The Holga and Diana Went to The Park…

click on each picture to be taken to my Flickr so you can see the full size

At the Botanical Gardens, this is right at the entrance to the Japanese Gardens. Such a beautiful place.

A mosaic statue of a person praying.

A close up of some flowers, there’s something very dreamy about it.

Catching Up!

A few months go by, I make a few posts a week and everything is great and then I forget to take pictures. And then everything piles up where I have to make a post apologizing for not updating like I should.

*sigh*

I’m going to try and set a little better about that. Stability is the key here.

Anyway, I really do have some super awesome and fun things to update with. For instance, I know I talked about the glass classes that I’ve been taking but I haven’t taken a single picture of my finished work. I ended up coming home with 6 different plates, a set of coasters and some pieces of glass that I don’t know what to do with. Taking photos of glass is a bitch, so I know I’m going to have to set up a little studio to get things going.

Speaking of photos, I broke out the Holga and the Diana+ and went over to the Missouri Botanical Garden to take some photos of the Niki exhibit. I felt like a huge, goofy hipster traipsing throughout the garden with my Yahoo branded messenger bag filled with cameras but I did have a good time. I’ll find out if I got some gems or not tonight!

Now one thing that is probably pretty apparent is that I really enjoy hoarding things, in fact I jokingly refer to myself as a crazed chipmunk. Well over the years I hoarded a pretty nice collection of makeup samples that I finally convinced myself to sell them on Ebay. They sold for a nice amount and I used the acquired funds to purchase a Gocco.

This thing is blowing me away with fun. Out of control fun. I’ve done two unique prints and I might just throw a few of them up in the old Etsy shop. Guess what’s holding me back? PICTURES!

I also just signed up for a vintage button swap on Craftster and I’m pretty sure I was paired up with the most perfect person ever for this swap, I cannot wait! Too fun!

I leave you with the cutest felt food ever made by my friend Jenny.

 

New Ways of Expression

I’ve always been jealous of people who can take a great photograph. I have family members and friends who are insanely talented and can really convey powerful messages through photography.

Me, not so much.

If I feel that I need to take a great picture of something, I’ll take 30 and hope that one will turn out the way I want it to. This is pretty much the best thing about digital cameras, you know your results instantly.

In October last year, I was surfing the net and found a website about toy cameras and how their pictures embrace the unperfect. That’s right up my ally, mistakes are welcome! So, I put a Holgacamera on my Amazon wish-list and my sweet husband surprised me with one for Christmas.

I don’t know why I feel the need to tell anyone this but I swear to God I didn’t know these camera’s were the ultimate hipster accessory and can be purchased at Urban Outfitters in a million different colors (No, no link for you and yes I will tell you why someday.).

The Holga takes 120 format film, which is sold in like 2 stores in all of St. Louis. It also takes a few days and about $12-$15 to develop. I prayed that I would have a few photos that I would like, the investment killed me.

 (Click on the pictures to be taken to my Flickr, where you can see the larger sizes.)

This is a double exposure, first taken with a yellow flash and then taken with a blue flash from a different angle. This palm tree is in front of my Sister-in-Law’s home in Palm Harbor, FL and the white blob in the middle is the moon.

This one might just be my favorite out of the three rolls. It was taken on the pier at Clearwater Beach. I really love the vignetting that happened on this one.

We found these life-sized horses on the side of a highway. It feels very Americana.

This was a completely (as far as I remember) unintentional double exposure. At the top you have a flock of seagulls attacking a littered candy bar wrapper and I can’t remember what I was focusing on on the second picture.

I think I’m going to clean this one up in Photoshop and have it professionally printed, it feels a little too blurry for my taste. This was the very first place my now husband and I spent alone time together; yes, we had our first date at a Waffle House.

I have a few more photo’s in my Flickr account, so go on over and take a look.