Learning from Each Other

One of my favorite things about the community of online photographers/artists is the willingness of people to share their knowledge with each other. Want to know how someone captured that perfect image? Just ask and they'll be happy to tell you. What were their settings, what lens did they use, etc.? No secrets, just a willingness to share with a fellow artist.

Over the years, I think I have learned more from other photographers, scrapbookers, and digital artists than I have from any class I've taken. I have a couple of friends, one who is a more experienced photographer than I am and one who is more of a beginner and I love shooting with both of them, learning and teaching and sharing.

A perfect example of this willingness to share was Deanna's post last week sharing the links for several beautiful fonts. I know I am a bit of a fontaholic and she pointed me in the direction of some I hadn't seen. Several times I have asked Maria Chiesa (echie52) about the word art she has used on her photos and she has always given me the information about where I can find it. I now have a little treasure trove of wonderful word art that I would have never known about if she hadn't shared her knowledge with me. The word art I used on the photo at the top of this post is from Sue Cummings at O'Scraps. I use a lot of Sue Cummings' word art since discovering her through Maria.

Then last week I saw an amazing image on our own Kim Stevens' blog, Picking Poppies, where she talked about a texture she had used. I fell in love with it and immediately wanted to have it. I e-mailed her and she was quick to tell me exactly where I could find it. It is from Pixel Dust Photo Art and it is the Digital Virtuosity Texture Set. I used the Soft Sunset texture from that set on the image above.

We learn from each other. We teach others what we know and others teach us. Maybe there are other types of communities out there that are as giving of their time and knowledge but I know I am so grateful to be here with all of you who teach me something every day. Our Focusing on Life community strives to be a place where you can come to learn and be inspired and a lot of times you end up inspiring us.

As you are reading this, six of the ten of us here at FOL are at Shutter Sisters Oasis in Palm Springs, California, learning and sharing with other artists and I know we will come back with a lot of things we will in turn share with you.  Here's a little peek of the six of us at Oasis:

A special "hello" to the four of our FOL sisters who were not able to join us on this adventure. We miss you and hope that the next get together is one that includes all of us.

I hope whenever you have a question you will feel free to ask it and I hope you will continue to share your images in our Flickr group so that we can in turn be inspired by you.  Thank you all for being a part of this wonderful sharing community!