Garage Sale Find: Expired Film

For 10¢ each, I got three rolls of expired slide film and two rolls of (assumedly expired) print film. Looking forward to experimenting with these in my Lomo LC-A, Blackbird Fly, and maybe my Holga or my Olympus XA.

Other finds from today's trip to the Waterville Community Garage Sale included a Pat Paulsen LP, an LP of steel drums from St. Lucia in 1977, a copy of Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, and a tank top. Not the most awesome yield from an afternoon of garage sales, but the best we've had in a while.

Old West End Festival, 2006

[Taken 3 June 2006 | Holga 120N]

Last weekend was the Old West End Festival in Toledo, where we always enjoy the yard sales more than the art show or the fair food. Alas, this year we got rained out of our afternoon of yard sales and lo-fi photography, so I'm posting a photo from four years ago, instead.

Lamps, Ann Arbor

[Taken 22 May 2010 | modified Holga 120N | f/sunny (~f/11) | ISO 160]

W Washington St, Ann Arbor

[Taken 22 May 2010 | Holgamod | f/sunny (~f/11) | ISO 160]

This was one of my favorite shots from the recent Holgamod test roll. Aaron bought me my modified Holga for Christmas, and I never got around to testing it until last weekend. I expect that I'll post in depth about it once I get another roll or two through it, just to get a feel for its little quirks and sweet spots.

I got my film developed locally, at Taylor Photo, as I've had one two too many rolls of film lost in the mail from mail-order shops online. The owner is a friendly and personable guy who knows photography (and also develops black and white!).

Once I get some anti-Newton ring glass for my scanner, I'll save money by paying for processing only — no prints. Even with paying for prints, though, it's likely that I'll be burning through my stash of freezer-stored film a lot quicker than I'd expected.

Sun Protection

[Taken 25 April 2010 | 1/1600 sec at f/6.3 | ISO 200 | 200mm]

During our final afternoon on the beach in Playa del Carmen.

Our Waiter, Jorge

[Taken 22 April 2010 | 1/13 sec at f/3.5 | ISO 1600 | 18mm]

At Maria Marie, the French-Mexican fusion restaurant at the Royal Playa del Carmen.

Nightly Candle

Each night, while we were out at dinner, housekeeping would come by and turn down our bedding, light a candle under the scented oil burner, and leave Bon-Bons on our bed.

When We Arrived

[Taken 20 April 2010 | ¼ sec at f/4 | ISO 200 | 18mm]

There was a cake made out of towels on our king size hotel bed, sprinkled with real rose petals.

Nohoch Muul, Coba

[Taken 22 April 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with PS Mobile]

Seen during the Maya Encounter tour with Alltournative.

Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor

[Taken 10 April 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with PS Mobile and Tilt Shift Generator]

New Manicure

[Taken 8 Apr 2010 | 1/8 sec @ f/3.2 | ISO 800 | 50mm]

My too-expensive professional French manicure didn't last as long as I would have liked, so my friend Sheryl offered to redo my nails over our lunch break today. I think they turned out just as good as my overpriced manicure.

Sheryl, I owe you lunch! :-D

Pre-Vacation Haircut

[Taken 1 Apr 2010 | 1/15 sec @ f/3.5 | ISO 800 | 28mm]

Growing my hair long again, but keeping some shape to it. Kudos to Kristie at Attitudes in Toledo for keeping my hair looking fabulous!

Memaw

[Taken 23 March 2010 | 1/5 sec @ f/2 | ISO 200 | Lensbaby 3G]

Just a little younger than I remember her...

More about Memaw (aka Jessie Mae Fay Mickler Taylor Cook Lowe) in my genealogy research.

Jefferson and Huron

[Taken 17 March 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with Tilt Shift Generator]

Car Wash

[Taken 7 March 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS2]

One Perspective On Starbucks

[Taken 28 February 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS2]

As seen from The Comfy Chairs at the Starbucks in Levis Commons, Perrysburg.

Another Sunday Morning

[Taken 31 Jan 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with PS Mobile]

Icewalkers

[Taken 18 Feb 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | post-processing in Photoshop CS2]

I watched these men walk out onto the frozen Maumee River as I was taking my lunchtime walk. I got out my phone 1.) to take a picture, and 2.) just in case I needed to call 9-1-1 if one of them fell through.

