Round and round we go...

I have been a gosh darn awful blogger these past weeks. Sadly, I haven't even had time to think about this space. That makes me sad, because is one of the spaces that I really enjoy. I like being able to unwind my day with writing about something and posting a photo.

Instead, now we all go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. This is where perpetual sleepiness comes in. I have been trying to get up earlier every morning to get things done for the day. So far, no good. Then again, that is what weekends are for, right? To finish all the things you didn't have time to do during the week.

Well, yes and no. Yes, I always seem to do all the chores and catch up 'on life' during the weekend. And, I hate it. I would prefer for the weekends to be chore free. I'd much rather have my free time on the weekend be spent on the things I actually want to do. This does not include washing floors, cleaning dishes, vacuuming, dusting....etc. We live in a small apartment and I feel like I am always in need to tidy up the nursery.

I am done complaining..... for now.

As we approach our day of thanks, I want to take a moment to reflect on all the things I am grateful for.

#1 Family & Friends. Couldn't have asked for a better, even if they are oceans away...

#2 Art. It has a way of expressing everything you want to express without words. This is, of course, very true of photography.

#3 Baking. I've said it once, I'll say it again. It is therapeutic. And, delicious.

#4 Beer. A strange thing to be thankful for, but it is something that brings out our creativity. Naturally, I like to drink it. However, I almost prefer to think about all the crazy batches and recipes we can conger up.

And that is my weekly round-up. Tonight I feel like this photo -- around and around I go....

Mums the word.

Mum isn't the word, just the flowers in this picture.

I don't have any secrets. Well, I take that back; I have plenty of secrets. None of which are exciting enough to keep you at the edge of your seat while you continue to read. sorry.

I actually try to not have too many secrets. I am really good at keeping them, but I cannot say I have a whole lot of my own. I will openly admit, I do not always make the bed in the morning. I definitely do not always (gasp) do the dishes every night. And, I sneak sweets like none other.

Yeah, as I said before - not that exciting.

What is exciting though, is that we got a new camera. The photo above is the first one we'll putting out on the internets. It was taken with a Gakkenflex that we got from Maker SHED. It look pm a good hour to put together and it will certainly take us longer to decorate it so that it truly is ours.

The style reminds me of my all-time favorite -- the Holga. You will certainly see more to come from this fine piece of technology. ;)

Swing.

A swing is a swing, right? Whether it's a swing and a miss or an ace in the hole, it's still a swing.

Taking a swing means you at least step up to the plate.

I've never been much of a golfer. Always wanted to learn and always got frustrated by how slow my results were. Golfing for me was always a swing and a miss. Eventually I am able to connect, but I think all the years I spent playing baseball really messed up my form (or in this case: severe lack of form). Plus once I do connect, I always feel like I could have picked the ball up and thrown it further. *sigh

Maybe it's a past time I will pick up again sometime soon. Now if only I had time to take lessons and winter wasn't as it seems days upon us.

Here's to at least taking a swing. Cheers!

needed: more sunshine

The weekend was the perfect double dose of sunshine ... just like this double-exposure holga I took back in July.

There are a few things I always have to come to term with around this time of year.

1. It is going to start getting colder.

2. Green is going to be harder to come by in the great outdoors.

3. There is going to be less light during the day.

I haven't come up with plans to remedy all of the above, but I can at least start prepping myself for the month that lie ahead. Here's my plan thus far:

Remedy #1:

Put away summer clothes and bring out the hats, mittens and down coats. Look for bargains on sweaters and other winter gear. Until then, pm has a wonderful collection of over-sized sweatshirts. This is the best remedy of all, both for the pocket book and comfort.

Remedy #2:

Buy plants on sale and keep them alive and thriving during the winter months. We just bought a new jade plant. I am so incredibly excited by this, partly because we lost 3 jade plants just a month or two ago. I am determined to keep this new plant alive. I will not over water you, little jade; I will not over water you, little jade.

