Week 10 - Seagull 4B-1 TLR (CotW)

If you follow my blog, you may remember my Technical Difficulties with my beloved Seagull TLR. Well, I decided to shoot with it anyway and just move until something in the frame was in focus!! It certainly exercised my creativity in composition. This weekend I will be heading to Dominion Camera to see if they can fix my baby...

Surprisingly, I have 2 favorites this week and I just couldn't decide which to post, so you get both.





After taking a Spring Break, CotW 11 continues this week featuring a Guest Camera, the Noblex SportPro Panoramic camera. It is on loan from the generous boyfriend of my sister-in-law. Woohoo for fun new cameras!

Week 4 - Holga (CotW)

The Holga never seems to disappoint, even when its handler is less than enthusiastic about the subjects it captures. Of course, this was the first week of the Snowpocalypse and snow was absolutely the only thing around. I finished off an old roll still in the camera, which had pictures that I had taken in Annapolis (during the warm summer light). I had a nice one of the old barn, but how many blog posts can one do on a barn that is just a lump of lumber? So, the selection of the week was from the roll of Ilford 3200 that was completely shot in the back yard during the snow.



The Week 5 CotW is the Pinhole Blender Mini 120. Since I have been literally snowed in for much of the week (and I could not stand to take any more pictures of snowy trees), I have extended it through this week. I hope to take it somewhere a little more inspirational...

Week 3 - Plastic Panoramic (CotW)

OK, I could finally get out of the house today and pick up my film from Richmond Camera. This roll was from the nameless 35mm panoramic camera I bought on eBay for $5 (including shipping). It is the most basic point & shoot camera (no controls at all) and ONLY takes panoramic pictures. Well, to my surprise every negative came out nicely exposed (however, not all were nicely composed). The real challenge came in cutting the negatives as there is maybe 2mm space between them.

There is also this odd looking light leak that occurs occasionally and with no obvious reason. I have 2 negatives that were taken in the same general direction within seconds of each other and one has a leak, the other does not. The lens does seem to be very fuzzy (maybe needs a good cleaning). And since it only cost $5, I won't mind taking it apart and checking out the insides. I may even be able to fix the image counter!

All in all, I was happy with this first roll. Here is my favorite of the bunch!



Hopefully, I will get my film back from my CotW 4 (Holga) in a few days. This week's camera is the Pinhole Blender Mini 120.

Hmmm...

So, this week will have no post for CotW since the east coast had a blizzard and my film is stuck in Richmond or Fredericksburg. So, hopefully I'll have 2 posts for next week. My Holga film is here and ready to be developed when the snow melts. :)

In the meantime, a view from my porch...

SoFoBoMo 2009

I was reading Matt Allen's Photo blog this afternoon and he mentioned an event for photographers SoFoBoMo similar to the NaNoWriMo event for writers. So, in a nutshell, you have 31 days to make 35 images and create a PDF book of them. So, since I have been wondering about my project for the year and finding some sort of idea recently, I am going to take this opportunity to create something tangible that may actually turn into an actual paper book! We'll see. Thanks, Matt, for the info!!

Trees in the Wind...

It's funny to look back at my photography just 7 or so years (postcards) and to see how different I see things now (abstract? or impressionist?). It seems the less discernible things in the photograph, the more I "see" in it. I was enjoying the backyard in this very windy, yet warm, winter day with my dogs and my daughter. I liked all the movement of the trees (while hoping they wouldn't fall on the house!), so I grabbed the D70s with the pinhole body cap and tried to capture the feeling of the afternoon. This one really struck me...

Someone stop me now...

Yes, I bought another camera...

Yesterday, while waiting to pick up Alexis from school, I took a little stroll downtown Fredericksburg. Anyone that's been downtown knows that it is not short of antique stores. Not being one for antiques, I never have gone in any of them. Well, after reading blogs of people that go out to these strange stores and find great deals on old/weird/fun/cool cameras, I had to try it myself. Well, the second store that I went into had an entire case full of old Kodak cameras (brownies, instamatics, etc) as cheap as $3 each and were in great condition. Well, I'm really not into buying cameras when the film is nearly impossible to find (i.e. 620, 126, 127, 110), so I passed them all up. Well, there was this one very oddly named camera that looked like a very small SLR. So, I asked to see it. It was, in fact, a 35mm plastic camera called a Yunon YN500 from Taiwan. I've never heard of one and I've not found any good info online. Well, this one is perfectly clean, with strap, case, & instructions. The coolest thing about it is that there are 4 apertures on the lens with the pretty pictures (clouds, partial clouds, "shiny", bright sun) that correspond to the following numbers on the other side of the lens (6,8,11,16). There is only one shutter speed, however, and no bulb. There was already a roll a film in it that I can't wait to finish and see what surprises this holds. Oh, and it was only $6.40 after the 20% Valentine's sale! :)

Isn't she a beauty???

