Lynne Grant Photography chose the theme {All about today}. What happened yesterday, was all about today, one day ago, and what happens tomorrow, will be all about today, the next day. Today is the day that we choose to take our images.
We can do so much or so little. We can hang out at the pool, walk in a garden, snuggle with a loved one. There are so many options to choose from. I cannot wait to see what the blog contributors have come up with for the {All about today} theme.
Today is what you make it, so make the most of it. Once today is gone, we can’t get it back. So choose wisely and enjoy every moment.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_light Each month we will do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
There seems to be so much going on right now with all of our contributors. Bear with us as we navigate our lives and blogging.
This month Katherine of Cobert Photography chose the theme {Joy}. Katherine and her family have been going through a really tough time and I fully get why she would chose the theme {Joy}.
The definition of {Joy} is “A great feeling of great pleasure and happiness”
We are quieter than normal but I look forward to seeing how each person interprets the theme {Joy}.
These photo’s draw me in and make me want to see more. I hope you do too.
If creative blogging to a theme is something you think you may be interested in doing, reach out to us on our Facebook or Instagram page. We would love to hear from you.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_joy Each month we will do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
@alimobo was selected as our Featured Artist for the theme {Autumnal} and we wanted to learn more about Alison and her photography journey.
Tell us a bit about yourself? And, are you a hobbyist or a pro?
Hi! I am a wife and Mom and I love photography (of course), music, and stretchy pants (ha)! I would like to say that I am both. I have been a professional photographer for seven years and I just moved 500 miles away a few months ago and just started my business back up. As a professional photographer in the Charlotte area I specialize in lifestyle photos of families, newborns, branding and more. I also do a lot of personal projects. I am currently working on my fourth Project 365 (taking a photo every day for a year) as well as trying to do at least one self portrait a week for the year. My daily photo is often of one of my kids, but it can be nature, a self portrait, still life, etc. I keep it very open as a way to give myself lots of freedom.
This is a self portrait from January after I was just published for the first time!
What inspired you to pick up your camera initially?
My Dad had a nice camera when I was little, which I thought was very cool. I had always enjoyed taking photos, but I didn’t learn more about photography until I was in high school. My high school had a dark room where we could develop our own images, which was so neat. I used film then as well and my Dad’s camera of course. They only offered two photography courses, however, my senior year I ended up doing a third as an independent study. I loved it! I used to take photos with lots of juxtaposition. I had a friend wear a fancy prom dress, but stand or sit in front of a falling down barn. I still had a lot to learn, but that was my start. Later, my husband gifted me my first DSLR and I got into the Click Community. I learned a lot that way and really enjoyed the community as well.
Here is one of the self portraits I did this year – one with my children too! They are getting to be too big to take baths together, but they still love it. I didn’t think I had any images of me giving them baths so I knew I had to set up the tripod to get some before it was too late. I was so glad I was able to get the movement of the water because most parents know when you give a bath you don’t walk away dry. I am very thankful for images with me and my children so that we (them and I both) have those in the future as well.
How do you improve your technique?
I know I mentioned these things before, but the Click Community really helped me learn a lot as they offer a lot of courses as well as Breakouts and other information. I think my 365 Projects helped me the most though. When you are taking photos every single day you are learning so much. And each day is different. One day you may learn something about light that you never knew or start to notice shadows in a new way. Using your camera often is so important to growing.
This is my daughter after she got her haircut (I know, it’s still very long). Anyway, the stylist curled it and she felt so beautiful and confident and I just loved that so I had to get her showing it off in front of my camera. I chose my Lensbaby Edge 35 for this shot because I wanted a really special flare. I love how it almost frames her as well as the movement and colors in this one.
Most important thing you have learned about editing?
I do enjoy editing, especially seeing the before become the after. I think the most important thing I have learned is to just keep trying new things. I used to edit in a completely different way when I started my business as well as when I did my first 365. But the more I took photos and the more I edited, the more I found my voice. The editing is just as important in your style as the photos you’re taking. I have also watched videos of others edit to learn a lot of trips and tricks in Lightroom – many from the Click Community and Click Photo School.
