Sisters

I've been slacking with my photography, which I figured would happen. (This is why I am not starting my 365 project until January.) I haven't done anything for the 30 days of gratitude group, either. I've been kind of blah this week, although I have been trying to find something for which I am grateful every day. With daylight savings time now in effect, it will be harder to find time to take outdoor photos, since I will leave work when it's dark. But, there will be plenty to photograph indoors soon enough.

I read the website Shutter Sisters every day. Like the class I was taking (actually, the teacher is the founder of the website), there are daily inspirational messages and others can share their photos and join in the discussion. It's a really great community, one I should leverage more to expand my knowledge. I am going to try to use these prompts more often, either to take new photos (when I have time) or to share older photos. And they will certainly come in handy when I need some inspiration during my 365 project.

The website also features a "One Word Project," which challenges readers to take photos based on a new word chosen every month. Many times, the daily prompts are based around this word. This month's word is "focus."

Today's prompt was "Focus on the Motion." I chose this motion photo:

[Sports, and especially hockey, have had a big influence on my fascination with photography. I'm always trying to get good action shots. It's definitely a challenge, and I enjoy it, although I haven't exactly mastered it yet. Using my D-SLR instead of a point-and-shoot would probably help (not allowed at P-Bruins games), but there is definitely a lot more to learn.]

Sometimes, the website is inspirational outside of photography, too. Last month's word was "imperfection," and it was something I thought about a lot. Even though the idea was to post photos that weren't quite perfect, but somehow still worked (I have a lot of those! See photo above. :)), it got me thinking about how I struggle with wanting to be perfect in all aspects of my life. And how I am completely frustrated that cannot be what I consider to be perfect, and have pretty much just given up and decided to be disgusted with myself. Not good. I need to be nicer to me.

In all, this community has been great -- both on the site and in the class. I have had a lot of positive feedback on my photos which really helps me want to keep doing this (boosts my confidence a bit) and have been inspired by the photographs these women take. It's nice to have something like this. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the odd one of every group I am part of, like I don't really belong anywhere, but this group has certainly been welcoming. I know my work isn't up to par with a lot of these women's, but I hope I will keep improving by being an active member.