New Nightly Ritual

[Taken 11 Feb 2010 | 1/25 sec @ f/6.3 | ISO 800 | 50mm | ambient light, handheld]

Just ordered some new facial products from SpaGoddess on Etsy, after reading an interview with her in Ready Made magazine. I'm not usually one to get overly excited about such things, but these are definitely worth trying. I'm not ashamed to admit that, the day these products arrived, I washed my face RIGHT AFTER DINNER. I just could not wait.

I purposely bought several sample sizes of different products, to give them a test drive. I already have an idea of what I may be ordering again in the future (including one item she included for free!), and what I may pass on next time. Even the products that haven't completely sold me, though, feel better than the over-formulated, chemical-laden commercial products I've been using. These products from Angel Face Botanicals (aka SpaGoddess on Etsy) literally make it a joy just to wash my face at night. Highly recommended.

Sunday Morning On The Couch With Mei

[Taken 17 Jan 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with PS Mobile]

Having some Sunday morning chill time with my kitty.

Gotcha...

[Taken 14 Jan 2010 | 1/60 sec @ f/3.5 | ISO 800 | 18mm | off-camera flash, bounced]

Oh, yes. When you stop in to talk to me while I'm taking pictures, you'll get your picture taken, too.

Old Leather

[Taken on 21 Jan 2010 | 1/60 sec @ f/6.3 | ISO 800 | 200mm | off-camera flash, bounced]

Getting ready to re-leather my Yashica FX-D. Expect a full report in the next few days...

Lain Figurine

[Taken on 14 Jan 2010 | 1/60sec @ f/6.3 | ISO 800 | 200mm | off-camera flash, bounced]

Serial Experiments Lain was one of the first anime series Aaron got me to watch, over ten years ago now. If you're into anime or sci-fi, especially thought-provoking (or even mind-fucking) plots and universes, you owe it to yourself to watch it through. It's only 13 episodes, so it's not a huge time investment, but the experience is worth it.

Photo Thursday

Last year, I resolved to post a photo to my blog every Thursday for all of 2009. Thursday was a totally arbitrary day; New Year's Day was on a Thursday, and I happened to post a photo that day, and decided to run with it (instead of the Photo Friday that many bloggers seem to observe).

I succeeded, for the most part, only missing one Thursday (and I think that was because my webhost had temporarily hosed my blog).

The idea was for me to start photographing more, to make photography a priority in my life. Over the course of the year, I moved away from my original plan of spending Thursday evening photographing, then posting the results that night — I started pulling older photos, or taking up an entire month of Thursdays with the best photos from our vacation(s). Still, I definitely feel that Photo Thursday was an impetus for me to get out and photograph, and I think my skills have improved because of that. I've also had more experience with post-processing, and I'm getting a feel for what I want my photos to look like and how to get them there.

This year, I'm going to continue Photo Thursday. I have new toys to try out, like my Holgamod and my Gorillapod and my lighting rig, all of which Aaron got me for Christmas.

For the photography buffs in the house, read on for my lighting geekery. Everyone else, continue to enjoy the weekly photos!

read more...

Second Best

If there were a branch of my favorite coffee franchise downtown, I might go there every day. As it is, I visit its runner-up on occasion, since it's right across the street from my work.

Christmas Portrait 2009

Joy to you and yours this holiday season and throughout the new year!

Angry Pho

To celebrate Aaron's 35th birthday last month, we drove up to Ann Arbor for dinner. There are (at least) two kinds of cuisine there that we can't get in Toledo: Vietnamese and Ethiopian. Aaron chose Vietnamese.

As an aside: As we were driving from the highway to campus, a carload of college guys pulled up behind us and saw the Trek fish on our car (it's like a Jesus or Darwin fish, but it says Trek... and has nacelles like the Enterprise). These guys loved it so much, they took cameraphone pictures of it, and were embarrassed/geeked when Aaron flashed them the Vulcan salute.

