Chive Blossoms

For the past few years, I've kept a lovely little garden on my fire escape, including flowers and herbs like mint, chives, and rosemary. Recently, one of the chives sprouted beautiful, little white blossoms. This photo series is straight from the camera - the images have not been PhotoShopped or altered in any way. I'm offering these photos as limited edition canvas prints, as well. Please email rsvp@sarahsloboda.com, for more information.

What are our children trying to teach us?

Are you enjoying and engaged in your own life the way your child is? Or, do you feel that sometimes the moments are just slipping by you? Are you simply trying to raise your kid, or does the thought occur to you, that this child came into your life to help you overcome your own shortcomings?

Look closely. What is it you love most about your child? Her soft skin? Her crystal eyes? Or is it something contained within her, which comes through in all of her features, something that you know, deep down, must be contained in you, too?

The love we have for our children is a deep and primal love that allows us to glimpse our potential, feel the true depth of our power, and acknowledge our own life force.
Allow me to make some mementos of that significance – photographs you will want to display and look at for long periods of time. Rather than grasping at those fleeting moments in your day, full of distractions, as one second gives way to the next, days turns into weeks, and months into years, you can hold them up, cherish them, and allow them to influence you for the better.

Notice the astounding effortlessness with which your child honors her own life, and the presence of those who love her. See the way she looks at the world, as a place for discovery and learning. Relish her unabashed delights, and her freedom to express her emotions, regardless of what anyone else thinks.

I create photos of children, not just so you can look back at when they were younger, but also to provide you with the opportunity to look more freely and deeply at your own life, now. It is my way of honoring the child in all of us.

Inspiration: The Nature of Things & Moments Past

Things have been catching my eye, so to speak. For awhile, I have been quietly obtaining objects for my home that relate in some way to nature, and to things of the past - whether they be actual plant life or antiques, or simply designs inspired by those things. I thought I would gather them together here in a photo essay, to see what visual relevance appears.

Flowers and Photography

I always say, that if I hadn't become a photographer, I'd have liked to have become a florist. Here are some photographs of arrangements I did over the weekend in my home - I just love how flowers brighten up everything!

My super brilliant florist friend, Denise Porcaro of Flower Girl, likes to say, "Flowers and photography go together." Don't you agree?

New Endeavors

It's possible you've noticed that the University of Sarah isn't updated as frequently as it once was, and if that is the case, I wanted to be sure to offer a sense of where I've been and what I've been up to!

As it turns out, I have been sharing my expertise in new forums, and am very excited to share them with you in the context of other online platforms (outside my own blog).

First of all, I began a regular contribution to A Child Grows in Brooklyn - a wonderful resource for parents, particularly those based in Brooklyn, New York, but serving savvy parents everywhere. My segment is entitled, "VEEPS," A Child Grows' special nickname for parents, which features photos of moms and dads, along with their likes and insights, which I glean in a brief interview accompanying our shoot.

Next, I have had the honor of getting to know Goodkin - located at wearegoodkin.com. This site rocks for modern parenting! A month ago, Goodkin featured a story on my family photo-taking tips, and next week, they be posting a story I wrote called, "A Child Photo Shoot in Nature." Look forward to more of my work on their site in the near future!

Last but not least, I got to write the May 14, 2010 entry for the3six5 project - in which one person writes about his or her experience for each day out of a full year. They also let me feature one of my photos - since it related so perfectly to the story I wrote for the project.

Enjoy these contributions, as I branch out from my home-base, and as always, I welcome any feedback.

Elongated Seasonsal Change

It's spring again. It came early in New York, and then I went to Colorado during a blizzard, which gave way to another frigid beginning-of-spring. I got to see the end of summer in Ohio, and the beginning of fall in London and Paris. (I am fortunate that I get to change perspective whenever I feel like it.) There was hardly any winter for me this year, with the extra long autumn that began early in London, and late back in New York, and a winter that sped into an early New York spring - a spring that seemed to last forever once out west, in the mountains, experiencing its birth all over again.

