So, I have taken (almost) a total of 4 rolls of 120 film with my most fun and creativity-inspiring Christmas gift to myself: a Holga 120N plastic lens camera. I say "almost" because, upon receiving the link to my most recently uploaded pictures (I haven't even received the negatives yet), and after suspecting such even before I'd sent the film off, I took about half of one black and white roll with the lens cap on. I'm an idiot. What can I say. But, the other half of the pictures turned out pretty well!
Here are some samples from the first roll:
Shelby plays a tune
The twins arrive at the bonfire festivities!
Drunk bitches
Liddell's a badass.
The theme of the new year
Playin with fire
Sparkler phenomena
Split image.
Pyromaniac
Uncle Seth and Shelby
Pre-fire dancing.
These were all taken at our New Years Day bonfire, after drunkenly trying to figure out how to get film in and how to set everything up, etc. Well, I unknowingly set the exposure number to 16 whilst leaving in the larger frame guard, thereby creating the strange overlap scenario I got in a lot of the pictures. This is one thing I learned from my first Holga shoot. I also got to see what sort of capabilities the Holga hot-shoe flash had. Not the most sophisticated machinery, but that's the joy of the Holga. The beauty is in the imperfection.
My second roll of film is still yet to be digitized. Also, I was taking the pictures by another bonfire with my parents, and the back fell off for a minute or two until I actually noticed, messing up several images. Luckily, it was REAL dark, so I didn't lose the entire roll of film. Whenever I figure out how to get the film scanned (either by buying a scanner or sending it off or something), I'll show the few that are good enough to do so.
The third roll was my second black and white, and the roll during which I had my lens closed. The images I do have were taken on my bike route in Summerland. Pretty nice scenery, if I do say so myself...
Hay bales and creepy cross
Cattle crossing
A home made of branches
Cow + Water tank
Yard art
That last one was actually taken at Hand's nursery... I messed up on the focus, but again with the imperfections.
Final roll: taken around the house, playing with Fanny, etc.
Failed attempt at self-portraiture
Dad's tools + woodshed
House at night + attempted "HOME" in flashlight
Daffodil and something...
Lattice and ladder
Fanny in the water
Beaver dam (long exposure)
Probably an attempt at yet another multiple exposure gone sour
I had some trouble with this roll. Maybe because I was trying to use my bulb setting and the shutter release kept getting stuck. Just a theory... Boo on shutter release malfunctions! But I think I have the seemingly simple apparatus figured out a little better now. We shall see.
So that's it for the toy camera pics. In other news, I just found out I was accepted into MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine! Woohoo! Yes, I'm excited, but yes, I am also combating the nightmares I've been having associated with enduring (at least) 4 more years of school. Seriously. I had a dream that I tried to ultrasound a dog's abdomen and all I saw was Kanye West singing some depraved song with a bunch of Russian dancers all around him. But, I'll make it through the dreams AND the schooling. And I'll be a vet when I get done! THAT's exciting.
Maybe I'm too young to be looking for peace like I do, but maybe it's never too early... At any rate, Joni Mitchell is right on with these lyrics* from this song:
In the midst of my year (hopefully) in between undergraduate and professional school, I've really gotten in touch with methods of relaxation. For me, it's good company (almost always including a mixture of species), good food, good music, exercise, and, last but not least, getting in touch with nature a little. Loving my job and my "roommates" (otherwise known as Mom and Dad) doesn't hurt either... Anyway, nature is the main theme here. And so it goes.
My mom is an avid gardener. I've taken her skills for granted most of my life, as most young people do most things, but lately I've really started understanding the importance of getting your hands in the dirt. Granted, I still haven't done a lot of it myself, but I am getting anxious to get started in a spot of my own. So last Saturday, when Mom asked me to go with her to the nursery to get some apple trees, I didn't hesitate.
Hand's Nursery in Magee, MS was one of the first magical experiences of my childhood memory. These particular images don't even begin to encompass it, mind you. I remember being 4 foot nothing, tagging along with Mom in this botanical wonderland. And the way she navigates the space; seeing what the sad-looking shrubs, flowers, ground cover, trees could become with the proper care and planning. And we're not talking what they could become in a few days or weeks. No, we're talking many months, even many years. I only hope I can one day understand that type of devotion. Anyway, I digress...
So, in the way of apple trees, we ended up getting a Fuji and an Anna. Not to mention a ton of $1 and give-away stuff stacked up by the nursery worker (on a first name basis with my mother, of course) that they together envisioned into different nooks and crannies... And, last but not least, I purchased two of my very own sweet olive trees! If you don't know about this particular plant, you must never have been downwind of one on a particularly beautiful, and breezy, spring day. But, oh, I have, and the smell is something to die for! Not particularly beautiful, but I find that the olfactory sense is greatly important, to me at least, trumping beauty from time to time. So, I decided planting these trees would be my first task in the way of gardening on the hill that I hope to one day build my home. The hill where my late Uncle Lew used to live, and, most recently, where my Godfather Tom has grown his delicious greens. This hill, in fact:
Old Hickory Hill. Such a beautiful spot. And here are my 2 sweet olives, now even more neatly nestled in after a week of rain:
Ok, so it's a mother's love, but it is love none-the-less. I'm excited to continue my gardening endeavors on this hill throughout the years, filling it with fruit trees and bushes and other strategically placed botanical wonders. I can only strive to be a fraction of the gardener my mother is, so that's what I'll do.
So. There are the trees. Wanna see the dog?
Again, with the mother's love... But damn, she's a goody.
All these photos, and I still haven't given my Holga report! Well, I've gotten two rolls developed, a color and a black/white, and things went fairly well for the first run. I've only got the color files on my computer, so I'll wait til I've scanned the black and white before I run through them. But my, I am having fun playing with my plastic lens...
Also, in the way of crafts, I've recently found two particularly adorable and amazing artists, via Mr. X Stitch (See favorites), on Etsy:
