{ a swoop and a dart }

InstaLibrary

Two nights ago my friend Megan texted me this photo...

...I actually gasped with delight when I read her text. She found one of my secretly stashed InstaLibrary bookmarks while at work!

The backstory: while I was developing content for the first Phone Photography Project workshop at Big Picture Classes, I created a category of projects for the "Do Something More" section that had a very "random act of kindness and/or creativity" feel to them. I've long had a little personal tradition of secretly stashing small gifts in public places where people might find them around Christmastime, so for my own take on this one I designed a bookmark that could be stashed all over my favorite library, randomly and secretly. I had my bookmarks printed at the lab I use for client photos, so they were really high-quality press printed ones; I planted about 40 of them in non-fiction, children's books, reference materials, large print—pretty much on every floor and in every section at the library. It made for a fun day of sneaking around the library (I wasn't exactly an unknown character there). Ironically, Megan was the only person I told that I had done this; I didn't ask permission because a.) it was a pretty harmless little project and b.) the whole point of guerilla creativity is to remain anonymous. I immediately texted her back to ask which book she found it in (a biography of Dizzy Gillespie) and walked around with a giant smile on my face the rest of the night. It was a much needed dose of happy news.

It's been a tough week (month) for Big Picture Classes. If you're not aware, Studio Calico purchased the company this past summer, and lots of changes are in the works. A new website will be introduced in 2015, and only some of the classes in the Big Picture Classes catalog will be transferred. The announcement can be read here. Only a couple of the classes I've taught or contributed to since I first started working for Big Picture back in 2006 will be archived on the new platform, so if you want to save the materials from those classes you've taken over the years you have until July 2015 to do so (it's proving to be a lot of work, so don't put it off). I'm happy to answer any questions or provide whatever assistance I'm able to provide, so just let me know if there is something I can do to help!

It's been a wonderful, wonderful run with Big Picture Classes. I've been given so many opportunities to develop meaningful creative content and have connected with so many wonderful students over the past eight years; however, in light of all the changes, the time seems right for me to explore some new options for teaching and sharing creative classes and projects. I'd love to hear what you'd be interested in the most content-wise if you have a minute to connect. The link to send me a message is up there on the top right.

I don't know how many other bookmarks have been discovered at the library, but I do know that creativity matters, no matter how small a gesture.

: )

Quizapalooza Giveaway Winner

Random.org selected #5:

Which happens to be Lynne!

Congratulations, and thanks for playing along : )

Caption Rewrite, Plus a Giveaway

I posted this photo of Bridget running up the stairs at the gym on Instagram yesterday, with the caption "Bee, post-gym." As the picture sunk in, so did the story—enough that I wanted a chance to redo the telling of it.

What I should have written instead:

Lately I have to hold my breath when Bridget runs up the stairs after gymnastics, not sure if she'll be bouncing up the stairs with excitement over some new skill attempted or deflated by a self-imposed sense of defeat brought on by a disproportionate ratio of exuberance to strength or endurance. She has impatiently waited for over a year to be promoted to pre-team, and now that she's there, she's discovering it is a far harder place to be than she imagined. Do we encourage her through the transition until her muscles and skills catch up? Do we start to firmly suggest other sports, even though her heart has always been at the gym? Is she pursuing gymnastics because it's become the family business, or does she genuinely love it, too? Is there anything worse than a kid who is afraid to voice her true opinions?

It is so hard to know. Even when you ask her, it's still hard to know the right thing.

When I saw the light falling on these stairs yesterday, I hot-footed it over to catch a picture of it. I knew she would come up the stairs before the sunshine shifted, and I wanted to get a picture of her in that light, too. She was four parts unhappy-exhausted to six parts happy-tired last night when the shadows fell away, so we'll continue to wait and see for now.

•••••••••••••••••••

You know who is really good at teasing the stories out of people and pictures? Angie Lucas. Her newest Big Picture Classes workshop kicks off tomorrow, and I'm excited to share a free spot! Here are the details:

There's no question about it: your story matters.

And there's no easier, faster, or more satisfying way to tell your story than through quizzes and questions!

Introducing Quizapalooza, a 5-week interactive workshop that makes it simple to share meaningful stories in your scrapbooks, journals, and Project Life albums—or even via your blog or social media channels.

Your instructor, Angie Lucas, has carefully curated more than 180 questions to help you capture fascinating tidbits about all areas of your life, including:

Who: The People You Love
What: Objects, Ideas & Experiences
When: Past, Present & Future
Where: Places that Matter
Why: Reasons & Explorations

It is a fact: Angie makes people better writers and storytellers. Her workshop is full of questions that won't let you fall victim to the generic caption, whether you're a scrapbooker, a blogger, an Instagrammer, or some combination of all three. Leave me a comment here to be eligible to take her class (normally $39) for free! Registration will remain open until September 24. I'll announce the winner tomorrow so you can jump in on Day 1!

[Giveaway now closed, thanks for playing along!]

 

Giveaway: The Phone Photography Project 2 from Big Picture Classes

 Giveaway is now closed! Thank you for playing along!

