Ten Lords a Leapin'

     On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me....Ten lords a leapin' ...plus a bunch of other stuff. 

Eiffel's Pony

I have finally had some time to get in the darkroom and print.  I shot this image this spring in Paris.  This carousel is right next to the Eiffel Tower.  This print didn't scan too well.  The whites are not so blown out in the print.

On the Playground

   Just having some fun out shooting the other day.  I did a whole mini-series of shadow self portraits on the playground for a class I'm taking.  This was one of my favorites.  I'll probably post more of them in the next week or so.

The Pumpkin Patch

   I went to a bike race this weekend that was held at a pumpkin patch.  I kept hoping that someone would walk up to this and put their face in it for a photo from behind but it was raining really hard.  It was raining so hard that my Holga was soaking wet (glad it was plastic) and all the tape I use on it came right off.

Show at Newspace Photography Center

  I had an image accepted into the Second Annual Member's Show at Newspace Photography Center in Portland, Oregon.  My husband and I went down for the gallery opening.  This was the first time I have entered one of my toy camera images in an open show.  There was only one other image that was shot using a toy camera.  It was a pano shot done with a Holga and printed platinum.  The show had a huge variety of images and there were a ton of people at the opening. 

Trailer at Kruger's Farm

  More photos from my wanderings.  I finally got the light leaks figured out on this original Diana.  The culprit was the red window.  I'm still trying to get the viewfinder dialed in.  I have a tendency to shoot too close and crop tight which works well with my Holga since the final image includes way more than the viewfinder shows.  The viewfinder on this Diana seems to crop close already so I find that I am excluding more than I want.

I thought the framing worked well on the rooster shot but was a little closer than I wanted on the trailer shot. 

I'm a Dork!!!

   I'm a total DORK!!!  In my last post, I posted a photo that I thought had been accepted into the show, "Toyed With" at the Open Shutter Gallery.  I was looking at their website when I noticed that not only had I posted the incorrect photo on my blog, I also mailed them the wrong image.  Good thing I had a standard frame and mat ready to go.  I also had to pay priority shipping rates to get the correct image there in time!

    I've posted one of the images that did get accepted.  The title is almost exactly the same as the image that didn't get accepted.  The image is titled..."Shadow Self Portrait at a Bike Race."  The self shadow is in the upper right corner and looks like it is a fence post.

The Open Shutter Gallery

I was honored to have five images accepted into The Open Shutter Gallery's show entitiled "Toyed With."  I shot this image using my Brownie Hawkeye with a flipped lens.

Sunburn!!!

I was surprised by how this lightleak intensified the red of my son's face.  It looks like he has a really bad sunburn.  I've never much liked lightleaks as they always seem to ruin the shot for me.  I think this lightleak ads some interest.  I can't figure out where this leak is coming from as I've got everything taped up.  Shot on an original Diana using Kodak Portra VC 160 film.

Spring Trees

    I shot these images last spring.  It was on one of those rolls of film that I forgot to bring into the lab.  I have mixed emotions about posting it.  These images were not of the kind that you can't wait to get back from the lab. I wasn't expectant.  And maybe I don't always need to be expectant.  It seems like I often get caught up in my mind telling me that "every image has to be a winner!" 
    And this starts me thinking about the role of showing and sharing my work.  A large part of me is dying for acceptance and it seems like there are many times when I am courting approval of my images.  I really want people to say "wow!" or "nice job" or whatever.  I really want to have my images accepted into shows.  And the scary thing here is that in courting approval I am putting a large amount of power in the hands of an audience.

     I need to realize that right now my images are not about the subject matter.  My images are not being made with showing in mind or receiving accolades.  Right now my images are about a journey I'm on.  My images are about process.  The process is about being in the present moment and noticing what I am noticing and then photographing what I am noticing.  It is a simple journey that really at this point has no place for an audience.  I think that may be a different journey altogether.

Pegasus 1

   This is from the first roll shot with my Diana.  I had some problems with getting the film wound on the spool tight enough.  This roll came out fat but the light leaks were not as bad as I anticipated.  I didn't realize that the image area on the negative was smaller than on a Holga so the light leaks didn't invade as much negative area as I thought it would.  I also only shot 12 images not realizing I could get 16 images on a roll.  I am happy with the exposure, etc.  I used Kodak Portra VC 160.

Giant Chicken

   I finally got out to photograph again.  I went on a short road trip with my family through Central Washington and had fun taking pictures.  It was nice to pick up my camera again.
  

Sunset at PIR

Summer racing has started at Portland International Raceway.  I'm looking forward to continuing my series on cycling using toy/plastic cameras.  I'm really not sure why I'm choosing toy cameras for a project that is clearly suited for digital with telephotos.  I guess I enjoy the challenge of working with less.

Curious Camera Pinhole and Plastic Show

I just found out today that one of my images received an Honorable Mention in this show!

http://www.curiouscamera.org/events.html

Gumby and Pokey

I shot these two images of my horse Belle.  She is really sweet and I feel like these two images for some reason capture that.  I bought her as a rescue horse one year ago today.  

