Expressive Photography: The Shutter Sisters' Guide to Shooting from the Heart

I have been "taking pictures" since my children were very young and have loved capturing moments of their short lived childhood. I wanted to create a memory trail of sorts for them. After realizing that I wanted to take my photography a bit farther, to invoke meaning and relevance for me and in what I was capturing, I bought this book in hopes that it would help me in my personal journey.I am so glad I bought this book. I especially liked that the way it was written by several photographers so I could read, analyze, and learn the styles from each one of them. I learned that the simplest of moments are photographic opportunities, and how looking at things from different perspectives could help achieve the process of expressing oneself further.After reading this book, I searched for other ones like it that dealt with photography on an "everyday is a photographic opportunity" viewpoint, and I could not find any, unfortunately. A wonderful addition in my photography bag, and after finishing this book a few weeks ago, I still find myself still paging through it for inspiration.

The gift of this book is its creative and expansive approach to photography, and what I see as more of a feminine way, one that honors and embraces all different forms, paths, aesthetics, and ideas of beauty; that acknowledges and respects that there is no right or wrong way to approach, create with, do photography. It is filled with uniquely beautiful photographs, and the text and organization of content is extremely accessible. I love that a book about photography includes words like "heart" and "soul." This book is helping me open to my own unique sense of what is beautiful, it is encouraging me to find and own my own style, to trust my own personal vision. It is inspirational as much as it is informative and educational; and I find myself making my way through it slowly and purposefully, savoring every word, page, photo, and chapter like one would a truly fine, aged wine. This book is sustenance for this particular blossoming photographer's soul, a creative navigation tool for the journey.

This is a very good book which discusses of the importance of taking photographs which speak to your heart and emotions. I think the key word in the prior sentence is "your." You are taking photographs for yourself to document your life and the occurances you and your family experience. It is not a book about taking photographs for others or for profit. It doesn't speak to technical aspects of photography. It is more about "seeing." The book contains ten chapters each authored by a different person. Some are obviously better writers than others, but the content (photographs and tips) are solid throughout. This is a different type of photography book and one which you can refer to over and over to refresh your vision and restart your creativity.

As an amateur photographer for many years, I am learning to adapt from film to digital photography. I have read many books on the subject, but none as exhilarating and motivating as this one. I am learning new angles, new techniques with their guidance. I am learning how to show the emotion I experience every time I release the shutter. The shutter sisters have given me tools to help express my feelings and as I capture them, others will feel it too. One who has a love for photography only has to look at what they accomplish in the photographs they share in order to understand their unwavering love for this art form. Their personal stories lend heart and soul to the poetry of photography.

Fantastic Book. Kudos to all photographers involved in the creation of this very educational and inspiring photography book -succinct, practical and straight to the point.

I have many. many. photography books. Most technical. I wanted a book that was more about perspective, one that was filled with loads of inspirational photos. This book was exactly what I was searching for. If you want a Scott Kelby or Bryan Peterson book full of the technical photography info than I would not suggest this book for you. If you want a book that emotes the passion and art side of photography than this is just the book for you. I love this book and would suggest it for anyone who is new to photography, wants to see photography more from an artist perspective or if you know all the technical stuff and just want to be inspired by other photographers art.

Expressive Photography is the answer to creative roadblocks. These are extraordinary women who have taken the time share their craft with the world, not to mention the incredible community they have created on shuttersisters.com. As a photographer I am totally in love with the premise of the book, the idea that we all have the ability to collectively discover the simple beauty in every day matters. No two eyes will ever see the same thing in the same way and therein lies the opportunity to show your perspective to the world. Its a book you will easily connect with and use as a tool to develop your creative talents.

Though I've signed up for one and attempted to sign up for another, I haven't actually attended a photography class yet. It will happen one of these days. In the meantime, I'll focus on reading wonderful photography books like the two I've read in the last few weeks. These books are filled with great ideas for great picture taking; I probably could just skip the photography class and try out ideas from these books.

One day I discovered the Shutter Sisters blog by chance. This book demonstrates all the reasons that I regularly visit their sites as it is like having many of them ready for browsing without turning the computer on.If you've had it up to here with macho shots of bikes, cars, aircraft and war photos embedded in masses of technobabble about cameras and lenses, you'll find this book as refreshing as a cool shower on a hot day.Many managers are taught the importance of Emotional Intelligence. These ladies instinctively use their cameras with Emotional Photography.This book is big. It is heavy. It is superbly produced. It is great value. The chapters suggest various ways of capturing life's moments that can be so easily forgotten in the years ahead.Apparently the authoring Shutter Sisters have annual vacations/workshops. Given the way that any group of females will all talk simultaneously with few, if any, listening ... please, never produce this as an audio book. I can just imagine the babble of noise at their get together. No need to exclude males. We'd hear it from a mile away and run in the opposite direction. There we'd find a quiet spot with a full coffee mug and enjoy reading the book instead.

This book had the same, exact contents as a previous edition with a different cover...! I loved the first one, and loved this one as well, but since I already had the first one, I made a gift of this second one to a photographer friend of mine, so he loves the contents now, too...

Il libro nasce sicuramente da una ottima idea e da un tentativo di dire qualcosa di differente in un argomento ipertrattato.Molte foto hanno sicuramente quella scintilla in più (p.85 in alto un esempio per tutte), ma ve ne sono alcune di dubbia qualità tecnica (p.14, p.113 in basso, p.62 in alto)Una nota di demerito va poi a chi ha curato l'editing del libro: la foto a pag. 108 urla vendetta per come è stata impaginata.Una idea da perfezionare.

J'ai été très déçue par ce livre. La photo de couverture est la plus jolie et ne représente pas vraiment le contenu.Les photos sont extrêmement banales : une fleur, une mouette dans le ciel, un arbre, des mains...De la psychologie de bas étage comme beaucoup de livres américains qui abordent la créativité.Si comme moi vous cherchez un livre motivant, bourré de jolies inspirations, avec un contenu théorique agréable je vous conseille Beyond Snapshots: How to Take That Fancy DSLR Camera Off "Auto" de Rachel Devine et Peta Mazey.

Don't bother it's a bunch of touchy feely nonsense very little in the way of photography tutorials way too much self help rubbish and hugely patronising to the reader. The photography in the book is mediocre at best relying heavily on Photoshop to try and perk up mundane photographs. Avoid and buy a real photography tutorial book that will actually help you to take better photographs.Anything by Ansel Adams doesn't matter if you are interested in film or digital photography his books will help you.Alternatively study your cameras manual until you know it all pick a photographer that inspires you for example Andre Kertesz and mimic their style. It will take abit of playing with the camera but you will get more use out of that practice then anything in the shutter sisters book.This book is a waste of any serious student photographers money. Go to their website first and see how they operate if you like that style and you're happy with using alot of photoshop go ahead and buy it.My experience comes from being a professional photographer.