29 May 2009

down by the tracks



more from the yashica. i like finding areas that look old school or a little run down and shooting them with my yashica. it just feels right, like the 1970s camera was made to take pictures of old cars (which are current in the cameras eye), rusted buildings and train tracks. i thought these photos would make a good series. the top one is the first shot i took on the yashica and i'm really happy with how it turned out. i don't mind the light leak at all. the last two are from down near leary way, which is an industrial part of ballard. we had dinner at the hale's brewery and then walked around behind it. this is what i found!

***
tonight i am going to try to go to a movie at the seattle international film festival. seattle is so lucky to have an amazing organization like siff, which for 20 days brings tons of films from all over the world and bombards the indie theatres in town with them. the problem is is that i never make the most of this 20 day festival in may. i get overwhelmed by the options, or by my own time. last year i even had a few friends working for siff so i got in for free. i still only went to one movie. it was chinese and beautiful and i fell asleep for most of it. so, anyway i am trying my best to go tonight. there is a french film playing, made by the director of monsieur ibrahim. it's called with a little help from my friends. i hope i make it.

have a wonderful friday!

27 May 2009

yashica electro



poppy season! shots from my new yashica. i love these papery, light flowers. there are some in our yard that are just barely opening...they'll get there. i did have a recipe for recipe swap wednesday, but i'm too excited to show you these photos to pull out my recipe. sorry. maybe this evening?

***
i have other exciting news: on monday, june 1st matthew amster-burton, seattle food writer/creator of roots and grubs blog will be at university book store for his newest book hungry monkey!! i just finished hungry monkey and could not stop smiling or laughing. he is hilarious! and so is his cute little daughter, iris. so i am very excited to host them on monday. if you are around, please come to hear him. i know it will be really fun (two extra incentives: there may be food + he's friends with molly wizenberg!)

26 May 2009

sale rack

hello this week. did you have a good weekend? i did.

i almost forgot that i had to go back to work again. in fact, i almost forgot i had a full time job. now, that's a nice weekend. i don't have much time this morning to write, but i wanted to introduce my new inspired photo and this week's new camera theme. over there on the right is a wonderful, textured film shot by abby powell thompson from the infamous blog, abbytryagain. go check it out. abby's photogrpahy is one of the many reasons i wanted to explore old film cameras (lea bolvig's film explorations helped, too.) and when i saw a camera sale rack outside of jim's camera near my work, i picked up the nicest looking thing i found.



it turned out to be a yashica electro 35 G, of the 1970 vintage. it's that one on the top right.

i have to admit to you that i am still totally exploring and trying to figure this camera out, but it is so much fun!! i will be back with shots from this guy (disclaimer: they aren't all in focus) and some nice words about abby's shop (where you can even buy that photo over there on the right).
have a great start to your week!

24 May 2009


hope your weekend has been wonderful and long. i wanted to post this photo because i love love love it. these daisies were just calling to be photographed and i am so happy with the way it turned out. this is the last of my holga shots for a while and i will be back on tuesday for a new inspired photo and some photos from yet another new camera. i can't wait to share, there are so many inspiring things going on!

22 May 2009

second roll


second roll, lilac shots. this time i found that the focus on the holga's plastic lens does funny things. most of my pictures were really sharp on the outside and blurry in the middle. but check out that second lilac picture, the focus is on some random leaf. i wish i remembered what i had it set to. these are what my options look like. more to come and more on flickr.

i just remembered! a year ago today: i drove home in a new car and got offered a new job (the job i have now)! that day was a big day and really catapulted me into this new 'grown up' life i have. i was a few weeks away from college graduation and had been months into worrying about my next steps. the car signified growing up and moving on and the job secured what i would be doing for the next few years. i can't believe i've come a year from that exciting day. i feel so settled and comfortable in my job and my big girl life and i've also learned so much from it. i can't wait for the next steps.

21 May 2009




more holga-time.
i'm reading plastic cameras, by michelle bates. michelle is local to seattle! yay! (which means, maybe the book should come from here, to keep it all in one city.) but anyway, i like the book a lot! and you can visit michelle's site here.

my dad also gave me a bunch of his past issues of light leaks, a magazine about plastic cameras. very cool.

and, lastly, i got my holga from holga mods. it's a one man show with a funky website, but he does an amazing job fixing up holgas to make them a little more reliable (i.e. so the back doesn't fly open while your shooting). and apparently he is super respected in the professional world. also, my order came in about two days! now that's service! (for an online ordering system where i do't actually get to talk to a realy person, that is.)

just turned in roll numero deux and can't wait to get those back!
hope you enjoy...

19 May 2009

how it sees the world


i'm showing you the best first. this is my favorite of my first 12 holga shots. the vignetting came out perfectly and i'm really happy with the composition. i am especially happy with the content because now this same iris has matured much, having bloomed into a beautiful yellow, papery flower sunday morning.

if you didn't have time to visit the lomography site on holgas, i will give you a little more information on these cool plastic cameras. holgas came about in the 1980s in Hong Kong. they were intended to be a toy camera, with its plastic lens and plastic, lightweight body. there are about 6 options on the entire camera. you can choose cloudy or sunny; you can choose your focus distance, symbolized by flower, three people, many people and mountain; and you can choose to hold down the shutter as long as you want. holga's take 120 film, but if you want to use 35mm, you can add sponges to hold the film in place. i haven't yet gotten that far. with the 120 film you get a beautiful square shaped image that i'm really enjoying working with.

saturated colors, vignetting, easy double exposure (as done so well by tifanie), and the square image are token holga features. i love the way this thing sees the world! it is not the camera i would use for every setting, but when it is appropriate (so far, i have found it is appropriate with simple subjects), it really gives a different perspective on the world and on photography!

i have a few more shots to share with you throughout the week, but i'd like to hear what you have to say about plastic cameras. any users? any lovers? anyone not into them? why?