The Phone Photography Project 2 kicks off in exactly one month! I decided I better get my giveaway done now, because in the next month we will pack up the house, move to a new state, unload the truck to a house we have not yet stepped foot in (ever), unpack as much as possible in a week, register the girls at their new schools, settle on a new gym, and then visit Disney World for the first time ever.

OH MY GOSH. Seeing it all written out like that...

Let's focus on the giveaway for now. Here's some info about the class:

Would you like to take better photos with the camera you always have with you—your smartphone?

Get ready to transform your mobile photography in a brand-new interactive workshop, The Phone Photography Project 2, starting July 17. Twenty expert iPhoneographers have collected their best tips, tricks, and tutorials for phone photography, and they're ready to share it all with you inside a private online classroom—with lots of fun happening on Instagram, too.

With practical tips for mastering lighting, composition, editing, and more, this workshop will give you the tools you need to create impressive photos you'll be proud to share online, in your home, or in your scrapbooks.

I am so excited for this class. I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this point, but it is just full of amazing, inspiring, and useful content. If you take pictures with a phone (or iPad), this is for you, whether you're new to phone photography or have been at it for a while. It will be well worth every penny! If you've already registered and your name is selected, you'll get your money refunded. If you have been sitting on the fence, please consider signing up! Either way, to

Publish

be in the running just leave me a comment to say hi, or tell me something fun you're doing this summer, or share your must-see list of attractions in Alabama. Whatever. : )

As usual with giveaways here, comments will remain open until... they're closed. I'll aim for sometime on Sunday. One person will be selected at random, so hurry, hurry, comment away!

Introducing The Phone Photography Project 2!

It's here! It's here! It's here!

The Phone Photography Project 2 opens for registration today!! I have spent all the minutes these last three months in the development of this workshop, and while I might be a little biased, I BELIEVE IT IS AWESOME. Fantastic. "A game changer," to borrow a phrase from a student who took last summer's Phone Photography Project. That workshop was successful beyond my wildest dreams, and I didn't think anything could match it—but this matches it. I believe in photography of all kinds, and I believe phone photography is not a passing fad. If anything, there are more tools and more inspiration to be found in 2014 than in 2013, and that's pretty exciting stuff for anyone who loves photography. Phones are producing art these days—you would fall off your chair to see a side by side comparison of phone photos today vs. when the phone camera was first introduced.

This workshop is completely and entirely brand-new! If you took last summer's workshop, this will feel completely and entirely different. Here's a little more official info:

Would you like to take better photos with the camera you always have with you—your smartphone?

Get ready to transform your mobile photography in a brand-new interactive workshop, The Phone Photography Project 2, starting July 17. Twenty expert iPhoneographers have collected their best tips, tricks, and tutorials for phone photography, and they're ready to share it all with you inside a private online classroom—with lots of fun happening on Instagram, too.

No matter what kind of camera or smartphone you use, taking better photos requires a basic understanding of photographic principles and the inspiration to see the amazing photo opportunities all around you. This class will show you that:

• Your phone camera is capable of much more than you realize
• Composition and lighting are just as important (if not more so) when you use a phone camera vs. a DSLR
• You can produce frame-worthy snapshots with nothing more than your smartphone and the right combination of apps

With practical tips for mastering lighting, composition, editing, and more, this workshop will give you the tools you need to create impressive photos you'll be proud to share online, in your home, or in your scrapbooks.

 

Sign up on your own or talk a friend into taking it with you! You won't be sorry. And while you gain "forever access" when you purchase the class even after it ends, I heard over and over last summer that this was a class people managed to stick with even when things were busy mid-summer. Heck, I stuck with it last summer and I was up to my eyeballs in moving boxes... which, incidentally, will be the only thing that ISN'T completely and entirely different. There will be photos of moving boxes on the #BPCphonephotographyproject hashtag again, of that I am certain. : )

Please ask if you have any questions—and kindly help spread the word! Click here to sign up or learn more.

National Scrapbook(ing) Day

from The Scrapbooker's Almanac

Happy National Scrapbook Day! I either made a terrible mistake in The Scrapbooker's Almanac by calling it National Scrapbooking Day or the name has changed since 2007, but the sentiment is the same (truly—I could have written these words yesterday). Big Picture Classes is holding a giant National Scrapbook Day event and aiming to get 10,000 layouts posted to Instagram (#NSD10K) so if you have a little time today, you are cordially invited to play along and add yours to the pool, too! And, rumor has it there are some pretty great prizes and a whole lot of fun if you register (it's free!) over at Big Picture Classes. 

Follow @bigpictureclasses on Instagram, share your own layout(s) with #NSD10K, and have a fun day celebrating the amazing hobby of scrapbooking! : )

An Update To Remember Giveaway Winners

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories here... as always I simultaneously love and hate to do giveaways, because on one hand, it's so nice to be able to share these classes as a treat but on the other hand, I can only share them with two people. I wish everyone could win : )

My trusty partner in giveaways, Random.org, chose the following comment numbers tonight:

Which means the following two readers will receive a free seat in An Update To Remember!

Congratulations, Gina and June! I hope everyone else will still consider taking this workshop. Registration is open until April 2!

