If You Give a Girl a Camera

She will want another. And another. And...
Last December, I had no cameras at all. None.
 Zero.

 Cameras.
By the end of this week, I will own four. Five if we include my daughter's Fisheye2, which we should, because I plan to borrow the crap out of it.
Five Cameras- that's crazy. I shall enumerate. And illustrate.

Black and White: Recent Minolta Action

Time's a wastin', hug your cat

According to the fine folks at Mental Floss, today, the third of May, is Hug Your Cat Day. So you better go and, well, hug your cat. Kiss your kitty. Frisk that feline.
These are NOT euphemisms.
I hugged my cat.

He wasn't all that appreciative, to be honest. Perhaps because I snatched him up whilst he was, how can I put this delicately? Raping a blanket? I guess I should have waited but he's kind of unstoppable when he's in the mood.


Photograph of Tyrelle by Luna_Lovett, taken with a Holga120cfn modified for 35mm film.

Promise to get around to a proper Holga introduction just as soon as I'm good and ready.

The Fam, Part Two, The Shunned- Great Wall PF-1

I know I had said that in the second edition of my highly unpopular posts in which I introduce you to my family of cameras would feature the Holga, but I felt compelled to share with you the disappointment and frustrations that can sometimes happen when a new addition to your photographic family simply doesn't work out. Because it's crap.

Enter the Great Wall PF-1 35mm Hipstermatic SLR

Photography Post 4-19-12: Two Cameras, One Tree

I'm a very fortunate girl in that a) I love trees and b) am pretty much surrounded by them.
I also think they happen to make pretty awesome subjects for photography, especially in the learning stages. So as you may have noticed, I take a lot of pictures of trees.
Recently I took a shot of the same tree with two different cameras.

Photography Post of the Day, 4-17-2012

I need film!!!


Like, seriously.

After we started using the Minolta regularly, and as the Holgas came into the picture, I had really stocked up on various speeds of color and black and white film. I like to have 100, 400, and 800 on hand for color, 100 and 400 for black and white. I think we've shot like twenty, twenty five rolls in the last month and now we're down to:

Fun with Lomo Walls

One of my favorite things about the Lomography site is the Lomo Wall. They give you this blank grid upon which you can block out spaces of varying sizes into which you can insert all or part of any of your pictures. You can  show snippets of the same image in interesting ways, or you can make a collage with parts of multiple pictures. It's cool because pictures that on their own aren't that remarkable can turn into beautifully essential parts of a whole other image.

I've made like six of them so far. They're all pretty different from one another. I love the way you can play with colors, contrasts, and themes.

I started my most recent one like two hours ago. I already had it composed in my mind, so I thought it'd be a quick little project. But once I got in there and started moving things around, it turned into an entirely different piece.

You should check it out.

I got to utilize this horribly executed shot of some trees from back in February. I do so hate power lines.

If you're into photography, you might like it there. There are so many cool photographs to look at it's almost overwhelming. It can be a bit intimidating, too, for a novice like myself. I like it, though.

If you do make your way there and decide to settle in, be warned, though:

Lomo Walls are addictive.

Seriously.

Does a Bear Pee in the Mall?

It sure looks like it.

Very, very early Minolta action. That's probably like one or two hundred speed film indoors with icky mall lighting and no flash. We'd never been to that mall before. It has a Cabela's, which if you don't know is apparently the retail mecca of outdoorsmanship. I found the whole animal set up so amusing and ironic. I wanted to make a big show of pretending I thought they were real and trying to pet them. I restrained myself, though, out of love for my daughter who was embarrassed enough that I was taking pictures of them.
"You look like a tourist!"
I'd dropped my cup of lemonade like five minutes after purchasing it, too.
"A clumsy tourist, at that!"
Ah, but sweet vindication was mine when the film was developed and we both realized at the same time that it totally looks like the bear is taking a leak.
Good times
Ain't we lucky we got 'em?

The Fam, Part One: Meet My Minolta

So if you are familiar with me and my previous blogging efforts, you may have noticed that things seem a little different around here. You probably had no idea I was interested in photography. Neither did I! It was only recently that I learned that to be a proper hipster I had to have cheap plastic camera, film of course, with a funky name like LaSardina or Diana. Film is like, a thing now, you see. It's back and there's this whole Lomography movement which is all about lo-fi analogue photography with a focus on unique images created with surprisingly expensive cheap plastic cameras. I was quite taken by both the pictures I was seeing and the cameras themselves. The looked so cool. So funky. So retro. So me.

 I was particularly smitten with The Diana.
Isn't she cute? I just had to have one. I didn't care that they took a type of film I'd not heard of before and which would be extremely difficult to have processed. I wanted that camera, and someone was going to get me one for Christmas, I just knew it. Except they didn't. I rather suspect that people weren't taking my sudden interest in photography seriously, definitely not seriously enough to fork out a hundred bucks for a plastic camera that took film, of all things. I understand. It's true I am given to whims.

 I did receive a camera, though. A wonderful person gave me an awesome camera, although I didn't find it at all awesome at the time. It was used. Old. I wanted a new camera that looked old. And even though it was old, it was incredibly intimidating with its many buttons and modes and settings. There was no user manual. I tried to hide my disappointment, and was pretty successful, I think. But I was not pleased at all with my Minolta Maxxum7000. Not. At. All. In fact I barely touched the thing for the first month that I had it, a month that I spent coveting and researching other cameras.

