Darkroom Adventures: Film Challenge

This year I really want to push myself to make more photographs, even more than last year! I think that 2013 was successful in many ways, but this year I want to put myself out of my comfort zone. So I'm challenging myself to take 52 rolls of film this year. One per week.
Of course I will be summarizing each week with it's ups and downs right here on the blog. Join me if you like! If you aren't into film work with whatever you have! Just go out and take pictures every week. Let me know how it goes.
-Marissa

Darkroom Adventures: Danielson

Happy New Year! I am so excited for this new clean slate that has finally caught up with us. There are so many things that I want to do this year, but for now I'm going to focus on taking photos. These three are from a roll that I developed, I posted other photos from that roll about a month ago.

 Film photography and art in general is a MUST this year, I am full of inspiration and I can't wait to start creating.
So many good things are out there waiting, I can just feel it :)

Candlestick Making

These photos were taken last week, Jan has been very much into turning candlesticks and I love seeing how happy it makes him. Most of the photos are long exposures (about 3 seconds), and I'm very happy with how they have turned out. I'm excited to be finding myself as a photographer again. I have been very inspired lately... by everything around me!

 The other day I developed a new roll of film, and after Christmas I'm going to get back in the darkroom... Finally!

 I don't have much more to say, other than I want to continue exploring the woodshop. Hope everyone has a lovely holiday.

snow SNOW

These are some photos that I took last week when we got our first real snow of the season. The last one was just a dusting that I was really excited about.

The first three are all about the lines that this kind of weather brings out.  I have never really noticed all of the lines that are all around in nature.  In the summer they are camouflaged with leaves and greens.  With snow they are highlighted.  I love how insane the lines the first photo are, and how orderly the lines of the apple tree (4th photo) are.  Of course I had to include the obligatory photo of Gracie.


 I spent the day knitting, and watching "White Christmas" (it's on Netflix!). It's apparently going to snow up to 14 inches tonight, and I'm feeling very meh about that. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to be at work at 6 or 7 am. I hope my manager calls to let me know if I need to go in and what time, I am so anxious not knowing what's going to happen! Here's to hoping you all are enjoying your weather, whatever it may be.

Knit Project

Finally done being sick! Here is a little something that I'm working on as a Secret Santa gift for the Christmas party at work. I've also been working on printing photos, though my printer has been a major pain in the butt. This is why I prefer darkroom work, not printer hassle!

 This morning is a relaxing one, I don't have to be into work until 4 :) I might have time to develop film, but I have been very focused on Christmas presents lately, only so many days left!

 I just have to remember to find time for myself.

Thanksgiving 2013

This week I have been feeling as if the world has been spinning without me. I started getting sick on Saturday and I've been in this hazy head-cold world since then. I really wanted to develop a new roll of film, but I just have not had the stamina!

 These photos were all taken on 11/28/13, before and after dinner. And that photo of Gracie is the first I have taken of her where she is posing in front of a tripod, and following my command to stay!

 This week I'm looking forward to getting back on my feet photo-wise, working on holiday gifts and finishing Jane Eyre! (So good.)

Lately and Instagram

This week has been so crazy, I have been working strange hours because of the holiday, and I just want to rest! Here are a few photos I have taken. You can follow along with my instagram if you like. I promise not to post too many selfies, haha.

So this happened today...

I can't wait to get my B&H order in the mail tomorrow, more prints to make and film to develop! I have not been taking many photos lately, I have been very wrapped up in being freezing, and in sewing. I hope to get back to posting soon, I'll fit darkroom time in tomorrow.

In the Woodshop

I have been having a lot of fun playing with my 50mm 1.4 manual focus lens lately. Here are some shots that I have taken in the past few days. I have recently been inspired by the wood-shop and I think that I will be spending a lot more time down here photographing. There are so many interesting nooks and crannies! I'm planning on bringing my lights and tripod the next time I'm here, I can't wait! Darkroom update: I have not worked in a while, I still need to buy more chemicals. I'm planning on ordering some this weekend so that they will be here before the holiday! I have a roll that I cannot wait to develop. I also can't wait to start making prints for end of the year albums :)

 (ps- join the fun!)

