Silverlime Giveaway

Traci over at Silverlime has donate this adorable necklace for us to giveaway.  You can also buy them off of her site for $55. 

Here is how you enter to win (you can be entered as many times as you participate):

Blog
1.  Comment on this or any other post.
2.  Share the giveaway on your blog. (leave us the link to the post)

Facebook
1.  Comment on any of the posts or post pictures to the group.
2.  Share the giveaway on your facebook.
3.  Like our facebook page and/or join the facebook group.

Flickr
1. Post a picture to the pool. 

Instagram
1.  Tag your photos #letsgatherinspiration
2.  Share the giveaway and tag us @letsgatherinspiration in your post. 

The giveaway closes on Valentines day.  That will give everyone plenty of time to enter several times.  Good luck. 

Mornings

There is art in our mornings.  Have you ever took a breath in and looked around at your morning?  To just enjoyed the moment? The light, the routine, the smells, and the sounds.  All of it is beautiful to me.  A few years ago there was a group on Flickr devoted to people who took photos of their morning for a full year.  A lot of the photos were so beautiful and inviting. 

This morning I sat down with my planner/journal and a hot cup of cocoa and took in the morning.  I planned the up coming week and finished the art journal page for this week.  (A friend and I have joined a free Facebook group that gives us weekly prompts.  It has been a lot of fun.)

What are your favorite morning rituals?  Show us a shot of your mornings.

You can post your pictures on your blog or flickr and leave a link below for all of us to see. 

Let's Gather Inspiration Project

I have a difficult time finding something to shoot some days.  I live in Alaska so I shoot a lot of landscapes and wildlife.  Truth be told, it is not my favorite.  I love shooting people and things. By things I mean beautiful and inspiring things.  Items in my home, things I see out in the world, anything that is forgotten or not thought of as beautiful.

There is so much out there for inspiration in shooting children and capturing those memories.  I think that is wonderful but my kids are grown.  Most times it is just me, my husband and my dogs.  Sometimes I steal the neighbor kids and shoot around with them.

For those of us that are empty nesters or childless, sometimes the prompts and/or inspirations leave us behind.  I can't tell you how many times I have bought a book about photography inspiration and 80% of it is about capturing moments with your children.  I am grateful that my children have these resources but I really would love more resources directed to help me too. 

That is what is so great about this group of contributors.  We are all in different stages of life.  I am the only empty nester in the group but each person has a different vision in their photography.  I am excited to see where this goes.  I am looking forward to each persons view and outlook on photography and a creative life in general. 

The other day I was looking around for my daily shot and could not find much.  The light coming in the window was beautiful.  Sometimes the everyday and ordinary in your life is worth a shot.  Thank goodness for my large collection of vintage cameras.

What is filling your shots these days?

Meet Mandy

What you shoot with:  Canon 5D and 40D as backup
Favorite lens:  My 50mm 1.4
Flickr: mandy_reger
Instagram:  
Blog or website:  portraitsbymandyreger.smugmug.com (it's just a site for proofing with clients...it's not even finished. 

A little info paragraph about you and what inspires you....a bio of some sort.

I am a 31 year old mom to two girls, age 11 and 9.  I have been married to my highschool sweetheart for 12 years now.  I started taking pictures in 2007.  I bought my first dslr, and book after book and started reading about how to shoot manually and took a bazillion pictures and learned by trial and error, and a LOT of studying and reading.  I love taking pictures.  I LOVE the beauty of the world, and I see things in a whole different perspective after starting to take pictures.  Photography is my passion.  It brings happiness to my soul.  I took pictures as a business for several years, and have decided that this next upcoming year I will just be finishing up some gift certificates for people and nothing more.  I have been so busy over the years, that it exhausts me, and my family is suffering for it.  I need to take a step back and get back into taking pictures because I LOVE it...not because I have to do it and it is a chore.  I am very excited to start taking more pictures of my two sweet girls, and more nature photography.  I know a lot about photography, but I also have SO much that I need to learn.  I am excited to be a part of this and to learn and grow and share with you all, and to see your beautiful photos as well!  What inspires me are more candid photos, with feeling, deep moody photos with a lot of contrast move my soul.  I love the light, sweet beautiful light, and I'm a sucker for sunflare as well.  Anything that I see that moves me, I just want to capture its beauty the best that I can.  I am a sucker for a good black and white.  They speak to me more than anything else.  I have a desire to learn more, and grow, and am looking forward to this!

Meet Sonya

Sonya Bitz
What you shoot with:  Nikon D3100 and D60 as backup
Favorite lens:  My 50Mm
Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenbeautyqueen/
Instagram:  akphotographer
Blog or website:  www.akphotographer-akphotographer.blogspot.com

A little info paragraph about you and what inspires you....a bio of some sort.

   A little info about me…I am an artist at heart.  I love all things color and I like to think I live a colorful life!  I have two little boys (3 and 5) and they are the love of my life! They keep me motivated to get out of bed and to strive to be a better mother and overall person.  I want to live a life that they may say " My mother was an amazing woman".  I went to college for Interior Design with a minor in art and I have used  my art minor for many things since being a mother.  I love to watercolor…it is my "go to" medium, but I love painting in general.  Oils are expensive and quite frankly, my husband would complain of the smell if we had oil paintings in this tiny apartment of ours.  I am open minded and understanding to our crazy family life! We are always adventuring out somewhere and coming back with great stories to tell about them!   I love all things creative…from sewing to painting to drawing to cooking and even attire! Yes…even getting dressed takes some level of creativity in my book!  I hope to get to know everyone in this group and I am thankful to be part of a group of creative artists and share inspiring ideas!

Meet Leaca

Leaca Young
I live in Alaska but I am from Wyoming
I shoot with two cameras 50D and the 5D Mark III
My favorite lenses are my 50 1.2 and my 24-70mm 2.8
I use my iPhone 5S for most everything.  It saved my bacon last year with my 365. 

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leacayoung/
Instagram:  @leaca_travels
Blog:  http://thetravelingpalace.blogspot.com/

I have always been drawn to photography.  Newspapers and magazines always peeked my interested as a kid.  I loved the way they captured moments and froze time.  My father was always taking pictures and I love that about him.  My husband bought me my first DSLR in 2007.  I joined Flickr and joined some groups.  That is where I really learned photography.  I am still learning and it seems it is from surrounding myself with great inspiration. 

Meet Marina

Marina Spooner

Long Island, New York

D600

50 1.4, 14-24 2.8 – love them both!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/earthandskye/

http://instagram.com/earthandskye

https://www.facebook.com/earthandskye

www.earthandskyephoto.com

www.earthandskye.com

I’m inspired by the feeling I get when I see something that strikes a chord in my heart.  It might be beauty, ugly, truth or serenity.