Mother

This past weekend I spent a good deal of time with my family, both sides of it for a change, and though my mom pissed me off pretty terribly (and still hasn’t apologized, not to me, but to the person who deserves it, which would be my brother) I still think this is probably the best photograph I’ve ever taken of her.  Like me, she’s a pretty hard woman to photograph; never closing her mouth for a minute usually, either talking or eating, screaming or yawning, we’re both pretty hard to capture on film.  I think this shows her beauty though, above and beyond her evil bitchiness;)

First Holga shots

So, I got a Holga for Christmas, and I waited and waited and waited some more before I got the courage to actually load the film (I had to read directions people) and take some pictures on that precious film. My initial model was a dear friend of mine who was pregnant at the time. I wanted to take some pregnancy photos of her (because I think pregnant women are absolutely beautiful and she was no exception) so she sat for me, well, she stood for me. I shot a whole roll of film (=12 shots) and this, right there, is the only one that turned out. Yup. Not just turned out, it’s the only one that showed up. Evidently the lighting was so low in the house where I took the photos that there really are no photos. So sad, so very sad. Luckily I shot digital that night as well.

The second roll I put on 16 exposure and carried the Holga to TN with us, as well as to Chi-town this last trip. A few more of those turned out, and I’ve learned a few things about the Holga thus far, or at least my ability with the Holga, and those boil down to; pretend it’s a throw-away and you’ll be fine. Case in point:

• shoot close subjects, 5-10 ft tops
• shoot in high light situations/lots of sun or natural light is best
• don’t fucking move. EVAR
• cross your fingers and take back up shots if they’re important moments in time

Polaroids

I’ve been sitting at home today while the contractors rip out the floor that used to be the kids’ bathroom. Since I didn’t want to lock myself in the bedroom and pretend to work out, nor get out all of my supplies and work on my fertility book, I decided to scan in the Polaroids I took from 2002-2003. I’ve been wanting to do this for a bit just to have them digitally in some form, but I never really had the time to sit down and do something I felt was so tedious. Today, I took the time.

Here’s the thing though- I didn’t edit them at all, aside from creating a batch process for levels to make the border of the Polaroid actually look white instead of grey. Someday I really want to make a book from these Polaroids, but I don’t necessarily know how.

See, every year as an undergrad I made a scrapbook; I had one ginormous non-chronological one for freshman and sophomore year, and the same, but more in order, for my junior year. Senior year I decided to take nothing but black and white photos and print all the photos myself (ha!) and that took forever. The year after graduation I decided to take only Polaroids. For awhile I displayed the Polaroids on a giant 36×48 piece of foam board in my dining area, attached with velcro so I could move them around if and when I wanted. But, I want more than that. I want something more than a giant piece of board to be their home.

I had thought about making a type of bound book using only the Polaroids and punching a single hole in, say, the top or bottom corner, and attaching a ring of sorts to make it look like a paint swatch or something, but I have too many photos and that would degrade the photos themselves possibly. Because I sometimes turned the camera (why because it’s a square hole I’ll never know) I can’t just tape bind them and flip through. So, yeah, I’m still trying to figure that whole thing out. We’ll see.

For now, I have an album for your viewing pleasure (when Flickr decides to like me again that is).

Cascades

We went to the park today, dragged Teen along with and had a bit of a picnic. I think we didn’t get the socialization out of us yet I guess, what with the cook-out last night and all. It’s funny, socializing children that have only really been around family for most of their lives. Entertain entertain entertain, that’s what they want to do. And show off. Yep. Anywho, that wasn’t today, that was last night, and today we spent the afternoon at the park so the kids could show off to perfect strangers and we could sit back and relax and pretend that it’s really almost summer, ushering out the rest of the college kids and hoping for warm enough weather for the pool to open by Memorial Day.