Seasons of change like fall into winter or winter into spring, seem the most dramatic, and it's been interesting to have these two changes stretched and skewed and elongated this past year. As if you could take a picture of a digital clock, just as it changed from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. - literally changing minutes, hours, a.m. to p.m., and even the calendar date - frozen for pondering for way longer than the split second during which it actually occurred. These stretched out seasonal changes made me feel like I had jumped into a moment in time and spread my arms and spun around and found lots of unexpected space in which to run and frolic.

Shifting perspectives made the impossible seem possible - that we are not just on this relentless fall forward into the future, but that there is space, even within moments of great change, for experience and pondering. Changing time zones and continents and climates with the simple hop aboard an airplane made it obvious that the way I am thinking of the world in any one moment relies heavily upon where I am and what I am experiencing. Landing in a snowstorm in Colorado, after driving with the windows down to the airport in New York, was enough to make me see, that a single moment contains a lot more than we usually think. It contains a blizzard, and a sunny-breezy day; it contains light and dark, depending on where on earth you find yourself; it contains peace and it contains tumult.

Maps are great because you can see all the places you are not, and begin to conceive of "elsewhere." Quantum physics says, it is impossible to measure both the location and the velocity of an object at the same time. It is 1 p.m. in New York, and 11 a.m. in Denver. Doesn't all of this boggle your mind?

Beginner's Photo Workshop for Moms (Call Series)

Did you make it to last Thursday’s Photo Introduction Call for Moms: Developing a Creative Practice? We covered 3 recommendations for developing a practice, honoring your creative instincts and integrating photography into your family routine.

The recommendations are

1. Get into the spirit of "flow." - Be in the moment!
2. Be prepared. - Always have your camera ready so you can honor your creative instincts.
3. Observe & Learn. - You can hone your photography skills by looking more closely at images around you.

If you missed the call, please check it out at your leisure – each of these key recommendations is covered in more detail with inspiration and ideas for grounding yourself in new habits to enhance your ability to photograph your family. Registration is required to access the link to the complimentary recording:

Photo Introduction for Moms - Developing a Creative Practice

Were these recommendations useful to you?

I want to invite you to integrate these ideas and help them stick as new habits by sharing your experiments with me on my facebook page - please visit the SARAH SLOBODA | photography facebook wall, and share your thoughts and ideas, as well as post photos you'd like to celebrate or get feedback on. I love seeing people's photos, so I hope you will take this opportunity to share!

Beginner's Photo Workshop for Moms

Some of you may be chomping at the bit for more right now! For those of you who feel inspired to take this a step further, I am offering a beginning photo tele-course for moms that will take place over the course of 3 weeks. Each call will last one hour. The line is easily muted, and each call will be recorded, so you will have access to all of the information, even if your little one requires your attention during the live call.

This course will go further into the theories we discussed in the intro call, and it will also get into the technical aspects of photography, like camera settings and simple ideas for better lighting. We’ll also cover special ways to interact with kids to earn their trust while behind the camera, and ultimately end up with better photos. It’s perfect for someone who is totally new to photography, and those who want to create an integrated creative outlet in their everyday lives.

We'll cover

• Writing with Light: The basics of lighting, as the foundation of photography
  
• Inspiration: Utilizing your environment
• Technicalities: Getting to know your camera
• Interaction: Training your child's response to the camera
• Creating the shot: Camera angles and composition
• Further learning: How to find answers to your specific questions
• And much more!
  

We will meet on a special dedicated call-in line each Wednesday at 12.30 p.m. EST from April 21, 2010 to May 5, 2010 – so, three dates – April 21, April 28, and May 5, 2010.

The cost is $199.00, and you can register by following this link. Space is limited, so don’t delay!

Please don't hesitate to email me directly at rsvp [at] sarahsloboda.com with any questions about the course. Looking forward to seeing you and your successes on facebook, and I hope to have you in the course starting on April 21.