This shot was completely candid. I did not tell them to sit there or next to each other or to cuddle up with a blanket. I found them this way and had to grab my camera. I love it in black and white as I think it keeps the focus on them rather than distracting with any colors. I just love this moment that they were in together and that I was able to capture it.
Secret weapon. Or piece of advice that’s helped you?
Something that I have found to be really important with growing as a photographer or doing a Project 365 is to have your camera out. Keep it somewhere safe, but have it out where you can grab it. I actually have all of my lenses on a shelf so I can quickly change them out if need be and my camera lives on my desk ready to be used. That way when inspiration strikes you are ready to go! The other secret weapon is COMMUNITY!!! I can’t tell you how many friends I have made through photography. Find a community – any community! In 2020 I applied to become a Click Pro Elite and was accepted. The world wide community they offer is HUGE! But even if it’s a few other people in your neighborhood or city. You will learn so much by talking about photography, teaching each other, asking questions, and encouraging each other!! I can’t say enough about the importance of having a photography community!!
I am doing a neat project where you take a photo in the same spot once a month for the whole year. This photo shows my spot from January. It’s right on Lake Norman and it actually snowed (which seems to be rare for this area). My kids were LOVING it. I love the scale of this to show the tree, the water, and the pretty sky, but that you can still tell me kids are running around and playing.
Why photographs? Why not painting? Or poems? Or, for that matter, statutes or taxes?
I think photography has always been it for me (not just because I’m not as strong of a drawer or painter), but because it freezes a real moment. Do you know what my Dad often does when we go visit my family? He pulls out the photo books. I am a very nostalgic person and will always find the importance of photographs. They live on, they tell stories, they move people, and they are real. They make you FEEL. And you can’t get those moments back, but you can have photographs to take you back to them. I have always described photographs as time machines and I am so grateful that I have so many but that I also get to give others that gift as my job.
I chose this image because I love the light and shadows in it. We moved a few months ago and these plants are still sitting in their boxes from then. I love the storytelling of it and that I will know this is February because we put homemade hearts upon our windows.
Thank you Ali for sharing your story and your beautiful images. Congratulations on being published in the Click Pro magazine.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. The theme this month is {Revive} for so tag us with #sharesix_revive for another 2 weeks. The theme will change on April 6, 2022.
@kateainger was chosen as our Featured artist for the theme {Transform} and I wanted to learn more about her and her photography journey, so I reached out to Kate. You can learn more about her as well but reading below.
Tell us a bit about yourself? And, are you a hobbyist or a pro?
I am a British lawyer/actress turned mum/photographer. After working as a solicitor in London and the Cayman Islands, I decided to indulge an old passion to tread the boards and retrained as an actress. Two West End productions and several tours later, I got married and moved to Mauritius, with my husband’s job. We lived there for over 10 years and had our 3 children, before moving back to the UK at the beginning of Lockdown in 2020. I would describe myself as 90 per cent hobbyist and 10 per cent pro.
I am proud of this image for many reasons. Despite my acting career, I am not comfortable in front of a camera lens, but I am learning to push myself occasionally so that our children remember I was there too. This is the first self-portrait I have taken with my Lensbaby Sol45. I discovered I could manually focus the lens whilst sitting in front of it and looking at the Canon App on my iPhone. The overlays are an ICM of a sunset and some colourful restaurant lights.
What inspired you to pick up your camera initially?
Like many others, I first picked up a camera to document my children’s lives. A friend in Mauritius was a Click Pro and once I saw her family albums I was hooked. I started with courses run by Photography for Parents (a UK based online photography school), which I would highly recommend. They now run courses for all levels of photographers.
This is the another old favourite – my elder daughter singing in the shower in Mauritius. Once again it is a Lensbaby Sol45 image. I converted it to black and white to enhance the contrast of her skin against the dark tiles and to allow the highlights of the water droplets to pop.
How do you improve your technique?
Completing my first 365 Project in 2020, definitely helped me work on my techniques as I needed to keep trying new things in order to give my images some variety.
Becoming involved with the Light Communion loop on Instagram this year also helped me push my creative boundaries and honed my double exposure techniques. The image you kindly selected for the Share Six Transform theme was a fusion of my image with a light overlay gifted by my talented friend, Annick Paradis.
