guest photographer: tracey clark

(Today is the last day I'll be working on my book -- I turn in the manuscript on Monday! So while I'm feverishly making my final edits, I thought I'd share with you the last of my guest photographers (for now): the inimitable Tracey Clark. Tracey is the founder of Shutter Sisters, a community blog of both professional and amateur women photographers (of which I was one of the contributors for a couple of years). I've always found that Tracey's work has a very nostalgic, dreamy quality to it. Here, she explains how she manages to capture that feeling (and incidentally, she'll be sharing more insights of perspective in her upcoming e-course, Picture Spring, at Big Picture Scrapbooking.) Enjoy -- and see you next week! -- Ed.)

I have a love affair with natural light. Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me has heard me either marvel at it, muse on it or point it out -- sometimes all in one breath. I stalk it, eke it out of the most unlikely places and even have recurring dreams about it which usually consist of me literally chasing someone down in time to get the perfect portrait before the sun sets. Even in the delivery room when I was given a dose of something to help me rest between contractions I was sleepily telling the nurses about how to observe the light for themselves. It's all a matter of looking for it, I recall mumbling. As they looked to my husband with puzzled expressions he knowingly nodded to appease me and reassure the nurses, she's a photographer ...

I realize that there is rarely a time when I am unaware of the light because it is just a part of how I take in the world around me now. It's as second nature as taking in sound, smell or even air. But, it wasn't always like that. I wasn't able to see light like I do now. It has come slowly and out of necessity as I have honed my eye to see what is necessary to create the photographic images I am drawn to capture. Over the years of work and play, observation and experimentation I have developed my photographer's eye; my own perspective and way of seeing things and beyond my photography, it has changed my life.

So, what is it that makes seeing the light like this so special? Why am I so compelled to share it with everyone? Because once you've experienced enchantment like sunlight collected on the tiniest dewdrops of morning, or your loved ones illuminated in the perfect warm light of summer, you're never the same.

Photo by Tracey Clark