The Call: Oops! Wrong Field — Jessica I love to keep my eye open for strange juxtapositions and coincidences. I may not always have my camera handy, or even be in a place where I could take a picture, but I feel that by doing this I am, in some way, training my eye to […]
The Call: Fibonacci and Swarovski — Cheryl In her book, Open Your Eyes: 1,000 Simple ways to Bring Beauty into Your Home and Life Each Day, Alexandra Stoddard writes: Standards for aesthetically pleasing proportions are scientifically logical, achieved by following mathematical rules that date back to the civilization and architecture of ancient Greece. Though the […]
The Call: A Quiet Moment — Jessica Sigh. A quiet moment, alone, in order to think. Not plan, not organize, not study, just think. Those moments are rare. And the rarer they become, the more I find myself running scattershot through the day. That’s my list of upcoming words, by the way, so don’t peek! […]
The Call: Dragonfly Sunlight — Cheryl Today, I shot more than 150 photos, and I could have used about half of them for today’s call. When you take advantage of the natural light, you get some naturally gorgeous photographs. The Response: Autumn Light — Jessica Light? What can I say? It’s the whole point of […]
The Call: September Eleventh was a Tuesday — Jessica Eleven years on, the flags no longer drape the overpasses but the cloudless, brilliant blue sky remains. Response: My Life Before My Kids — Cheryl I remember the people who loved me, The words that shaped me, The images that changed me.
The Call: Passionate — Cheryl Luke is my most intense child, followed closely by his brother Sam. As my husband so often reminds me, I run on “Doyle Time,” which is anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes behind real time. This does not often fly with Luke, who would arrive for any commitment 30 minutes […]
The Call: Abandoned Nest — Jessica This bird’s nest was once a cozy home for a mother and her brood. It kept the baby birds warm and sheltered when their parents flew off in search of food. It kept the family safe at night from prowlers and other dangers. And when the birds no longer […]
The Call: Years in the Making — Cheryl Years ago, I came across a great idea in Martha Stewart Living: remove the staples from one end of a stretched canvas; slide an unframed, magnetic dry erase board between the canvas and stretchers; re-staple; then paint and hang for a personalized memo board. I already owned […]
The Call: Behind the Scenes — Jessica Necessity is the mother of invention. So is being broke. Photography can be a very expensive hobby. Camera bodies, lenses, filters, speedlites, light modifiers, software, etc — the list could go on and on. Is any of it necessary? Yes and no. Sometimes you need all of that […]
The Call: Like Her — Cheryl Growing up, everyone told me I looked like my father, or — even more so, his sister Mabel. Once in awhile I’d look in the mirror and see what they saw. No one ever told me I resembled my mother’s side of the family, and I could easily see […]
The Call: Pear with Flower — Jessica It was my intention to photograph this pear. And the two others I bought on Monday at the grocery store. I spent more minutes than normal picking through the selection trying to find a few that were as blemish free as possible. You know, photo ready and all. […]
The Call: Local Harvest — Cheryl After Jack’s “checkout” with the pediatrician, we stopped at the shop of our local apple orchard (less than half a mile from our house: quite convenient) and picked up a few things. Tonight, I’ll use the plums and apples in a crisp, the cucumbers as a side with our […]
The Call: Origami Original — Jessica I jump for joy when my children ask me to take a picture. After all, most of the time I’m running after them with the camera begging, “please, just one more shot! I promise I’ll get it this time and be done!” So when my fourteen year old asked […]
The Call: Waiting for the Boat to Come In — Cheryl I will tell you something about stories, [he said] They aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death. You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories. —Leslie Marmon […]