The Schinker Family

Today’s Shutter Sisters assignment is to “share the [photography] sites and artists who inspire you every day.”  Above is one “sight” that inspires me every day - nature!  This was just part of one day’s harvest from our garden: cabbage, parsely, green beans, carrots - yum!

Now, onto the “sites” that inspire me in this photography hobby.  The number one inspirational site is, by far, Shutter Sisters!  I have had so much fun looking at other people’s photos, reading the prose (from elegant to earthy), and browsing the links.  I have found lots of new resources and nodes for my photographic personal learning network.  And of course, finding Shutter Sisters inspired this photo blog!

Here are some other fantastic photo links I have in my Google Reader:

The Digital Photography School Blog - really has some practical advice for both amatures and those looking to start or grow their own photography businesses.

The Way I See It was one of the first photography blogs I bookmarked.  Jules takes some incredible photographs, and isn’t afraid to offer help, ideas, tips, and support to aspiring photographers.

JoLePhotoGraph is a blog written by a French engineer living in Berlin!  Like me, she is an amature photographer.  Her pictures are wonderful!

After Midnight is another blog, writtn by Arlene Starr.  Arlene takes neat photos of things she sees around her in life.  Subject matter has ranged from photos taken out a car window (one of her specialties) to night time stills-from-video of a mouse she was trying to catch.

And last, but not least, I enjoy reading and looking at Frank Winters’ blog, Photos and Thoughts From My Journey.  He doesn’t post often, but when he does, he always makes me think.

P.S.  When I first posted this post this morning, I foolishly left out two amazing blogs I love and follow:  Lisa at Qualcosa do Bello takes some AMAZING pictures with phenomenal composition, and Amber at Skyward Journey has an eye for angles and light that I envy.  Both these ladies have prose as eloquent as their pictures, and photos aren’t necessarily the focus of their blogs, so they are categorized differently in my Google Reader, which accounts for my original oversight.

Please visit all my inspirational site links!

Posted in Macro   Tagged: Garden, Gardening, Photopraphy, Photos, Vegetables   

Today is Love Thursday over at Shutter Sisters, so I had to post this:  my first go’round with a tryptich.  I love this Catalpa tree in our backyard. It is by far my favorite tree!

Right about the time we bought and moved into our house, my parent sold the home in which I grew up.  Before the ownership rights transferred, John and I went over to the old homestead and did one last farewell walk-around.  We found several very small catalpas growing right next to and out of a large fallen catalpa branch.  We dug up one of the “babies” and brought it to our new home.

My “baby” grew expoentially the first few years - literally a few feet a year of vertical growth each year.  It was amazing to watch!  In just a few years, it became the largest, most grand tree in the yard.  This summer, I insisted on switching seats at the dinner table with John just so I could look out on the bold, beautiful catalpa every night as e ate dinner.

I know summer is here when its large, heart-shape leave unfold.  I love sitting in its immense shade.  The girls use the seed pods as swords, or batons, or whatever else catches their fancy.  Its trunk even became a pirate ship mast, before we mulched around the base.  And because it has a large fork not too far up, it has even been a climbing tree at times.  Did you know that Catalpas are native to North America and were called Catawba trees by the native Americans?  The name Catalpa came about from a transcription error made by a botanist!  Sadly, I know fall is well on its way when the Catalpa’s hearts start to fall to the ground.

So happy Love Thursday, everyone.  Enjoy these views of my favorite Catalpa tree!

Today’s Shutter Sisters topic was capturing a conversation or subject we never want to forget.  Today’s picture doesn’t exactly fit the topic (there will be many first days of school for us and this one wasn’t any more  memorable than past ones), but the post had a line that caught my imagination:  This is what you look like when you’re not afraid to hope.

So today’s picture captures THAT phrase.  Because what is the first day of school, after all, but a day when we are not afraid to hope?  Children hope for a nice teacher, good friends, fun times, and a sense of accomplishment (though they rarely voice that last one).  Parents hope for learning, wisdom, safety, courage, achievement.

This shot was taken in haste out the car window.  There were bussing problems in our district this year, so it was the first year my girls didn’t ride the bus on the first day of school.  At first, I was bummed that they weren’t in the center of the shot, and that I was so far back.  Then I realized that the expense of sidewalk and them being off-center made them look smaller, more vulnerable, and even a little reluctant.  It perfectly captured everyone’s mixed feelings on the first day of school.  And if you look closely, you’ll see them holding hands. This is what you look like when you’re not afraid to hope.

I’m taking a foray into DIY land and recovering our dining room chairs.  John and I put the finishing touches on the first one last night, and I am giddy with the results!  Emily found me the fabric while we were at Walmart shopping for school supplies a few weeks ago.  At only per yard, enough for all 6 chairs set me back only .  I had been looking for something purple/blue to tie in with the walls, but the gold is even better since all the curtain tie-backs and custom-framed print frames are gold.  Oh yes, and our formal china (used for every holiday) is off-white with gold trim and our flatware is gold, too.