18 May 2009

holga time

hi! i just got back my first roll of 120 film from my new holga and to celebrate, i've decided this week to feature tifanie's beautiful holga work in my inspired photo section. tifanie has so many beautiful holga shots and many more beautiful lomo shots, that i had a hard time choosing which to feature. ultimately, i chose the photo on the right there because of her technique.

if you click her link it will take you to her fabulous and inspiring blog, noddyboom. from the link you can read about when she took this photo. you can also be inspired by her other posts. but if you go to the photo on her flickr she tells you how she took this photo. that's what really grabbed me. here's what she said "shot with a holga. twice. once right side up, once upside down. love that."

i love that, too. i am a beginner at these funky, plastic cameras and tifanie's relaxed and experimental approach is really motivating. i've already shot two images twice on the same piece of film! thanks for the inspiration, tifanie.

soon, i will show you the photos i took and talk a bit more about what holga is. to hold you over, though, this site gives you all the info you'd want to know.

i hope you go visit tifanie's blog or flickr and check out all of her gorgeous photos.

see you soon!!

15 May 2009

extremes



night time at my house has been really beautiful. i thought you'd like to see it.
it seems that the craziness in my life and job have been really up and down. it will be relaxed and slow for a bit, then really hectic and crazy for a bit. right now i'm in the hectic and crazy extreme. it's funny, though, because those crazy times is also when a lot of my creative ideas and energy comes out. maybe i can learn to hold onto those ideas until it is slow and then i can put them into action. hopefully.
it helps when i com home and the sky looks like it does in the shots above. that helps a lot.

12 May 2009

tulip fields


pictures from my tulip trip a while back.
these red and orange variety were my favorite because they look so unique.
they are called miranda tulips.
down below is my favorite photo. it was on a wall of wood seperating the port-a-potties
from the tulip display.

now, most of the tulips in my 'hood have lost their petals to the turning season. ours are in their peak because they live in mostly shade. we have red ones that bloomed and then, a week later, deep deep purple bloomed. i love those colors.

10 May 2009

the city and the farm

i hope you notice my 'inspired photo' over on the right there. it is by a talented lady named allison and it is a photo of her homemade fresh chevre with beautiful, amazing edible flowers on top. i really just haven't been able to get over what this picture means. look at all those pure white rounds of creamy and fresh goat cheese! and the flowers: the pinks, the purples, the blues! on top of that pure white...and all of it homegrown and edible! it is gorgeous!

okay, i will try to stop raving, but i might refer back to it...
go check out allison's whole photostream. she has lots of amazing photos from the farm she works on. i think it is salt springs in canada.


i am naturally drawn to farm scenes, homegrown food and edible bounty, but to tell you the truth, i'm a city girl through and through. it's true that i was born in the country, out on the rustic and majestic olympic peninsula of washington state. i've also tried living in a small(ish) town, surrounded by the forest and sea. but i tell you, i just can't be away from people. one of my favorite things to do on a friday night is to go to a popular restaurant just me and jon. it's like a small private date but we're surrounded by crowds. i love people watching and, even more, people listening. i also love the arts. (theaters are another reason why i can't leave the city).


i don't think my affinity for nature and produce photos are out of place. i think it's healthy to bring that reverence into the city. i mean, sure, i will never be an organic farmer. but i also have a little edible garden in my yard. and there i can pick my own lettuce instead of driving to the store to buy lettuce that has already driven miles to get to me. and if one day i live in a home with less yard space, i will invest in containers. i also participate in a CSA with boistfort valley farm, where once a week from june to december jon picks up a huge box of produce on his bicycle. so, even though i do live in a city where farmland does not abound, i like to think that i can still support organic and local farms. i also like to think that one day city folks (those who like to support restaurants, the arts, and pall that city stuff) can rely more and more on organic farms in closer vicinities and that hopefully we can also rely on our own skills in growing and preserving. anyway, this is supposed to be an explanation of why, even though i'm a city girl, i love allison's picture! now go check out her photostream...

09 May 2009

walking slowly

a walk through the neighborhood...
sometimes when i don't work until noon i take advantage of my morning. getting things done, taking walks, taking pictures. other times, i sleep and explore the internet. these pictures are from a particularly productive morning. i find that walking slowly and taking pictures really relaxes me and let's me concentrate more on seeing and less on thinking. it helps when the sun is out and the lilacs smell sweet and pungent.

tomorrow i'm going to take a nice mother's day walk and can't wait! and then on monday i have the day off so i hope to get some photos in order and give a little more love to my blog.

hope to see you soon.

03 May 2009

found art


since the weather has been nice, i've been doing a lot of walking around. it's amazing what you can find. x-rays of someone's foot, ivy consuming an apartment building in a beautiful, sprawling pattern and, sometimes, hopeful stencils.

i hope you've had a great weekend full of fresh air and surprising beauty.