 

I collect the light with my camera. It exists in my computer and in print for me to inject directly into my mood as needed. I walk through days of usual and ordinary and I see things that are anything but. Light becomes a commodity and it takes on shapes and forms that can brighten even the darkest days. 

I know I'm not alone in this need for light. Those of us who make photographs, we feed on it. Vitamins, light therapy, yoga, antidepressants. None ever really helped before. Who knew that a camera might be the thing that could actually do the most good?

And so, as the sun streams through my kitchen window later into the evenings now, the feeling of weightlessness is palpable. The emotional hatches, tightly battened down sometime early last fall, have been removed and I am liberated. 

Do you have a favorite photograph that is all about the light? Share the link below!

Image and words courtesy of guest shutter sister Amy Drucker. You can find Amy on her blog, at Flickr and on Instagram at @amy_druck.

Tuesday
Jul052011

home life

One part truth :: One part fiction

This is me caught in transition. Happily holding back the walls. Embracing the wrinkled messes. Drowning in boxes as I sell all my belongings in preparation to move back to the East Coast in a few weeks.

But that's another story. What I'm interested in today is home life. As I sort and pack my space, as I go over all the nooks and crannies, as I fall in love again with my favorite spots... I'm curious to get a peek into your home life too.

Do you have a happy place in your home? A wall of favorites, a windowsill of love? A space you're drawn to again and again in your photography? Me? Well, I will surely miss my blue wall. But I trust it will reappear in my life at some other time as it has in the past.

Today show us a bit of your home, won't you?

Monday
Apr042011

sewing room

My mother is a quilter. She's a founder of bees and guilds and she speaks at conferences and teaches and retreats and shows at galleries and inventories antique textiles and for as long as I can remember, people have leaned in to her work and said, "Oh- my- gosh. Those are the smallest stitches I've ever seen."

I don't have the patience gene, and so I'm not a quilter. But I can appreciate what makes a good one. Colour composition and design. The pepper that punctuates colours that cooperate - an unexpected brightness that pops, used sparingly and intentionally. The accuracy of piecework, points that meet all crisp and sharp, flat fabric origami. The hang of a well-made piece, straight and true. And the heft of it, pressing you into the bed on a night when the wind whistles through window seams.

I'm the only one left without a website, she said, cringing. Quilt Canada's coming up and there's nothing for me to link to. Can you help?

We started with an afternoon in her sewing room, a place I've hung out in since she started paying me a penny a pin. I'd crawl around at her feet running my hands across the wood planks, watching for flashes of silver while the machine thrummed along, piles of fabric collecting at her feet, her fingers easing it through. Picking up needles and straight pins, flat-headed pins, ball-headed pins, basters. Watching her with the rotary cutter, her hoops for hand-piecing. There were no pins this time, and no pennies. But captures of her space, her cherished things. Oh, the dust... she fusses, seeing how close I am. I insist she doesn't touch a thing. The dust is soaked in with the pleasure of making beautiful, useful things. That makes it, to me, beautiful and useful dust.

Do you have a sacred space? A kitchen, an office, a crafting table? Today, show us a piece of it, just as it is, yours or someone else's - creativity's home in still life.