Around the Yard

It was an unusually warm day for February. So, Alexis and I spent the afternoon putsing around the yard. We threw the ball for Moose, filled the bird feeders, hung the corn for the squirrels (who've eaten through a bird feeder to get to those seeds), and built a nest in the yard for a very large baby bird (Alexis). All in all, a very productive day. Don't even get me started about the frenzy of dessert making that I did this morning... I took out the Nikon D70s with the digital pinhole bodycap and made some images. Mostly, crap, but fun nonetheless.

About the Weather...

Weather is a funny thing. Just a few days ago it was a wonderfully sunny (yet wet from previous rains) and relatively warm (70 degrees) day. It ended with threats of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (which never happened), but gave me this beauty. Now just 3 days later, there was ice on the back deck and there has been wind and snow flurries. There is something lovely about gray clouds that bring snow, however...

Fall...

Well, fall was here and now is nearly over. Our trees in the yard seemed to be quite uninspiring this year. But, as I explored a little further, I noticed this tiny fire red maple in the woody area of our yard.

The Apple Harvest

Well I've harvested the apples from the famous apple tree today. It may be a bit early for them, but the black spots were steadily growing on some of them. And I really wanted to taste one!! They were tart, but I suppose if I wanted sweet apples, I would not have planted a Granny Smith. My daughter and I ate 4 of them, but, of course, they were pretty small. There are 3 left on the counter and I'm sure they will be gone tomorrow. Check out the slideshow of the apples from itty bitty, to this...

Those tall trees...

I was out in this beautiful unusually cool August day (76 degrees!!) making some images with the digital pinhole. Funny, how you go out with an idea and end up coming back with something completely different than you started with. I started playing with panning the camera up while looking at the many pine and tulip trees (two very tall types of trees) in our back yard. I like the vertical-ness (hmm... maybe I should have held the camera vertical!) of the image that wasn't planned...

Back to the Lensbaby

I had a friend out to the country today for a visit with her daughter. She's also a photographer in the Fredericksburg, VA area. So, while she was out here I showed her some of my cool toys, including the Lensbaby 3G. She loved it SO much, she left with the intention of buying one for herself. So, since it was on the camera, I decided to take some shots this evening. I've been taking SO many pictures of pretty flowers, I decided it was time for a change...

A present from the squirrels...

I suppose I should go out and thank the squirrels for our wonderful garden this year. Not only did we have sunflowers popping up all over the yard, but we have discovered that they have also planted us a pumpkin vine. And since we have quite a woody/brushy property, it went unnoticed for quite a while. While out throwing a ball for my dog, Moose, I saw a bright yellow-orange flower in the brushy part of the back yard. I went out to inspect it and sure enough, a flower, on a HUGE vine. The leaves are larger than a small child's head (at least my small child's head). So, I headed in for the cameras and came out with this...

Snapped on the Pinhole...

Well, after playing "macro" with my compact point & shoot camera for quite a few days, I decided to snap on the NO DUST digital pinhole bodycap from Pinhole Resource on to my D70s. So, the past few days have been full of blurry flowers and mushrooms instead of crystal clear ones. Ha, ha... I'm having fun and that is all that matters. Here is the blurry picture of the day!!

Huge Mushrooms

I have these mushrooms that grow in my yard. They are really big mushrooms measuring over 9" across (yes, I measured them). I even make my husband mow around them (he thinks I'm crazy). I got down on the ground with the ants (maybe I am crazy) and took some pictures of them with the Coolpix macro feature. I'm hoping for a "faerie ring" soon!

The Apple Tree

I have been documenting the first appearance of apples on a tree that I planted nearly 6 years ago. I have 7 that have survived. The tree is nicely "netted" to prevent the many birds & squirrels out here in the country from tasting them. I just hope I get to take one bite of these beautiful things. Here is a slideshow of their progress.

Casablanca Lily

If you ever checkout my flickr stream, you will see a lot of these lilies. They are blooming all over the garden. Finally, a year when the voles and the boring beetles have not destroyed them all. We only lost 2 this year. The picture of the day...

Ok, 1 year anniversary?

Yeah, it's been nearly 1 year since my last post! Yikes? Why is it that this is so hard. Is it because I'm a visual person not a verbal person. Ha, ha. Ask my husband. I think he would disagree about the verbal part. Ah, well. My goal is to maybe write at least once a week? Maybe write about each picture I post to flickr because shit, I'm there all the time? It's late (12:09 am) and I need to be up at 6 am because that's when the girl (daughter) gets up. Here is the pic of the day!

My new pinhole "Can-mera"

Well, I've finally done it. I've made a pinhole camera from one of those decorative popcorn tin cans with houses covered in snow and decorated for Christmas. Just perfect for a hot July! Can't tell if there is a light leak or if it was the fact that my paper was expired. Not to worry, there will be many more to come! Here is one of my successful images from it.