Happy 2018, everyone!  I hope you had a beautiful holiday season and special times with loved ones and friends. 

We are so pleased to welcome guest blogger Jennifer Carr this month in our “Be Our Guest” series.  Jennifer is a Virginia Beach, Virginia native and a fine art and portrait photographer.  In her bio she writes “My love of the outdoors has strongly influenced my photography. My favorite subjects are the overlooked details which surround us every day. I create images depicting simple pleasures as I see them in my mind, showing natural beauty that might otherwise be forgotten. I’m drawn to color and light, each the brighter the better! Someone once described my art as a motivational poster, uplifting and lighthearted, leaving the viewer filled with hope. I couldn’t have asked for a better illustration of my goal when I create photographs.”  As many of us have experienced, she also admits that “as a mostly self-taught photographer who struggled for years to learn how to create a photograph rather than take a photograph, I learned the long and hard way the value of getting help from a good teacher.”  To that end, she offers tailored photography lessons for beginning and intermediate photographers, and hosts the Saltwater Retreat, a women’s photography retreat on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Here, then, are her words and images, which will be a blissful reprieve for those of us in the northern climes where we’re frozen in and are experiencing temperatures in the single digits and below zero!  Alas, I hear that even the southern states are in for their share of frigid temperatures this week.  

The unseasonably warm temperatures in Southeastern Virginia have held my summer garden in bloom almost to the winter solstice.  But, tonight they are calling for the first frost and I know the blooming flowers will come to an end.

As I set out to give the garden a quick clean up, I’m reminded of a photographer that I admire who recently announced she’d be doing a JPG shooting project in 2018.  I turn back inside and grab my camera, going into the menu and flipping over to JPG.  I make my way through the garden, shooting the remaining blossoms and the seed pods dropping their gifts to hopefully be delivered next year.

I take my time, focusing on telling the story of the end of a season.  Because I’m moving so quietly, the birds gain confidence and begin to visit the surrounding feeders, so I turn my lens towards them.  Despite the winter landscape that lies ahead in the coming months, the overwintering birds that flock to the wetlands in our backyard will keep the backyard full of life until the spring brings forth new growth in the garden.

We want YOU to Be Our Guest!  Post your images on Instagram with the hashtag #viewsfindersio_beourguest or leave a comment below with a link to your best images.  You could be our next guest and have the opportunity to share your photographic vision with us.

See you soon.

—lucy