 

Snapshots: Warm Fall Shadows

Weird title, cool pics Took these yesterday when it was oddly warm out, 61*! Today and it was cold and really windy, so is life... I was feeling really inspired by the long stark shadows that were all over the place, and that last one of me on the tree was just for fun. Well I'm off to sleep, I have a 4:30AM wake up time ahead of me... More tomorrow night :)

Darkroom Adventures: Scanning!

I finally set up my scanner so that I can properly document my darkroom adventures. Here is the roll of film that I developed earlier this week, I was worried that it wasn't going to come out. I didn't have quite enough fixer and I had to do math to figure out the correct ratio... ANYWAY, they came out and I'm happy. I still need to buy more chemicals in order to develop more. I'm really happy with the scanned contact sheet. It's not beautiful because the glass I use is full of scratches, but hey, what's a poor girl to do? I printed images 21 and 22, the first few rows are over exposed, but most are workable, not sure if I'm going to print anymore from this roll, what do you think?

 I finished another roll yesterday, and I'll buy more chemicals as soon as I get paid on friday! I talk and think about payday way too much :)

Snapshots: Tea with Jill

My friend Jill and I met up at Mrs. Bridge's Pantry earlier this week, and it was so adorable that I couldn't not take pictures. I am so glad that we went because I had never been there before, now that I know how wonderful it is I might just take myself on dates there. You know when I have enough money to take myself on dates again. One week 'til payday!

 In other news I'm eating banana bread that I baked yesterday and it's absolutely delicious. I'm patting myself on the back for this one because I edited Martha's recipe and my taking creative license when cooking/baking generally doesn't turn out so well.

 Also, I'm taking part in this here Blog Hop, you should join in on the fun if you haven't already:

Self Portrait Flip

This is something that I have been wanting to do for a while, it's a little freaky but after I got the idea I really couldn't get it out of my head. This morning when I took these I was a bit lazy, clearly my face isn't looking as straight on into the camera as I thought it was, and the lighting is not even.  I think that this would be best taken with strobes. It was really bright facing the sun, making it hard to keep a straight face. left side right side I really did think that my face was more symmetrical than this!

Don't mind my messy kitchen.  Now I need to take some time to clean that kitchen!

claiming my blog

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Goals

Do you ever feel like you never complete anything? That's how I've been feeling lately. I feel like I have so many things started and not enough time or money or PATIENCE to get anything finished! Patience being key here, in this age of technology I have been feeling my patience grow thinner and thinner in all aspects of my life.

So here are some new goals to work on:

-work on patience

-finish website update

-make more effort to keep in touch

-meditate regularly

I'm not setting a time for when I want to have these goals accomplished by because they are more of a lifestyle change in general, well except for the website update, that happens this weekend!!!


And because I cannot post without photos, here are some I took yesterday after our first "snow" of the season.  I use quotes because it was just a dusting.


Well I'm off to get dressed, hope everyone has a lovely day, whether it's cold or not!

Darkroom Adventures: Kodak Retina iif

The photos above were all take with my Kodak Retina iiF, I acquired this camera at an antique store around a year ago, simply because it came with an awesome leather camera bag. I hadn't really considered using the camera until recently, for some reason I thought that it needed a battery to operate. So back in September I finally got to googling the manual and I learned that I needn't a battery at all. I was pretty psyched.

 This camera is a rangefinder and I'm not used to focusing those, so it really was a new experience. It really is hard to tell what you are focusing on when you are shooting! As you can tell from the first photo. I had meant to focus on the closer bunch of blooms, but the lens won't focus on things that are such a short distance away. It really is a whole different playing field... not seeing straight through the lens I mean.

The latest darkroom news is that I need more fixer and film developer before I can process more film.  I developed one roll the other day that I will print later this week.

Below is a photo of the camera and film I used, isn't it gorgeous? 

Engagement: Mandy & Reuben

At the end of September I had the pleasure of photographing Mandy and Reuben in celebration of their engagement.  This was my very first engagement session and I can't wait to photograph more couples! These are my favorite four photos, to see them all head on over to my smugmug page.

I'm off to work on the layout of that page now, I'm hoping to have it done by the time I have to go to work, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen...