New Orleans in 35mm

I went on a wonderful trip to New Orleans, Louisiana over my spring break for the national Society for Photographic Education conference. And, of course, I brought a few cameras with me, one of those being the camera I take with me everywhere, the Fuji Natura Classica.

So, here are some pictures from that wonderful 35mm film camera.

I started taking pictures in Nashville, and continued into Alabama, Mississippi, and of course, Louisiana. Getting down to New Orleans was quite the trip (because it literally was, y’know, a trip,) and I made sure to pull out my camera or my iPhone (do it for the snapchats!) whenever it was fitting.

I think some of the best places to take pictures are antique shops. We stopped at a few in Alabama (our butts were hurting from the driving, so we needed to walk it off and go on a treasure hunt in the process,) and man, you can find the coolest and weirdest stuff. I found a flashgun for my Polaroid Automatic 100 at one, so I’m looking forward to trying that out.

Actually, the southern United States are interesting in general. You should go if you’ve never been, and the rest stops are wayy nicer than they are in the north. They have security and everything, if you can imagine that.

Because rest stop areas are obviously the most important thing on any journey.

At least they are when you live in Michigan, and most of the rest areas look like a place where Freddy is hiding in the forest… Can’t really rest at those rest stops without sleeping with one eye open.

Well, that’s all for this installment of my trip to NOLA. Keep an eye out for some medium format prints, digital photos, and snapchats!

Happy Shooting!

January’s Photos, Year Two

Last January, I decided enough was enough and started to carry a camera with me wherever I went. It seems like that would be common sense, considering my passion for photography, but too many times I had missed a picture perfect opportunity because I didn’t have a camera with me. So, for the past year, I’ve been carrying my Fuji Natura Classica around, mostly searching for instances of beautiful light.

I’m going for round two, since I rather enjoyed this minor project. Some photographer somewhere said that photography teaches you how to see without a camera. Let’s go with that. So yeah. That’s what’s going on.

I’m not going to say anything about my life this past month and let my photos relay a story about how my life is more awesome than it actually is. Just piece them together. I’m really really cool– I mean, I have a lava lamp, that must mean I’m rad.

Happy Shooting!

December’s Photos

My project has finally come full circle. I successfully carried a camera around with me everywhere for the past year and filled up one roll of film a month since January, excluding when I was abroad (and was filling up many cameras with many rolls.)

The prognosis?

I’m doing this for another year.

December felt very long and very short all at the same time.

Shoot, 2014 felt very long and very short all at the same time.

So these are my December adventures. And yes, those are Pizza Rolls and pierogies, and that was my New Year’s feast, while watching the Ball drop in Time Square from my warm living room.

Happy Shooting!

November’s Photos (or, honestly, NYC Photos)

There’s only one month left of my carrying a camera everywhere/ one roll a month project, and the month of November was pretty rad. See for yourself:

I apologize for the dust marks and weird blue lines. I had to use my Kodak Easy Scan, since I am away from my flatbed. C’EST LA VIE, AS PER USUAL. Also, the scanner auto-cropped some of my images. Jerk.

I spent a weekend in Chicago and then half a week in NYC, and a majority of the roll was shot there. My friend, Patrick, lives and goes to school there, so he showed me around. We went to Central Park, some place where there was a good pizza place nearby, the new World Trade Center, some place where there the most delicious cheesecake ever was nearby, and yeah. I’m super specific, I know. Oh and we went shopping at Forever 21 at 1AM sorry not sorry.

There’s only a month left of my project, but not really. I’m going to keep doing this, as it keeps me looking for good opportunities and those moments when I think, “Oh! This would be a great photo!” I will actually have a camera to take said photo. What a concept.

My Fuji Natura Classica, I feel, was made for night time city photography, because those photos turned out so nicely and are my favorites. I’m already itching to go back to take some more (and maybe go to grad school I mean is that too much to ask?)

So, yeah. If you’re ever in NYC, I recommend Magnolia Bakery’s Red Velvet Cheesecake. I would move there for that alone.

Happy Shooting!

October’s Photos

October is the best month ever. It feels like Fall, the weather is perfect, the colors, the smell of fallen leaves, Halloween… Naturally, I was hoping my October roll of film would yield nice results.

And here we are:

My busy month started out in Chicago, which is where I went on a trip with the Art Department. Really, I was just coming to my friends that live there. I was by myself all morning, so I walked down to Lake Michigan and enjoyed the view.

Yes, that is paper hanging from my shower curtain rod. It needed to be shrunk.

I went to my first MSU Football game as a normal person and not as a person in the marching band. It was so surreal, and I felt like a proud parent.

I don’t know what that chair is all about.

And that’s John, the Vulture, Keeper of the White Pumpkin.

That was my month of October! I can’t believe there are only two more months left of 2014… I feel like I started this project yesterday, not ten months ago. Let’s see what November brings.

Happy Shooting!

From Monuments to Dumpsters (August’s Photos)

When I got home, I loaded my Fuji Natura Classica and started my “Carrying Around a Camera Everyday” project immediately. My suburban neighborhood was not as exciting as London or Ireland or Paris (or so I thought,) but hey, a photographer can’t snub picture opportunities.

So, here are my photographs for the actually-super-exciting-and-eventful month of August. Explanations and stories below.

When I was lamenting about how boring my life is in America, something big happened. I don’t know where you live, but if you heard anything about the flooding in the Metro Detroit area- that’s my life. That’s my neighbors. My neighborhood was one of the worst hit.

Our basement flooded- everyone’s basements flooded. We were lucky and didn’t lose much, but driving down the street and seeing all the ruined things sitting outside waiting for the garbage men to pick up… It was incredibly somber. The whole thing was heart breaking, but thankfully not many people were hurt or died. It could have been much, much worse.

