DIANA MINI AND ME

Diana Mini Square Images On Ilford HP5

Diana Mini Half Frame Images On Some Random Cheap 35mm Film

How cute is the Diana Mini?! This camera takes little perfectly square images or half frame images on 35mm film, giving you more bang for your 35mm film buck! Not to mention the Diana Mini is teenie tiny! The perfect camera for toting around with you just in case something fun pops pops up that has to be photographed.

In December I developed film that I had shot throughout the year but had been lazy about developing. It was a wonderful year in review! Take a peek at a post I made with some of my favorites strips of film from 2011. Putting that post together made me think it'd be a great idea to take a photo a day every for an entire year. Now, I know myself and I know that I'm not cut out for 356 projects but I thought I could try to shoot a picture a day for all of April and see how that goes. Maybe take this project on a month by month basis.

What do you think? Have you ever done a 365 project? Seems like such a daunting task! Here are a few really well done ones that I like:

Parker Fitzgerald's Polaroid Quotes

Kim Unscripted

Hei Astrid

Daily Pic

I'm really excited about a Lomo meet up I'm going to this Sunday! We're going to walk around the Lincoln Park Zoo with our cameras in hand. If you're here in Chicago, you should come out! Find out more details here. What are you looking forward to this weekend?

XO

HOODS UP

Today I'm wearing my hood up in solidarity for the loss of Trayvon Martin. My heart goes out to his family and friends. My mind can't comprehend that in 2012 such racism, discrimination, and such an utter act of violence can still exist.

XO

WORDS TO SHOOT BY // DOUBLE

Impossible Project's PZ 680 Film

I've been really excited about the Words To Shoot By words so far this year. I had a neat concept for the word "double". To take double exposures of Christopher and his twin brother, Trevor. So meta! The execution could have been better but I only had a few exposures left in my Spectra so above are the results! I think I'm going to try this again. Take a peek at the rest of em. I love a good double exposure!

XO

azuree

WORDS TO SHOOT BY // BLUR

I forgot to post the latest Words To Shoot By post, Blur! I had so many ideas for this one but ultimately decided to shoot my blurry bunnies. Big surprise, right?!

Take a peek at how everyone else interpreted Blur.

XO

SMELL YA LATER SNOW!

These were taken last Spring with my Diana Mini.

My friend Diana over at Our City Lights is giving away a pack of my Polaroid cards! I felt a little red in the cheeks when we talked about it as I've loved her blog for so long now! Head on over and enter to win! If you don't already (and I know you do because you're smart!), make sure to follow her blog! You can thank me later.

It's been an incredible week. Spring, apparently, has sprung in Chicago! For those of you who live here, you understand how incredibly peculiar 70 degree weather in March is. For those of you that have been laying on the beach for the past two months, it's usually in the 40's until late April! I keep waiting for the snow storm to bring me back to weather reality but in the meantime I've been soaking up the rays.

Earlier in the week my friend Rachel and I went for a photo walk around the Lake. It was so fun. Do yourself a favor and take a peek at her work! She's a talented photographer with an infectious enthusiasm for analog photography! I took my new Mint Flash Bar for a spin on my SX-70 and am really happy with the results in already bright situations. The testing I did with it earlier in the week was indoors so I wanted to see what it would do outdoors. Still so stoked about a flash for my darling SX-70's.

Tonight I went to a Lomo meet up to hear about the new Lomography store opening up in Chicago! I am so excited, as I've been a long time fan of Lomography. Some of my friends have mixed feelings about toy cameras but you've gotta love a company that aims to promote photography as something that doesn't have to be technical to be fun! At the meet up, I met two internet friends who are in the process of creating an affordable and light weight 4x5 camera!! Their company is called Wanderlust Cameras and I'm really excited about what these guys are aiming to do! I can't wait to see how their project unfolds...and to get my hands on one of their cameras!

I can't wait for the weekend so I can get out, camera in hand, and shoot more! Hope everyone has fun outdoors this weekend. XO

F L A S H

Hot hell was I excited when I heard that The Impossible Project was going to carry a reusable flash bar! Although most of my photography is done using available, natural light, there is always an occasion when a little bit of flash comes in handy.

This one is great! It's tiny and light so you can easily throw it in your bag without it weighing you down. The flash is energized by two tiny AAA batteries which are thankfully, easily found. The green light comes on letting you know you put the batteries in the correct way. Once the blue light comes on you're ready to go! So easy. It has three settings- Off, half flash, and full flash. I was shooting some PX100 film in my folding SX-70 camera so I used the full flash setting and got great results.