I try to take occasional classes but I’m guilty of having several breakouts sitting untouched on my Hard Drive. I am supposed to be finding time to look at those before I start any new ones!
This is one of my all-time favourites of my youngest daughter. We had to leave Mauritius unexpectedly in March 2020, due to the pandemic and the children had very few toys when we arrived in the UK. It was a time of simplicity for us – no furniture, home school and making our own entertainment. My daughter decided to use the saucepans to make music and she sang at the top of her voice whilst doing so. I moved her pans slightly so that she was lit by the light from our French doors and then took this image from outside, through the open doors. It was worth her breaking all my wooden spoons just for this captured memory!
Most important thing you have learned about editing?
Two things really – collaborate and know when to stop. Particularly with more artistic work, I often ask my wonderful 365 group or a close photographer friend for their critique on an edit before finalising an image. I am guilty of often being at my desktop in the early hours of the morning tweaking edits when I should be in bed catching up on some sleep, so one of my resolutions for 2022 is to stop that!
This base image was just my elder daughter and her reflection in the window, taken from above. The overlay is a Jessica Drossin City Lights image.
Secret weapon. Or piece of advice that’s helped you?
Overlays. I love the energy and textures in Natalie Robinson’s work and since taking her Fused breakout, I’ve learnt how to add elements to my images which were missing in the original.
This was an image I planned in advance. My mum is extremely happy to have us back in the UK and I wanted to record this special connection between the three generations of women in our family. I remember my grandmothers’ hands very clearly but I have no photographs, so I wanted this image as a gift to my children.
Why photographs? Why not painting? Or poems? Or, for that matter, statutes or taxes?
I feel as if my photography meets the needs of my dual personality – my lawyer’s need to follow rules and my actresses’ love of creation. I love how it has pulled together the different strands of my life.
This image was taken on holiday in Somerset last summer. Our son was in the pool and trying to persuade his little sister to jump in. I was shooting with my Lensbaby, as I love the effect it has on water and I suddenly noticed the shadow on the wet pool edge and the triangle which it formed with the children when they were holding hands. I used a light overlay gifted by Natalie Robinson to our Light Communion Circle as I loved the sparkle it added.
Thank you Kate for sharing your story and your beautiful images. I also love the different overlays that you have used. It’s so exciting to live in another country and get exposure to their way of life. Travel rounds us all.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. The theme this month is {Abstract_22} for so tag us with #sharesix_abstract_22 for another 2 weeks. The theme will change on February 5, 2022.
@cdannhausenbrun was chosen as our featured artist for the them {Quote} and I connected with Christine to learn a little bit more about her photography journey.
My favorite photos are constantly changing depending on what is technique I am working on in the moment or how I am trying to look at light. This photo of my nephew is one of my favorites at the moment because of the light. I have been looking at light more this year and how I capture it. I just love the light on him and how I caught it on his face so perfectly.
Tell us a bit about yourself? And, are you a hobbyist or a pro?
What an honor to be interviewed! I am Christine and I am a wife, mother, photographer and public health researcher. I am a mother of six amazing children, ages 11 to 23 years old. I am a hobbyist photographer but have had a few paying clients over the years. My day job includes public health program evaluation, health surveys and working on health issues at the intersection of climate change.
I have been taking photos for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching my dad take photos and put on slide shows for us. I started my own photographic journey messing around with my dad’s 35mm camera and eventually had my own cartridge-based 110 camera. When I started dating my now husband, I could often be found absconding his Minolta 35 mm film camera. I currently shoot with a Canon 5D Mark IV. For Christmas and my upcoming birthday, I received a GoPro 9 and a drone. I cannot wait to begin experimenting with both.
I love this photo of my oldest son for the perspective and how much it captures his personality. He is going after everything he wants in this world.
What inspired you to pick up your camera initially?
Documenting life is what inspired me to first pick up a camera. I never met my mom’s parents as they died while she was young. There were not many photos of her parents. As young child, I don’t know that I realized why I was picking up the camera then. As a mom I realize what I was doing. I was documenting moments with special people, milestone trips and those moments together at home to help hold onto memories and show us what our life was like in that moment in time. It what still drives my photography.