Remedy #3:

Get as many rays as you can now before it's too late. We're making a point to go for a walk right when we get home from work before it turns dark. We may also be investing in a winter "happy lamp" this year. We'll see just how glum it turns out to be this winter, before I commit.

What are your pre-winter remedies?

Black & White

...The road is long

the memory slides

to the whole of my undoing

put aside

I put away

I push it back to get through each day

and all I feel is black and white

and I'm wound up small and tight

and I don't know who I am ...

~Sarah McLachlan, Black & White

It's a black & white kind of day. Not sure why, but it is.

We took this photo this summer on a camping trip. You can hardly tell from the photo what time of year it is. Maybe that's one reason why I like black and white photos so much -- there is a real timeless quality to them. One that you don't always get with color.

Looking down.

Forehead pressed against hot vinyl.

Sun blazing its summer heat.

Cool views from down below.

We just wanted to be swimming with the fishes.

Instead we watch, we watch, we watch.

Michigan Avenue

In our last post we talked about being inspired by "The Loop." The above photo directly illustrates exactly why downtown Chicago is inspirational and down right awesome.

This is the kind of Holga photo I would take; my style must be rubbing off on pm. Ever since I discovered that you can take multiple exposures on the same frame, I have a hard time not doing so. Part of this lies in the fact that:

• Film isn't cheap and I want to maximize its use
• It's fun to think about how you position and prepare each individual image while ultimately focusing on the end result
• It's always a mystery of what you're going to get
• Not many people shoot double exposures, so it makes my work different

I suppose I'll let pm take all the credit for this one.

Can you imagine this being your daily view from the office? Having a corner office overlooking all the constant madness and swarms of peeps below. Oh wait... this is his view. He's a lucky son-of-a-gun. I can't say I've ever had a view this good, but then again how many of us do? We're definitely get an enlargement made of this one. Maybe some prints of this will make it to our Etsy site too. (We'll let you know when that happens :))

mishmash

Mishmash: A confused collection or mixture; hotchpotch

Double exposures are kind of my thing. Ever since I first laid hands on the Holga, I was absolutely enchanted with the possibility of exposing two images on the same negative. If I had to stick to one "body of work", well, double exposures would be it. Couple that with expired film and I've got myself a unique niche - don't you think?

I really like how this particular photo turned out. On first blush it's hard to tell what it is and where it's from. Once to look closer and turn the image around from side to side it gets easier. (I promise!). Personally what I like best about this photo is that I do not remember turning the camera the other way for the second overlapping image. I *really like this effect though.

I am anxious to take the holga out again this summer during one of our (while still unplanned) camping trips. The holga is one of the most utilitarian cameras we own. It can withstand water, steam, overheating, spills, drops... you name it... and it still works wonders. I really want to go to the Sleepy Bear Dunes in Michigan. A place that was always on our "to-do" list when we lived there and just never got done. Can anyone else relate to the "to-do" list items that never happen. I am going to strive to start making them happen. Proud to say this blog is one of them, and I think we are doing pretty gosh darn well so far this year.

Anyway, I feel as though I need to apologize for the past week of posts. My mind, like the title of this post, has been mishmash lately. This photo seems to say better than words. I find my searching for answers when not all the pieces and details are yet in place.

On a side "Beer" note: We tried the Sam Adams new IPA - Latitute 48 - this weekend and it was good. I am anxious to brew again, but just haven't had the energy to bottle up our white tea ale. It will happen this week, because that is going to be a fabulous summer beer to drink around the campfire.

Union Station Crossprocessed

We've got quite a bit of film developed in the last week (some of which was sitting on our fridge for too long). We actually got some really cool stuff we'll be posting as soon as we scan the negatives. The following ones are from a roll of pictures taken about 1 year ago.



I took these pictures during one of my many visits to Chicago , when I was still living in Ann Arbor and Megabus was my preferred (and most affordable) way of getting to interviews and networking events in the Windy City. I remember it was a really hot day and when I got out of my interview I was literally melting inside of my suit.



