ghost film

1. i am silly and tried to scan medium format color negatives on a scanner which does not allow one to scan medium format color negatives

2. i didn't care and decided to scan them anyways, guerilla style.

3. i found this film in my camera, almost three years old, from our wedding vacation to yellowstone national park. more on this next week.

4. i will scan them in normal style later. but for now, i rather enjoy these ghostly images.

It suits the place. (clicky click to see bigger.)

Cigar box

I love the Flickr commons with a fiery passion. May the songs of a cigar box banjo carry you into a spectacular weekend: "Last Chance" on cigar box banjo, played by Mary Cox

May Newman playing cigar box banjo she made: Palatka, Florida

Cloud in my mailbox

I love getting mail, especially packages. I think that's one of the reasons why I love Etsy so much -- I can purchase small inexpensive handmade things, forget about them for a few days, and then be all surprised with they show up in my hot metal mailbox.

And one of the other great things about Etsy sellers is how each and every person packages their goods differently. Here's a recent purchase, a lovely cloud-shaped headband/necklace from deedoubleyou. I love how she wrapped it in a map. And I'm a sucker for foreign stamps, so packages from Canada make me extra happy.

Rolleiflex

I still have much of my stuff packed up in boxes at my mom's house, remnants of things that could not fit into our car when we moved to Seattle over a year ago. Much of what remains is furniture, too large to fit in our modest shipping crate, and too large to ship now. But some things are portable, like my Rollei camera. My mom came out for a visit last weekend, and tucked this little guy in her purse for me.

This Rolleiflex is from 1952, the year my mother was born. I purchased it on ebay, and it arrived on my doorstep in pristine condition, along with a bag of lenses, filters, and the striped bag sitting behind it in the photograph above. I used this camera almost exclusively in my last year of college.

I can't explain it, but I feel a connection to this camera that I have felt with no other object. Perhaps it is because Rollei and I spent such a grand chunk of my most formative years together, exploring old buildings, vacant beaches, and my own humanity.

While my mom was in town, I dug through my messy storage room to uncover rolls and rolls of expired 120 film. And I cradled this camera of mine, with real film loaded and ready to go, for the first time in years. And I photographed.

Payday is coming, and that means the film will be ready for pickup at the lab. I will share.

Just another day at the office

I rarely talk about my day job on my blog, but this is just too much fun to pass up. I'm a photo researcher for a book producer, which means that I get to find pictures, artwork, and memorabilia to go in our super awesome books. Most of the time, I'm contacting collectors and photographers and scouring the internet for image sources. But last week, I got the chance to do something a little different and work with a real live model and photographer.

I can't go into too much detail about the project quite yet, but lets just say that it's a humorous parody of a popular book. Bwa ha ha. Secrets. J. Nichole Smith of dane + dane studios made all the magic happen behind the lens, and our model Carolyn was beyond perfect.

And I volunteered to help with lighting tests. Here is what happens when you volunteer to help with lighting tests:

For more ridiculous shots of yours truly, and some AWESOME behind the scenes pics, check out Nichole's blog! She's a phenomenal pet photographer as well, so be sure to explore her site.

Nice rack

I found a colorful old photo store rack at the Fremont Market last Sunday. I'm always on the lookout for weird old photo-related stuff. And having spent several years working in a photo lab in college, I have a special affinity for objects that remind me of that time of my life. It was a good time. Oh, the things I saw while working there.

It's going to be my new ribbon spool holder. Just because. Good times, good times.

Treasures

Finally snagged a treasury over at Etsy. I'd love to curate things of all shapes and sizes and varieties. Rocks. Bones. Feathers. Jewels. Drawings. Galoshes. Anything, really. If only someone would pay me to be a collector...

Elegance

I should probably just commit myself to a wardrobe of black and navy blue, because just about everything that is white, light gray, or pastel in nature (not much, thankfully. i’m not much of an easter egg girl) has some sort of stain on it.

Today I attempt to be elegant and wear my favorite blue shoes (heels cracked and peeling away) and a gray skirt (with a new greasy-looking stain) and a gray sweatshirt (with the barely there coffee splat on the front and strange new brown stains on the sleeves). I do not notice these things when I dress in the morning, and then the daylight lets me know that I am indeed far from elegant. Sigh.

Sometimes, the worn-out, stained, and tattered can pull off elegance.

I bought and old photo album from seller on craigslist a couple weeks ago, and its cover, and its contents, just drip with grace and pride from a bygone era. Worn blue velvet that almost looks like denim on the front. Flip it to the reverse, and it’s as fresh and colorful as the day it was bound.

She wears spectacles.


Backsides.


The only non-human photo, my favorite.


I hope to someday possess a tiny shred of worn-velvet copper-clasp elegance, with a touch of coffee stain and broke-down heels for good measure. And my own donkey.

Welcome mat

One last Polaroid for me this week, as part of a contribution to the ‘Roid Week 2009 Flickr pool.

I don’t know why I always feel a sense of comfort and a little bit of longing for our old house in Milwaukee, where this Polaroid was taken. I don’t care what anyone says. I loved that house, in all of its desperately-in-need-of-repairs glory. It was home, with its sizable yard and our little garden. And I’ve never been able to find such a nice welcome mat since then. I loved the one in the picture. I don’t want one with cute froggies or paw prints or snarky messages on it. I just want a happy, colorful welcome mat to shuffle my muddy feet on. Oh, and I refuse to pay more than $15 for it. Yeah. There’s that, too.

Transfer

More for 'Roid Week 2009. One of my very first attempts at doing a Polaroid transfer. (dearest, please don't hate me. i love this picture of you, taken oh so long ago in our little first apartment.)

Polaroid Week 2009

Hooray for Polaroids! Check out 'Roid week 2009 on Flickr. You can bet I'm participating.
(An old favorite)

Get your swine on

With all the crazy media attention, I can’t help but get sucked into the Swine Flu (ahem.) H1N1 virus drama. In fact, the other night I dreamed that I had a sweet little baby piglet as a pet, and everyone was trying to take him away from me for fear of catching the flu. Sad. And of course, we all (hopefully) know that you can’t get sick from hanging with the piggies or going on a bacon binge. So to celebrate and show appreciation of our friend, the swine, here are some items to enjoy. No breathing mask needed.

Ceramic Glazed Pig by littleyellowcottage and Bacon French Wire Earrings by SweetMeats


butcher cut piggy tote by ChezSucreChez and Cochon Bleu vintage cast pig necklace by contrary

Kawaii Piggy Pincushion by blackbirdfashion and Ceramic Pig Planter by fruitflypie

Enjoy your weekend, and if you have sunshine, go play in it. That’s an order.