Share the Beauty

Words cannot describe how excited I am to be a part of this adventure!  This group we have gathered together has so much talent and because of their willingness to share that talent, I feel I know each and every one of them, although I've only actually met one of them in person.  We are going to have a great time here and I'm grateful that you are along for the ride!

I recently had the privilege of attending Camp Shutter Sisters and we were all encouraged to "share the beauty" with each other via a photo wall where we could place photos we had taken at camp.  As we attached our photos to the wall, we could also remove photos that inspired us that had been taken by other people -- sort of a "give one, take one" approach.  I loved that idea!  (The photo above was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, 60mm at f/4, 1/60 sec. with an ISO of 1250.)

So  how do you share the beauty of your talent with others?  Do you belong to online groups with  galleries?  Do you  have a blog?  Do you post to a Flickr account for others to see and enjoy your work?  I know for me, I have learned so much from those people who  have shared their talents with me.  One of the things I  hope to do here is to not only share with all of you but have you share with me.  We want this to be a place where we will inspire, encourage, teach, nurture, support and accept one another, a place where we can all grow in our craft and as individuals.

Please put a link  in the Comments section to your blog, Flickr page, or to somewhere where we can all share in the beauty of the wonderful talents among us.

 

A New Day

An exciting new day has dawned for those of us here at Focusing on Life, a day that Claudia, Terri and I have been scheming and dreaming about, planning and hoping for since last September when the three of us got this notion to start a collaborative blog. As photographers, we knew our visual medium would be photography but we didn’t want to be just another collaborative photography blog; there were plenty of other very good ones already.

As we schemed and dreamed, we knew that we wanted to create a place where everyone in any artistic discipline and any ability level would be welcomed, accepted, nurtured, encouraged; a community of sharing. Were it not for the encouragement of others, we wouldn’t be here today to begin this journey with you.

We have put together a great team and you’ll be learning more about each of us over the next weeks and in the sidebars on our site. I’ll get this journey started by telling you just briefly about my photography adventure.

When I got my first dSLR a couple of years ago, I began to search online for information and inspiration. The internet is a wonderful resource for learning photography and I’m convinced it is responsible for the explosion of photography as a hobby. It has led me on an amazing journey, allowing me to grow as a photographer and as a person.

This quest for knowledge led me to various websites and classes which in turn led to a photography prompt forum called Prompt Addicts. There I met some amazing women who, over time, have become my photography friends. With these friendships came the idea for Focusing on Life.

I’m here today to invite you to share this new journey with us. We would like you to visit us daily and comment on the posts when you feel moved to do so, to share your photos and your thoughts with us. We will be publishing five days a week and our ten bloggers will rotate turns over a two week period. We plan to muse on topics that we hope will be interesting and inspirational to you as you pursue your own creative journey.

Please stop by the comment section below to say “hello”. We’re glad you’re here and we’d love to hear from you.