This is a photo of one of my daughters. We were on a ferry and I was inside the ferry, but she was out in the wind. I just loved the contrast of her eyes closed and almost meditative with the swirl of hair around her. The mask places this photo in a moment in time. These last 21 months and have had so many moments of calm at home together with all my kids, but also moments of complete chaos. It’s all there for me in this photo.
How do you improve your technique?
Practice! Classes through groups like Click Community. YouTube videos. Studying my own photos. I will look back at photos and think, ‘I should have adjusted for that horizon line,’ or ‘if I had moved over a foot, I could have cropped out that stop sign.’ It does not mean I always remember to do these things the next time, but it does help me become more aware over time.
This photo of two of my daughters was captured when I was working on perspective. It captured my daughter’s mood at the time as well.
Most important thing you have learned about editing?
I have a love/hate relationship with editing. I love playing with editing. At the same time, I don’t always trust myself. I second guess what I have done and then I start thinking about photographers who I admire and think that they would do it differently. Editing takes a lot of time and I definitely enjoy the process of taking a photo more than the editing. This means I am working on trying to get better with what I take in camera!
I love the negative space in this photo and just the pop of red.
Secret weapon. Or piece of advice that’s helped you?
I have a few pieces of advice that have helped me. First, critique your own photographs. It really is a skill that helps you begin to stop and look before you take a photograph. Second, stop, look and change your position. Changing position can completely transform a photo. Third, don’t compare yourself to others. Be you as it is what makes your photos unique. Fourth, compare yourself. At the same time, comparing yourself to others does give you ideas to spark your own creativity.
Another of my daughters and her eye contact in this photo is what draws me in. It was difficult to pick just a few favorite photos. If I chose them tomorrow, I’m sure they would be completely different.
Why photographs? Why not painting? Or poems? Or, for that matter, statutes or taxes?
I love documenting moments in time. For me, photography is the easiest way to do this. Painting a moment in time takes way too long! I admire those who paint and have many family members who have done it. I do also write poems or history letters. I write a Christmas letter each year that encapsulates our year, but it is always interspersed with photographs. It is only as I have gotten older that I have realized how much of my history is intertwined with creating and documenting life.
We love learning about our featured artists. Thank you so much Christine for sharing your photography journey and your beautiful photographs with all of us at Share Six. We can always learn from each other. Take some time to visit Christine’s IG page at @cdannhausenbrun
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. The theme this month is {Abstract_22} for so tag us with #sharesix_abstract_22 for another 2 weeks. The theme will change on February 5, 2022.
The theme was {Quote} and there were so many different options. This was one of our quieter months. However this image by @cdannhousenbrun really stood out to me.
“There is so much going on in this image, the rule of thirds, negative space, leading lines, and reflections, that my mind kept going in different directions. Congratulations on this stunning image. ”
Photos from our Instagram page that we have chosen to highlight are below and are in alphabetical order. Click on the names to link to the photographers page. Go and like them, show them some love, you will enjoy seeing their images in your feed. Congratulations to you all.
Thank you for sharing your {Quote} images with us.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_autumnal. Each month we feature one artist on our Facebook and Webpage banner. We will also do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
Share Six is live and since Michele is on a break away for a while, Sharleen Stuart Photography decided on the theme for this month. Still keeping with what make everything easier for everyone with shut downs, and the virus and just a general lethargy for life right now, Sharleen decided to choose the theme {Documentary}.
Each one of us can document some event, happening, moment in their lives. It could be the laughter of a child, the sun glistening off the ocean, a plant in the garden, or even the natural outdoors and all the beauty that nature gives us. I am excited to see what each of the Contributors come up with.
Thank you for joining us. Thank you Sharleen for allowing us the freedom to document what is happening in our lives right now.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_documentary Each month we feature one artist on our Facebook and Webpage banner. We will also do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
There is something very intriguing about {Negative Space}. I love that the images showcases the “Negative space, in art, in the space around and between the subject of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space occasionally is used to artistic effect as the “real” subject of an image.“ (Wikipedia).
Congratulations to @rosadurandelgado for being selected as our Featured Artist for the {Negative Space} theme. Sharleen Stuart Photography had the following to say about your image:
“This image resonates with my heart. It has every element I that I love – the sea, the sunset, the shimmering water on the sand and the horses. This would be a dream setting for me. Congratulations on your beautiful image.”
