Exactly two years ago we announced the journey to bring our dream of an idea to bookstores with this blog . It always seems that in the first week of January we have something noteworthy to report. This year isn’t any different and we have exciting changes for us, including new faces and plans that we hope will excite you as well!
We are growing! Last year we added Meredith to the Beyond Snapshots team and just this week, we have added the awesome Isabel to help with the blog and some of the administrative tasks to help the blog grow and bring you some more interesting articles to read.
my love of photography was first born in the bottom of a cardboard box. one filled with curled and crumpled memories of the lives of my mother and father. as an only child living between two homes i found family in those photos. i found a history for myself, beyond the two spaces i floated between. i started out in the tiniest town in the world, warwick ri, and now reside in Medford MA with my husband and two kids, Jack (6) and Leo (3). i’m the daughter of a photo journalist from the days when journalists had to shoot their own images. i grew up on film and the darkroom was my first love. i can still remember the first time i developed one of my photos. from camera to paper. this white square, floating under my rubber tipped tongs. swaying gently back and forth in the small waves of the developer. and from the fog an image emerges. i was hooked.
after having my first son at the age of 19 and marrying my long time hunny, i felt lost in the motherhood identity and knew there was something missing, something just for me. i was always taking photos but my point and shoot just wasn’t giving me the satisfaction i missed from the days of shooting film. capturing a moment, but so much more than that. a feeling, a connection. it’s more than wanting fancier equipment, it’s the calling you have to be a storyteller of sorts. so, two and some odd years ago i invested in my first dslr. for the first 6 months i spent a lot of time on the computer and a lot of time shooting. transferring what i knew about film to digital was harder than i had anticipated. it was at that time that i stumbled upon rachel’s site and the beyond snapshots blog. i was starving for knowledge and any blog that offered sincere help and genuine caring to the importance of teaching this craft was devoured. of course it’s rachel’s sense of humor and the genuine emotion she captures in every photo, of kids or lemons (really, one of my favorite shots of hers is a lemon on a tree in a diptych with a window…), that keeps you coming back for more, and it was the same for me.
i photograph my life and when i’m lucky i get to photograph other families lives too. i write, i play with the kids, i love the husband, i spend way too much time on facebook and instagram (@ifurie), i’m a music and concert junky, i have a not so perfectly kept home and a few laundry piles lying around. but at the end of the day, these photos i take of our life, of my kids, of them with their cousins and grandparents and each other, they are the greatest love letter i’ll ever write.
i’m so excited to be a part of this team, that is committed to continuing to inspire and teach the artist in all of us and build a supportive community for anyone who shares this love of photography.
you can find me at my blog http://www.ifurie.com/
on instagram: @ifurie
and on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Now that the Beyond Snapshots book is written (with nearly 2 years of constant work, you can be sure this is a VERY complete opus) and our blog family has expanded a bit, we decided to take a step back and really reflect on what we wanted to give our readers on a more consistent level. We even wrote a mission statement of sorts!
It is not JUST that you don’t have to be a pro to take great photographs, but that if you take great photographs, you don’t have to BE a pro. There is more to professional photography than the ability to expose properly and compose with interest. There is so much more. We at Beyond Snapshots are not here to make new pro photographers. We are here to encourage natural talent to see a moment and record life beautifully with still images. We want to share those results as inspiration for others who see photography as their art form, whether it is their livelihood or not. We embrace this photography renaissance and all the opportunities it provides those who previously could not afford to pursue their passion. To sum it all up, we exist to champion the desire in anyone with a camera to go Beyond Snapshots.
mobile PHOTO monday’s are coming back! Our weekly feature where we highlight 3 images that our readers have taken with their mobile devices, will be revamped and more accessible to everyone. We are excited about the changes to the submission process to make it easier for you to participate. The goal is to not only to educate you on popular mobile applications, but to encourage everyone to record their life regardless of what kind of camera you have. Check back soon for more info!
The revival of thinking thursday will be featured once a month, where we will be selecting some images from the thinking thursday flickr group to give individualized help as well as posting tips for getting better pictures with fewer shots taken and less time spent on the computer.
We are also excited to reveal a new blog series, “Life is a Photo Opportunity”. Every two weeks we will be featuring a photographer and their personal photographs. These artists will not necessarily all be professionals, as we want to celebrate the general enthusiasts and everyone who loves taking pictures. In fact for the pros who are featured, the one requirement is not about subject matter, but that your session/shot was non-paid work. Travel, food, kids, pets, LIFE photos… There will be more details on how you can submit your work in the next few weeks, but here is a glance (in no particular order) of some who we already have lined up:
rosina waszaj :: www.rosinasphoto.com
mary collier :: www.mkcphoto.com
abbie mcfarland :: www.abbiemcfarland.com
sara tegman :: www.sarategman.com
molly flanagan :: www.mollyflanagan.com
rebecca conway :: www.rebeccaconway.com
shannon harrison :: www.jackandrubystudios.com/
ketti phillips :: www.kettiphotography.com
amy lucy :: www.amylucy.com
amy boring :: www.aboringphoto.com
The book is almost here! An advanced copy of “Beyond Snapshots” is literally on it’s way to us and we are so close to the March 20th release date. The PR madness for the book has begun, and we are looking forward to an article being published by the New York Times this week!
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We had gone to dinner this night after it had stormed and when we came out of the CD Cafe, the sun was beaming over the Solomons Island Bridge. So of course, I had to quickly grab my phone or my “Camera in my pocket!” and take the shot! I used MagicHour for Android to take the picture and then edited it with the default filters that the app comes with. When I saw this edit, it caught my eye because of the sun flare and vivid colors! This image was taken in Solomons, MD in front of The CD Cafe!