 I had decided I didn't want a Diana after all. Now my heart was set upon a Holga.

 All the research I was doing did make me want to take some pictures, though, even if it was that clunky old Minolta. I quickly burned through the two rolls of color film I had received along with the camera just trying to figure out how the hell it worked. There were constant misfires resulting in many photographs of corners and ceilings.

 I found a downloadable manual online, and eventually I started getting a feel for it, as well as an appreciation for my camera's excellent reputation. Turns out it was rather revolutionary in the day, and many professional photographers sing its praises still.

 Finally I felt ready to try the expensive roll of black&white film I had purchased and was saving so as not to waste it on still more close up ceiling shots. Did you know that there are different types of black&white film? I didn't. But there are. You see there's black&white color negative film, or cn41, which can be processed with the same chemicals as color film. The advantage of this type of film is that you can have it developed pretty much anywhere. And then there's true black&white film, which cannot be processed just anywhere, but has the definite advantage of looking much better. If you're really industrious, you can pretty easily do your own developing, too. Anyway, I had unknowingly purchased the latter, and I did not want to fritter it away on practice shots and misfires.

 One of the things I like about film is the delayed gratification. Digital cameras let you see your pixelized pics right away. With film you have to shoot the whole roll before having to wait at least the hour it will take to have them developed at a drug store or something. Or, in the case of true black&white, you could be waiting a week or more. I waited ten days for that first real roll. I started to lose my appreciation for the whole delayed gratification thing.

But when I finally got had my prints in hand, it was so worth it. Sure there were some duds. Quite a few, in fact. But there were a couple with which I actually felt quite pleased:

I like taking pictures of lamps for some reason:

And so does my daughter, whom I have been trying to involve in my new hobby. She actually quite likes it, and I think she definitely has potential. In addition to the following photograph, she had a seriously snazzy self portrait on this roll.

And that's the story of how I met and fell in love with my Minolta. We've run numerous rolls of various speeds, types and brands through it. I didn't think I'd like shooting with color that much, but I kind of do.

I've acquired lots of cool filters that are fun to play with. Red filters are typically used to enhance contrast in black and white photography, but can have some cool effects when used with color films:

I really like this clear centered blurring filter:

Warming filters are nice to use for indoor portraits. I used Gimp photo editing software to trick this one out a bit.

Needless to say, I love this camera. There will be others, there already are, but I know I will have a long and fruitful relationship with My Minolta.
I hope you've enjoyed this installment of The Fam. Be sure to check back soon for part two, Here's Holga.

The Best Stuff Ever (this week), Saturday, April 14, 2012

Ah, the Internet. The. World. Wide. Web.
I have many debates with myself and others about this magical portal to absolutely everything/sick, soul sucking vortex. Yes, it expands our world and our ability to connect, but does it also limit our ability to connect with the real and immediate worlds we inhabit offline?

I'm conflicted. I don't really like the way interpersonal communications have changed. I think the bonds that people under twenty five are forming are much less substantial and cohesive than in the past. I think they think differently, and less critically.

 I'm also troubled by Internet pornography. I think it's completely rewiring the sexuality and bonding abilities of younger generations who are exposed to porn at ever younger ages. The average age of first exposure for boys is eleven. They have pretty much unfettered access to depictions of virtually any act imaginable. Meanwhile, middle school girls report that their suitors expect tit shots on demand. Many girls now show a boy their breasts before they even kiss. Or really talk, even.

Is that not crazy?

But

as much as certain aspects of technology and the Internet sometimes trouble me, I do enjoy and regularly partake of the good: The instant access to practically any song I might feel like hearing or any film I'd like to watch. The availability of a global perspective of world affairs from foreign news and journalism sites, such as The Daily Mail. LOL Cats...Online shopping...The random funny videos you stumble across. There is a lot to love.

So here, in what may become a regular feature, I shall share with you some of the things I most loved from the Internet this week.

First, the requisite funny cat video:

Henri is one foxy feline philosopher, non?
Speaking of foxy, here's the first of my favorite photographs by others this week.

via the toy camera blog
Ohmymotherf'inggod, right? That has to be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. Seriously.
The other image that caught my eye this week is a bit more colorful

via Lomography
It just looks like spring, doesn't it? It makes me want to skip.
The very best thing, though, that I found on the Internet this week is this video. Oh, the laughs I've had during the many, many times I've watched it this week. Each viewing something different strikes me as particularly hilarious. I honestly don't think it will ever get old.
Oh Wizard girl. I do hope that any embarrassment you suffered when your trusted caretaker took video footage of you at your most endearingly vulnerable state of intoxication, and then shared it with the world is soothed at least somewhat by the knowledge that you have given the gift of laughter to millions and millions of people. You ARE a wizard. I will stand side by side with you, armed with my invisible light saber, and we will get back. Revenge will be ours. After a snack, of course.
. . . So there you have it, the first installment of The Best Stuff Ever(this week), a potentially recurring feature of the revived and revitalized Mincemeat Manifesto.