We had no images on our Facebook page for April. Photos from our Instagram page that we have chosen to highlight are below and in no particular order. Click on the names to link to the photographers page. Go and like them, show them some love, you will enjoy seeing their images in your feed. Congratulations to you all.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_floral. Each month we feature one artist on our Facebook and Webpage banner. We will also do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
Share Six featured artist for the theme Growth was @annarasphoto. Take a peak are her interview and learn a little more about this very talented photographer. Also learn more about Anna by checking out her IG Page and her webpage.
Tell us a bit about yourself? And, are you a hobbyist or a pro?
I am a military wife and mother to four kids. I am a professional photographer and I got my Bachelors of Fine Arts in photography in 2004. I love all things that involve movement, outdoors and new experiences. I am currently training for an Olympic distance triathlon!
I love this image because of the colors and light. It is an in-camera double exposure of the sunrise over Lake Michigan.
What inspired you to pick up your camera initially?
I was in high school when I first started taking pictures with film and a completely manual SLR. I have always loved travel and seeing new places and documenting that initially inspired me to start taking photographs.
I love this portrait of my son because of the focus on his beautiful eyes. One of my current favorite techniques is in-camera double exposures and this is another example of that.
How do you improve your technique?
I am continually inspired by other photographers and love trying new techniques to keep myself inspired to keep shooting. I also enjoy taking clickin moms classes from time to time. Continual shooting keeps me up to date on my technical abilities!
This was shot during soccer practice and I just love the light. This image was Shot with my Lensbaby Edge 80.
Most important thing you have learned about editing?
For me editing has always been one of my least favorite parts of photography. So I try to get most of what I want in an image in camera.
Another Lensbaby image of my son in the first snow of the season. I love using the Lensbaby to bring interesting focus to the images. I love the bokeh effect of the snow
Secret weapon. Or piece of advice that’s helped you?
My secret weapon for staying in the industry and continuing to enjoy it for over 20 years is new techniques and always shooting personal work. When I feel myself getting bored I try something new. Freelensing, Lensbaby, double exposures, film and video work are just a few things I have tried!
This is a drone self portrait in Okinawa, Japan. I love flying my drone and see the perspective from above. Living in Okinawa for two years was one of the most rewarding and eye opening experiences of my life
Why photographs? Why not painting? Or poems? Or, for that matter, statutes or taxes?
I also dabble in other arts and I think it is all connected in my creative brain. I paint, I decorate, I refinished furniture, I write, I actually love doing my own taxes and I love to curl up with a good book. All these things inspire my photography. I suppose I love photography the most of all because it allows me to document the beauty I see around me.
In-camera double exposure portrait of my sister-in-law. The second image is some awesome architecture and I loved the play on the eyes are the window to the soul.
Thank you Anna for sharing your story with us. We always love to learn more about an artists journey and style. Don’t forget to check out Anna’s page at @annarasphotos or link to her website at www.annarasmussen.com
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. The theme this month is {Summer Sun} for so tag us with #sharesix_summersun for a few more days. The theme will change on August 6, 2021.
{Summer Sun} is our theme for the month of July and Katherine of Cobert Photography chose this theme. She choose well. July is the time for picnics and the beach and heading out to the lakes and all the fun things we get to do. In addition Covid restrictions have been lifted for outdoor activity and things show some signs of normalcy again.
I am not sure what it is like up north and overseas, but it is hot hot hot down South. Add the rain to the mix and it has made the summer days somewhat unbearable already. The humidity is spiking, and it is days like today that I would like to join my fellow bloggers in some cooler weather.
July is vacations and I bet all of you are thinking, lets get out in the {Summer Sun}. Where can we go, what can we do, do we want to fly or should we drive. Whatever you choose to do, make memories. Enjoy the moments. Take precautions but relish the beautiful summer days.
I am looking forward to seeing what my fellow bloggers are going to share this month.
Thank you for joining us. {Summer Sun} brings the best of memories, so make sure you are making yours.
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. Don’t forget to tag the Instagram posts with #sharesix_summersun Each month we feature one artist on our Facebook and Webpage banner. We will also do an interview with the featured artist, so share your images to be a part of this opportunity.
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