I thought this self portrait with my horse looked a little like Gumby and Pokey.

Stone Angel

This was shot using a Lens Baby on my Nikon FE using Kodak 100 speed film.  I love the lightness of it and am considering printing it onto rice paper.  I thought printing it on something other than regular paper to accentuate the wispiness of the image.  My impression of angels is lightness and wispyness.

Lady Liberty

I saw this woman wearing this foam Statue of Liberty crown on the ferry from Ellis Island.  I loved the visual irorny!

Crab-Zilla in Color!

I participated in the Traveling Toy Camera Project two weeks ago and I got my film back yesterday.  I normally don't shoot color and rarely photograph scenic shots but for some reason I felt compelled to do both for this project.  I found myself at the end of the roll faced with this giant crab atop a building in downtown Portland, Oregon.  I'm so glad I had color for this one.  It works way better than the B/W shot I did with my Holga.  It was a fun project and I'm glad I participated.

Susan Burnstine Gallery Talk

   Last Saturday I had the awesome opportunity to hear one of my favorite photographers, Susan Burnstine, talk about her work.  I have found her work very inspiring and after hearing her talk I find it even more so.  She spoke about being on a personal journey and how expressing her dreams (the kind you have at night)through photography has been transformational for her.   She has taken the very personal material of dreams and brought them to life in such a way that you can feel her pain, or joy, or sorrow.  I found her to be very genuine and felt like she expressed herself well.

    I had prepared a few questions to ask her but she answered them right away in her talk.  I was curious as to which was her first image in the series and how the series evoloved.  I loved how honest she was about the diffculties in creating authentic photographs of an intimate subject.  Someone had asked her how often she was successful when going out to shoot images.  Her reply was that she shot so much film that she could have bought a house with all the money she spent on film!  I loved that as sometimes I shot roll after roll with no "winners."  I think sometimes I am under the illusion that creating should be easy or that it comes naturally to some and not to me.

   I wish I had taken notes of her talk.  As she was talking I kept saying to myself..."I hope I remember what she said."  And of course now I have forgotten most of what she talked about.  Either way I enjoyed hearing her talk.  I did take some photos of my own on the way down to Portland.  I had the Traveling Toy Camera with me and I was able to spend some time shooting.  I hope my photo of "Crab-zilla" turns out.

Bird Watching in Times Square

     My husband and I were in New York City last week for two very fast days of sightseeing.  I only shot three rolls.  This is from the only roll I have processed so far.  I took two shots of this scene.  I was waiting for the giant M's eyes to be looking at the pigeon.   I enjoy visual irony and felt lucky to have this bird land when he did.  I was standing in the middle of the street trying to get a good angle so I also feel lucky I didn't get hit by a taxi.  But hey, when you see a good shot sometimes you just do what you need to do...right?

Krappy Kamera 2010 Opening

Me standing in front of my photo at the Krappy Kamera 2010 Gallery Opening.

     Karl and I had a wonderful time in New York and the gallery opening was the highlight.  I met many wonderful photographers from the toy camera community.  I especially enjoyed seeing the Gallery des Refuses (I think thats how you spell it?)  It is not often that you get to see what the juror rejected.  It was a great time and I was very excited to be a part of the actual opening.  This was the first time I've had my work accepted in a show that had an opening.  I felt like Cinderella going to the ball!  It was very cool!

Krappy Kamera

This is the image that I had accepted in the Krappy Kamera show at the Soho Photo gallery in New York.  The gallery opening is scheduled for March 2nd from 6-8pm. I am actually going to the opening (my husband let me use his frequent flyer miles.)  So not only is this my first time going to a gallery opening where I have an image included, it will also be my first time traveling to New York City.  I'm very excited!

Cross Castle/Shadow Self Portrait

I shot this image using my Holga.  I love how the bleachers looked like a castle from my angle.  I also shot one with my arms spread out but I liked this one better.  My shadow looks like a vulture hunched over.  I also liked the course marking tape right through the middle!

Plastigirls

     This was an image that I shot during my class with Michelle Bates entitiled "Toying with Creativity."  The class shares the same name as her book on Toy Camera photography.   I have really gotten into photography using toy cameras.  I had seen the class offered at Newspace Photo Center in Portland, Oregon while I was looking for a traditional wet darkroom to rent.  I have been having fun using my Holga ever since.  I have also added other cheap and sometimes plastic cameras to my collection.  Prior to discovering the plastic/toy camera craze online, I would often buy and modify other old cameras to make them useable.  Imagine my delight to find a whole community of people who enjoyed this strange obsession.
   I hope to post more images in the near future.  Currently I need to have an actual print to scan as I do not own a negative scanner.  I am signed up to take a class at Newspace at the end of Feburary on scanning and hopefully I will learn how to do negatives as well.