Giveaway: Update To Remember from Big Picture Classes

 

An Update To Remember opens next week (March 27) at Big Picture Classes! This is a different kind of workshop than has been offered before, because it's all about incorporating social media into memory keeping and scrapbooking. It's definitely geared toward scrapbookers, though anyone who wants to be more deliberate in their social media usage can benefit. It's divided into four weeks and will cover Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. (See video above! I didn't make it, but you can spot some familiar faces if you watch it!). I will be joined by Kelli Crowe, Tami Morrison, Katie Scott, and Stacy Julian during the four week workshop.

Katie and I have (sadly) never met in person, but I can tell you that Kelli and Tami are among some of the funniest AND funnest people I know (yes, I used that on purpose—Tami is actually The Funnest Scrapbooker Ever, officially crowned in an international contest held by Simple Scrapbooks Magazine, may it RIP). They are also true internet/social media friends: Kelli and I go waaaaay back to 2004 on Two Peas and have run in the same online circle ever since, and Tami was the first person to show me how Instagram worked, a good year and a half before I ever had an account. Our lasting friendships are all examples of the Positive Power of Social Media.

That's Kelli and me in 2007, when she gave me like five minutes notice that she and her husband were coming to my house for lunch when we lived in California. (OK, it was more like three hours, but I still was hot and sweaty from running around getting ready when they showed up). It was SO MUCH FUN, and now I have a "surprise Kelli with three hours notice" card that I am totally going to cash in when we move to Montgomery.

That's me and Tami in Bishop Arts District, after our first day teaching together at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, TX in 2010. Monica McNeill took the photo, and it was hands down one of the most fun late afternoons/evenings I've ever spent traveling—kindred spirits, all three of us.

And bonus! Stacy Julian will also share an adapted version of her recent talk at The Timpanogos Storytelling Conference held in Provo, UT titled Building Family Stories Through Social Media. I'm really excited to watch it. I was looking for a fun picture of me and Stacy together because we go way back now too, but then I found this one that I took in 2008, which is even funnier because I had forgotten about it: that's Stacy with her mom and another famous Scrapbook Mom in Valley Forge, PA. (Can you identify her?) Talk about family stories!

Anyway. It's going to be a fun, fun class. And I have two seats to give away today!

Leave a comment to tell me one of the most memorable things you've ever shared on social media... I'll close comments sometime on Thursday evening!

 

Finding Your Photo Style Giveaway Winners!

[drum roll]

#10 and #38 will get a free spot in Finding Your Photo Style (yay for Lauren and Susanna!)

and #28 will get Alessandra's new book in her lucky little mailbox just in time for the weekend! (Yay, Rachel!)

Congratulations! I love giveaways, but I also hate not being able to award a prize to everyone! : ) Registration for Finding Your Photo Style is open until February 20, and it's totally worth it and a total bargain, as I'm pretty sure you couldn't get a local two hour workshop with some of these fantastic photographers solo for less!

Psst: I just turned in the last of my content for the newest Big Picture Classes workshop I'm contributing to (yay, Elizabeth!) called An Update To Remember and you can still get in on the discounted introductory price if you act quickly.

: )

Finding Your Photo Style Giveaway!

The second run of Finding Your Photo Style begins on Thursday and I have two spots to give away today ($75 value)! This is the same workshop as the last time around, except for one thing: a seventh photographer (Alessandra Cave) has been added to the roster. To celebrate her addition, I'm also giving away a copy of her brand-new book, Shooting with Soul. I haven't read it yet but a.) from what I know of Alessandra's work and b.) how many other incredible Quarry-published books I own I guarantee it will be fabulous.

Can the same person win both a spot in the class and Alessandra's book, you ask? Yes, if there are only three people who enter this giveaway ; )

After working on my own content for this workshop and studying/particpating in the other photographers' weeks (with the exception of Alessandra's new content—I'm excited for that!) I was really amazed at how differently we all approach photography. Not different bad, but different AWESOME. I learned so much from each instructor and was able to really evaluate my own photographic style in the process. Which, of course, is kind of the point.

Every photographer wants the same thing: a photograph that satisfies the vision you have when you survey the scene of what you're about to photograph. That vision is made up of many different parts, and some things are more important than others. At the top of my list is storytelling. I want my photos to be technically good and full of the right kind of light, but my #1 priority is the storytelling part. Naturally, my week tends to focus upon this : )




Check out the other photographers who are part of this workshop:


Andrea Jenkins | Bio | Hula Seventy

Kate T. Parker | Bio | Kate T. Parker Photography

Maggie Holmes | Bio | Maggie Holmes Design

Rebecca Cooper | Bio | Simple As That

Tracey Clark | Bio | Tracey Clark

Alessandra Cave | Bio | Alessandra Cave Photography

No matter what style—or combination of styles—resonates with you the most, you're guaranteed to learn a lot about your own photography over the course of this workshop. And best of all, once you're registered, you have "forever access" if life gets busy or you want to revisit material later after the live portion of the class closes in April. Leave me a comment to enter! If you've already taken the workshop there is a special discounted alumni price so just indicate you're entering for the book only. I'll close comments Wednesday night so you can start on time this Thursday! You can register through February 20, though.