pre-registration open for the slice of life project winter session {and why there’s no time like the present}

“mama leaf & baby leaf” – photographed with iphone

I’m opening pre-registration for the winter session of the Slice of Life Project today. The winter session starts February 6 and runs for six weeks. Register before December 31 and pay a special pre-registration price of $75. After December 31, the price will return to $99. For more details about the e-course and to register, visit the Slice of Life Project page. If you would like to give the e-course to someone you love as a holiday gift (which would be oh-so-swell of you!), just leave me a note upon check-out and I will send you an email to make arrangements.

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One of the things I heard over and over last year as I ran three sessions of the Slice of Life Project is that people don’t have enough time for themselves. Life is busy with work and home life, cleaning and cooking, carpools and soccer practice. I have always encouraged others to take just a few minutes for themselves every day to reconnect with what’s important to them. And the easiest (and most fun) way to do this is with a camera. It takes no time to grab a camera (or camera phone) and snap a photo of something you find beautiful or captivating. It can be as simple as photographing your breakfast or the snow on your car or the toys in your children’s room (yes, even the ones that are in a messy pile.) There is beauty to be found everywhere.

But let’s be honest. This is sometimes easier said than done. I know from experience how life can get in the way of taking care of oneself. I’ve been full of excuses lately and have drifted away from my beloved camera. I’m telling you this because I want you to know that I get it. I know what it’s like to lose sight of what you care about. But I also know how amazing it feels to come back to it. And let me tell you: there’s no time like the present.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve reconnected with photography. I’ve been reminded why I love it so much and why I love sharing it with others. Up until now, I was waiting until I was completely healed and energized to run a new session of the Slice of Life Project, but I think it’s time. As much as I think my photo e-course will help others, I am positive it will help me. No need to wait until a convenient time. I’m ready to live life. I’m ready to pick up my camera again and uncover the beauty. And I want to take you with me.

When I started taking photos, I was immediately drawn to everyday slices of life. I used photography as a kind of therapy – a way to find beauty and appreciate life even when life was busy/difficult/exhausting.

Life couldn’t be more busy/difficult/exhausting (and amazing/miraculous/extraordinary) than it is now. I’m beginning to understand that life can be both. It can be beautiful and painful at the same time. One does not have to cancel out the other.

There have been times over the past month when I lost sight of the beauty. I fell into a funk and let myself get caught up in the monotony of life with a baby. The diaper changes, the feeding every two hours, the lack of sleep. It got the best of me.

Then something happened. Two weeks after Sadie was born, I left the house for the first time. I was still recovering from surgery, so I didn’t go far. Just for a walk down the driveway. I was weary and beaten down, but I slipped my shoes on, opened the door, and put one foot in front of the other. Before I did, I made sure to grab my iPhone. When I stepped outside, I realized that in the two weeks I had been in the thick of life, the seasons had changed. Fall was turning to winter. The leaves had fallen to the ground and were crunching beneath my feet. Winter sunlight was hitting the trees just so. It was all so beautiful.

So from the depths of my post-partum funk, I found a glimmer of light and captured it with my trusty iPhone. Taking each photo was like breathing new life into myself. It was all going to be okay. I was going to be okay.

This is what photography does for me. It is my calm in the storm. It is my soft place to fall. And the amazing thing is that it is always there – in good times and bad. Photography is much more than art. It is my therapy and meditation and escape and connection all rolled into one. It is a gift I can give myself any time, even when I’m covered in baby puke and haven’t showered in days (not that that’s ever happened or anything.)

I know first-hand the healing and joyful power of photography. I have experienced it myself and witnessed it in hundreds of Slice of Life Project participants. I can’t wait for you to have this experience, too.