So, I may not have been photographing monuments and cathedrals and World Heritage Sites, but I did photograph the antics of cleaning out our basement. And yes, those are my dresses hanging on the fence.

Other exciting things that happened:

• I came home from London, went to take a shower, and there were doll clothes in the tub. Thanks, mom.
• At our old house, we would hang clothes to dry on the shower curtain in the bathroom. Apparently basement ceilings pipes work just as well.
• That doll appears again. Don’t mind the horse or the shopping cart- they’re part of the family.
• I went to the Renaissance Festival and to a concert.
• My mom is cool with cutting her hair with blunt scissors.

So, yeah. I may not be abroad, but life is still interesting. Next time I’ll think twice before complaining about my life being boring- this time it was a flood, next time might be the east coast collapsing into the ocean or something equally as devastating.

On that pleasant note- Happy Shooting!

An Attempt at Dreams

These next four months are going to be dreamy. Daydreams, dreams dreams, dreamy, follow your dreams, and even nightmares. You get it.

I’m going to be working on capturing images that follow this theme. For my first assignment, the goal was to take photos that correspond with the theme we had in mind, to start working it out and try to get our ideas out there. So, I tried. I tried really, really hard. Like, obsessed over a week and couldn’t stop writing in my notebook and couldn’t eat and couldn’t fall asleep kind of obsessed. Many questions plagued me: how can I break my usual aesthetic of whimsy to get dreamy? Is there a difference? Do I want to do dreamy, or are my ideas actually surrealist? When we are awake, are we asleep in the dream world? What is our purpose? Is there really a black hole at the beginning of the universe?

I tried a few different techniques, filters, and even a lens attachment to get some of these. Seeing them all together is pretty cool, but also makes me realize I have a lot of work ahead of me this semester if I want a successful series.

Okay, that doll. I know I should address it because it is most likely freaking a lot of you out, but- nah. I’m just gonna not say anything and let you decide why such a thing is welcomed in my house.

Oh, and I’m also glad my pro-fort-making-skills haven’t tarnished at all since my fort-buildin’ days.

Here are some bonuses:

My poor friend in the pool there is not a fan of swimming, and I guess what we were technically doing was water-boarding? So, I accidentally used torture as a means to get a good photo. I’ve done it all, folks.

Here’s to more questionable photographs in the future!

Happy Shooting!

Musings of a Weary Traveller

I took a Fuji Instax Wide camera with me to London with two projects in mind: the project with the photos within photos (which I’m still editing- I seriously have like 20 left,) and the one I’m about to show you.

I found this travel photo diary at a thrift store, and the gears clicked into place. Before this discovery, I was anticipating just using the instant photos for the above mentioned project and then put them in a box somewhere. But, the album inspired this series instead.

I was initially going to say that the dialogue comes from an anonymous character I made up, but really I just sat around, brooding over something deep to say. Some of these things I thought while I was experiencing the scene. Others, I just tried to remember what it was like and what kinds of thoughts could be spurred from it. Each image and phrase across from it is connected- in some, the parallel is apparent, while in others… not so much.

I still have a ridiculous amount handful of photos to edit from the trip, and I still have to mail some film off, so I’m not done yet! The semester has officially started, I have my first photography project, and I’m in the process of applying for grad schools and jobs. Here’s to a good rest of the year! It’s bound to be productive.

and, of course, Happy Shooting.

Nostalgia in Print Form

More film has been developed, like a roll from the middle of the trip I never got around to dropping off. Oops. So, if I weren’t nostalgic already, I sure am now.

So, basically, a lot of these are from the morning my classmates and I went to Hampstead to visit John Keats’ old house. Then when we went to the Wallace Collection. And a lovely morning in Green Park followed by the Glastonbury Abbey and a pretty little thingy in a garden in Hyde Park.

These were all shot on my Fuji Natura Classica using the 1600ISO Natura film. Holla. Best point and shoot film camera ever.

Happy Shooting!

Seeing in England

The results are in and scanned! This roll of Fuji Natura Film was super successful, and over half of the photos I took I liked- there are only 10 out of 36 that didn’t make the cut.

This roll included my trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, Hillsong Church, Harrod’s, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, The Globe, and the St. Paul’s area.

Story time: I’ve been getting my 35mm film developed at Snappy Snaps. Now, whenever I go in, it’s hit or miss on what photo specialist I get: either the friendly one that gives me a student discount, or the rough looking one that doesn’t. This time I got the rough one.

When I came to pick up my photos, the photograph of my two friends looking at purses was on the top of the stack, which Mr. Rough saw. He made a face, rolled his eyes and said, “Nice handbags.” I said thanks.

This guy is scary. Like, he looks like a mob boss. Maybe he is the head of a drug cartel or something and photography is a hobby or something. I can see it now: photo specialist by day, crime lord by night.

But anyway.

I read a wonderful quote earlier today that I would like to share with you all. It’s from the wonderful Dorothea Lange, and is as follows:

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

It was extraordinary that this quote cropped up today, because earlier I was thinking about how I no matter where I look, I see potential for a photograph. My eyes have been trained to see compositions everywhere; I am able to anticipate people’s movements, I know the right time to press the shutter. Because of photography, I see so much more than I did before. It’s a gift and, sometimes, a curse. It’s a curse sometimes when I’m too absorbed in photographing the moment, I myself do not get to experience it fully. It’s tricky business, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

So that was a rant that didn’t really have anything to do with London, so here, I’ll make it up to you: Tea and Crumpets.

Happy shooting!