The first picture I shot of Christopher came out rather dark. I was shooting indoors with the light wheel in the middle. Turning the light wheel all the way light worked wonderfully for the next few shots! The instructions suggest that if you're shooting PX680 or PX600 to use the half flash function.

I can't wait for that new PX70 film to come out so I can take my new flash for a further spin. It's been sunny out the past few days here in Chicago which means it's time to bust out the color films!

A great big thank you to The Impossible Project for always being amazingly generous!! What are you dummies waiting for, get your hands on one while you can.

XO!

COFFEE

I've found that sometimes just when you're settling into life, something comes along to spice things up. I think the World gets a kick out of keeping us on our toes. You settle into a routine, your days become rather predictable, the world looses some of it's magic and enchantment. For me, I look back on old contact sheets and journals and think "I was so inspired! Everything seemed so new! Every strangers face had a story and I wanted to hear about it. Little kids dancing caught my eye. Seeing two people ride the train obviously on their first date tickled my heart". Now I usually walk head down, headphones on, rushing to and from work, paying little attention to anything but the task at hand- commuting. Avoiding eye contact with strangers. Getting home and cooking. Reading blogs and looking at Flickr. Spending time with my family and bunnies. Tackling my to-do list which is getting increasingly long.

Then one day while you're riding the train to work, it jerks a little...squeezing the cup of coffee you're holding in between your knees while you dig around your bag for your headphones into the air. A coffee geyser forms, exploding all over your favorite brown skinny cords. Dripping into your new pink ballet flats. Just like that. Hot. Coffee. Cream and sugar. A L L  O V E R you. On the train. The girl decked out in North Face sitting across from you looks away. The people down the train glance over and get back to their Reader. You're left feeling humiliated. Scorched. Alone. Helpless. Then the old man with the ragged old suitcase stuffed with garbage bags, old newspapers and a random pole digs around and hands you a rag to clean with. He smiles. He says, "It's okay, are you hurt too much?" He digs around in his bag of bags and finds one just the right size for the cup with dripping coffee in your hand and the rag he gave you to clean up with and says "Here put that in here and try to clean your hands, your day can only get better from here, right?". 

The man with nothing gave me what little he had and that was incredibly humbling. His simple act really put my epicly embarrassing coffee spillage into perspective. And he was right, my day only got better from there. I'm so glad something happened, that a stranger showed me such selfless kindness, to snap me out of out of my routine and to force me to see how beautiful life is. 

In case you're looking for a little inspiration take a peek at this video a photographer I really like made. Read the story behind it seeing the (internet) light of day here. The things that made my heart leap were the twirls of hair, the time passing, the literal interpretations of footsteps, the windows (there's a life behind each one. Isn't that crazy? I think that each time I see a window. Someone dwells in that frame!) and of course the fact that it was made entirely of film (I think)!

What's been inspiring you lately?

xo, 

azuree

FEBRUARY // GONE

All of these images were shot on The Impossible Projects PX 70 test film (which I am in love with, of course)

March already?! Unbelievable! Wasn't it New Years....yesterday?!

February has been a great month! A little recap:

- I got back from my short trip to visit Mel in San Francisco! I fell in love with that city!
- Christopher and I decided to move closer to Logan Square. We are tripling our space and will have a home music studio (for him) and darkroom (for me, duh!) in the basement of our new place! Very exciting stuff! We don't move for a month or two but we're really excited about our new home!
- I got a job at a really cute camera store in Oak Park called The Vintage Photo shop.
- The world lost Whitney Houston :(
- I can FINALLY put my hair in a top bun without using five million bobby pins (a personal feat)
- An Olympus XA made it's way into my life and I couldn't be more excited.
- Fell in love with The Impossible Project's newest PX 70 film. Can't wait to get my hands on some more!
- I finished up a portrait project I shot entirely on The Impossible Project's PX 100. I'm very excited to work on a dedicated website for those images this month.
- I fell into a pit of desires over these shoes
- Christopher and I had a really cute low key Valentines Day....without even trying!
- Linn and I got inspired at The Art Institute, one of my favorite museums in the city
- I made some hearts for my blog! Take a peek outside of your Google Reader and let me know what you think!

I'm still adjusting to my new schedule, balancing work, time with my family, and the internets! I have no idea how people can blog consistently and work full time jobs as well.

I'm really looking forward to March and Spring in general.

XO
azuree