The new seat, even on just ONE chair, REALLY adds some class to the dining room, which we use as a family every night.  You can see how badly dirtied and stained the old seats were.  Yes, they were an off-white and yes, we knew they would get trashed by our young children when we bought the dining room set.  But we got the whole set used (table with leaf, 6 chairs, and lighted hutch) for 0.  Even though they were technically used, they were totally like-new (no scratches, marks, damage, etc…), so it was a deal we couldn’t refuse.

I can’t wait to do the rest of the chairs - and maybe a matching tablecloth and napkins, too.  (That’s about the extent of my sewing capability).  Interestingly, as gold as the chair looks, it’s the wrong side of the fabric showing.  The right side was REALLY shiny; the wrong side is a bit more subtle than it looks in thiese pictures (thanks to the fill flash, no doubt).

The dining room’s going to look fantastic for Thanksgiving!

It’s September 16th and I am 39 years young today!  My sweetie made me homemade chocolate-chip-chunky-peanut-butter ice cream plated beautifully on a large peanut butter cookie as a pre-birthday dessert.  Yum!  We are going out to dinner on my birthday and I know the kids have some surprises planned, so I am looking forward to a fun day.  More thoughts on this momentous day here.

Today’s Shutter Sister’s post is about having patience for the unexpected but great shot.  I can really relate to this post, for while I am forever getting people to “say cheese,” at least two members of my family defy conventional photography this way.  Emily, who used to be a camera ham, now usually turns away or puts up her hand when the camera eye turns toward her.  John just gets perpetually goofy and contorted faces in pictures - even when he’s trying to look natural!

This was a nice candid shot taken unawares.  The early evening, clouded light was interesting, but best of all, he didn’t see me scneak around the corner with the camera.  None of the shots after this one turned out as good.

Yes, she’s super cute!  No, it wasn’t sponteneous.  Yes, she posed for it.  No, she’s not usually this still.  Can you see the barely-there smile at the corners of her mouth?  The light coming through the window really added interest to this shot.

I finally got the last month’s photos downloaded from the camera - AND I got caught up on my Shutter Sister’s post reading, too!  A few days ago, the assignment was to share a photo that surprised you.  As soon as the pictures came off the camera, I knew this was the shot to use.

This summer, I’ve started taking the camera out of the “auto” mode and experimenting with manual aperture and shutter settings.  I am slowly - slowly - learning and every so often, I actually take a picture that takes my breath away.

It was a relaxing night at Blossom with gorgeous sunset light and a cooperative, contemplative Emily.  She’s so beautiful and this silhouette really captures her introspective nature.

Today’s Shutter Sister post is entitled “A Slice of Life” and in it, Stephanie talks about how rarely she shoots photos of everyday life.  That surprised me, because shooting everyday life in our family is my mission!  My shots are not always artistic or of a particular high quality, but I hope that they capture the essence of some of our activities, from the mundane to the extraordinary.

And really, as a Creative Memories consultant, I believe and try to teach others that the mundane IS the extraordinary!  Sure, this is “just” a picture of dad making pizza with the girls, but it’s so much more.  It’s a testement to John’s amazing parenting - how he has the patience to cook regularly with his children; how he’s teaching them the importance of eating healthy and working together; how he loves spending time with them.

This photo also speaks to family traditions: the kids’ favorite pizza made by dad; grandma’s special sauce recipe; and grandpa’s special pizza pans, which were originally lids from old potatos chip containers.  We got very little in the way of heirlooms from John’s grandparents, but these two pizza pans ARE the most treasured items from them.  They do something unduplicatable to the crust that makes it crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and leaps and bounds better than any other crust anywhere.

It also documents in little ways our life at that moment: Meg’s dance outfit from “Little Leapers”; the dog’s tail swishing on the right; the perpetually messy kitchen counters; mail on the low wall; and even the Diego lunchbox all provide clues into our daily life as it was on August 31, 2007 (wow - nearly a year ago today - how funny!).

So please, Shutter Sisters, capture more slices of YOUR life in photos - then write down the stories behind those photos for future generations to share and enjoy.  Bon Appetit!

Today’s Shutter Sisters post is about snapping photos during that time of day - morning or evening - when the light is perfect.  I was going to use this picture, but I looked at my blog archive and realized that I’d already used it in a blog post.  However, this companion picture taken at the same time in a different direction was just as pretty.  In fact, both of these are framed and hanging on the wall of our family room.

I rarely see this pretty, clear, morning light.  I am NOT a morning person.  And even though you can sometimes get this type of light in the evening, it seems to have a distinctly red tone here in Ohio rather than the pure, clear bright light of morning see here in Boston.

For more examples of other photos I’ve taken with perfect light, look here, and here, and here (particularly the shot on the right).