It’s been a long time coming, but Shutter Mission is now live!

Shutter Mission is all about highlighting portrait charities & honoring photographers who give their time, talent, and heart.
Learn more about Shutter Mission, explore the directory of portrait charities, check out the free resources for photographers, nominate a charitable photographer to be featured, or share the Shutter Mission site with a deserving family who could benefit from the services these organizations offer. Also, be sure to subscribe to updates while you’re checking out the site.
You can find Shutter Mission on both Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait to connect with you!
June 1, 2010 · View Comments
In January, my friend Kajal sent me these gorgeous handmade note cards she fashioned from recycled papers. This was a gift she sent me as part of a Pay it Forward contest she ran on her blog a while back. Check out how cute these cards turned out…

Lovely! Is she creative or what?! (Thanks, K!)
Now, it’s my turn to Pay it Forward to three lucky readers.
Pay it Forward – the official rules:
I agree to send something fun, cute, and nice to the first 3 blog owners who post a comment on this entry. I’ll then email you a request for your shipping address and send out something that I hope will make you smile!
In turn, you will post this information on your blog, link back to this post, and send something to three people who comment on your blog… and so on.
When you comment, be sure to include a link to your blog!
~ Amanda ~
March 27, 2010 · View Comments
This is the photography project I mentioned back in October, and it’s almost ready:

“Highlighting photographic charities and honoring photographers who give their time, talent, and heart.”
The Idea
The idea behind Shutter Mission came to me about a year ago… I was telling someone about the wonderful portrait charity Operation: Love ReUnited, and they had never heard of the organization. I immediately thought of at least a handful of families that would benefit from OpLove’s service, and then I started to think about people who’ve adopted who didn’t know the Celebrating Adoption portrait charity existed, and so on. Then, I thought: “wouldn’t it be handy if there was a central web site where all of these great photography charities could be listed?”
But directories are boring… so the idea grew…. and I decided the site would need a blog to showcase recent sessions from photographers who volunteer with these organizations. And then I thought about how a blog could impact and inspire other photographers to give back as well. So, this is how the idea began…
The Plan
In the short term, Shutter Mission will be a:
- Central hub for the general public to learn about the various photography charities that are active today.
- Photo Blog that will display the latest work by the photographers who volunteer with these organizations.
- Directory of charities that photographers can peruse and find one to serve in an area that interests them.
The Goal
I want to help spread the word about these wonderful photo charities, and I want to showcase the work being done for them. I want to celebrate these photographers who give so generously of their time and talent and heart. I want to lift them up, encourage them to keep giving back… and inspire others to do the same.
Photographers — Call for Images
Are you involved in a portrait charity (OpLove, Celebrating Adoption, Think Pink, Heart Gallery, etc)? The new Shutter Mission site is launching soon, and in order to spread the word about portrait charities and inspire others to give back… we need your images for the new blog.
Contribute your work or suggest a photographer to be featured »
Wanna join me?
Follow @shuttermission on Twitter for updates, recent charity sessions, etc. I’ll also send out an update when the new site is finished and finally live. You can also join Shutter Mission on FaceBook to receive updates.
Thank You!
This is a personal project for me… a labor of love. This site I’m building is my gift to the community and my own way of giving back. Thank you for your support and for helping me spread the love.
February 8, 2010 · View Comments
I love these mini accordion albums from J. Lee Albums. They are the perfect size for your purse, and clients love showing them off. So cute!

UPDATE:
These Adobe Lightroom presets are now hosted on my site, Shutter Mission.
Download the presets »
We hope to add more photographer resources in the future, so be sure to subscribe to updates!
January 22, 2010 · View Comments
My Dad and sister joined us in San Francisco for the holidays this year. Eric and I had a blast exploring the city with my family for the week, (with the exception of Pier 39… I had forgotten what a madhouse that place is).
Here’s a pretty extensive list of the things we saw, places we visited, and spots where we dined. My father-in-law is coming out in February, and we’re hoping to hit a few of these spots again, and add some new ones to the list.
Holidays in San Francisco, 2009:
Alamo Square · Harry Street Stairs · The Front Porch · Chinatown · Union Square · Coit Tower · Filbert Street Steps · Fort Point · Marin Headlands · Muir Woods · Biking on the Embarcadero and all over town · South Beach Cafe · LoveJoy’s Tea Room · Higher Grounds Coffee · Henry’s Hunan · Mission Dolores Park · Toast Eatery on 24th · Glen Canyon Park · Mitchell’s Ice Cream · Panta Rei · Pier 39 · Scooter rides and Beetle rides around the city · Geocaching in Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, and Billy Goat Hill Park · The Little Chihuahua · 24th Street shops in Noe Valley

Alcatraz Island

View of downtown San Francisco from Alcatraz Island

Bay Bridge from Alcatraz tour boat

Dad at Bernal Heights hill

Golden Gate Bridge – photo by my husband, Eric
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I held off on publishing this because I wanted to add some of my lomographs from the holidays, but I have yet to get my film developed… and if I wait until it gets done, I’ll be posting this in 2012. Alas, I will use some crappy iPhone snaps until I can refresh this later on.
January 16, 2010 · View Comments