Also I remember the lady in the black coat with the scarf around her head. I felt bad for her, but it is unfortunate I didn't got a closer shot because I think it could have been a very interesting picture. She looked like she was about to explode; she had way too much make up on and she was also sweating bullets, so all the make up was melting down in her face. Also, her extremities and especially her ankles were very swollen and her neck was nonexistent.



These pictures are taken with one of our favorites cameras, the Holga, and expired Kodak E100 slide film crossprocessed in C-41 chemicals. Kodak E100 is my favorite slide film and I really like crossproccessing it, as I find that the pictures come out very saturated and contrasted, and with a really strong vignetting. The fisheyes are also taken with the Holga plus a cheap fisheye adapter.

reach for it.

Thought I'd shine light on another "old" photograph from our Flickr stream. (It's funny as I write "shine light on" the afternoon sunshine is streaming through the blinds and shining plenty of light on me.)

I love watching everything come into bloom during spring. It all seems to grow so quickly, making it hard to believe that only a few short weeks ago there was more brown than green on the ground. I was amazed just how green everything was over the weekend. Too bad we didn't have a camera on hand to capture all the rich colors. The overcast skies sure helped illuminate all the blooms and buds. Can't wait for some of our indoor plants to catch up!

On a side note: We just got about 8 rolls developed from two of our favorite cameras: Holga & Kiev. This means we'll have plenty of new photos to post both to the blog and to Flickr in the coming weeks. Other than that, it's just another manic Monday. One soon to be filled with paella and red wine. mmm!

We are back on Etsy...

... and hopefully won't make it to regretsy ;)

We just relisted some older magnetic goodies and are proud (and very excited!) to announce our newest listing to our shop: Metallic Holga 5x5 Prints. Not to toot our own horns, but we've got to say these prints turned out absolutely amazing, and the photos of the photos do not do it justice.

We also had some larger prints made. (Sorry ya'll - they are for us, not for sale. :)). We'll be sure to post some pictures of these too, once we have them up on our walls.

If you are interested in any of these prints, please leave a comment. This way we can apply the necessary discount for our fans. :o)

Dream of Horses

If I had to dedicate myself to a creative form, it would without a doubt be double exposures.

I love how no two are the same. You can take the most photographed landmark in a city and make it different by overlaying another image on top of it. Double exposures are original, and very infrequently turn out just how you had in mind when you took both photos.

This particular double exposure did not just happen. I had been waiting in the plaza by the cathedral (yes, still in Spain!) for some time. I kept watching the horses and carriages come and go, come and go. It was a constant movement.

The horses were able to rest between rides, but a humid summer afternoon heat certainly is not the best condition for a restful rest. I started to wonder: Do these horses know how much better their life could be? Are they treated well, feed well, kept well? How do they endure day after day with the same routes, same tourists, same heat?

I took this particular photo thinking about how the horse and the wheel of the carriage essentially have the same job. Without one another the job could not be complete. If one is broken the workload becomes harder. Is this fair and right when one component is living and one isn't?

I think that photography should be more than just a click of a button. It should be beautiful at times, ugly during others. But, for me, more importantly - I think it needs to bring new meaning and thoughts to things we see in our daily lives.

Photography should make you think beyond the image.

Holga is back

We have about 10 Holga rolls from Spain to scan and more important, some time to do it, so expect some blurry pictures from the old world coming soon :)

Photo Slide Magnets

The world is going digital and these photo slide magnets are a perfect keepsake magnet for all you film lovers out there.

Each magnet contains an original photograph (Photos mostly from medium format cameras -holga & seagull;and 35mm film cameras - Olympus OM1 & Argus c3). Magnet is made with a 2" x 2" glass slide and metal binder.

Photo slides aren't readily available any more, so when these magnets sell out - they sell out. Get yours before they're gone!