Mistress Of Her Domain

And a few moments later, it was OM NOM KITTY NOM:

(Taken with my Nikon D50 and the Lensbaby 3G)

Stalking the Presents

[Nikon D50 with Lensbaby 3G and Nikon Speedlight SB600, f/2.0 @ 1/60 sec, ISO 800]

Thankful

For all the little things that make life enjoyable -- and the big things, too.

Dessert Centerpiece

Taken at the Fertel Reception, 27 October 2007. (Happy Belated Anniversary!)

Fresh From the Salon

Self-portrait in my bathroom. Taken one month ago, immediately after after my last trip to Attitudes, 13 October 2009.

Empty Chairs At Empty Tables

Taken at our local Starbucks, using the bulb (long exposure) setting on my Blackbird Fly TLR.

It took me forever to adjust this in Photoshop (I'm still not quite satisfied), and I didn't realize what was throwing me off until I was almost done. Look closely, and you can just barely see the person who walked in front of the counter during the three-second exposure, then paused at the right side of the frame. (Easier to see at a larger size — look especially at the legs of the left-most chair.)

Halloween, 2003

Halloween that year was on a Friday night — and, as with all Friday nights, I was home alone, instead of out being social. I'd just started the Atkins Diet, so I wasn't about to have bags of candy in the house to pass out to the trick-or-treaters. Plus, I knew from experience that trick-or-treaters actually didn't come down our street very often.

As I remember it, the decision to go out and photograph was a spontaneous one. I was in an especially good mood as I affixed my trusty Minolta to my tripod and headed out to squeeze off a roll of Halloween pictures.

These are some of the better ones...

read more...

Lamppost (Sprocket Photography)

Taken at Levis Commons with the blackbird,fly twin lens reflex camera I bought in Japan. The Blackbird takes 35mm film, but has a removable mask specifically to allow sprocket photography.

The double-exposure at the top and bottom of the frame was completely unintentional, but adds to the charm, in my opinion.

Autumn Window

We've officially hit the height of Autumn color. Glad I actually managed to catch some of it on film and digitally this year.

Stuffed Lobster, 2003

This has to be one of my favorite photos from our honeymoon — specifically, our trip to Boston. Yes, Aaron is a good 70 pounds heavier here than he is now, but I still love this picture.

Granville Platform

[1/8 sec @ f/3.5, handheld (braced against wall), 18mm]

Seen during our Labor Day Weekend in Chicago, on our way back from dinner at the Ethiopian Diamond.

The Old General Store

My first major project since getting my new scanner has been to digitize the photos from our honeymoon, back in May 2003. (The process went surprisingly smoothly, which bodes well for future scanning projects.)

This is where we stayed for a good part of our trip: Aaron's grandmother's house in Cummington, Massachusetts. The house had long since been parceled out into apartments, and Grammie kept one in reserve for herself, in case she had need to go visit her rental property. She graciously let us stay in her apartment for the week, using it as a home base of sorts.

As far as the honeymoon photos go, I still need to properly date and geotag them all... but that's a follow-up project for another day.

Spontaneous, But Not Really

This past week, two people directed me toward a $40 film & slide converter on woot.com. After checking out reviews of it, both at woot and elsewhere, I opted not to pull the trigger on it.

However. It did get me thinking about scanning film again.

Our Epson Perfection 1670 scanner has been holding up well. It even scans 35mm negative strips, but it only does so one strip at a time, and it only scans that one kind of film. Its transparency-scanning ability is limited to a small area in the middle of the scanner. I've been craving either a film scanner that scans various sizes of 35mm and medium format film or a scanner that scans full 8x10 transparencies, thereby allowing it to scan any damn size of film I want, including 35mm, 120, 127, or any other obscure film size I might end up with later.

So, when given an excuse to look — again — into transparency-capable scanners, I gladly took up the search. After less than a day of searching, using such jumping-off points as photo.net, I decided on the Epson Perfection V700.

One of the first things I did after the scanner arrived on Friday (after setting it up) was to experiment with scanning a proof sheet — a full 8x10 page of sleeved 35mm negatives. Since I haven't been properly storing my negatives lately, I beelined for my old VCT 282/382/465 notebook, full of negatives from Photography I, Photography II, and Commercial Photography. The sheet I chose was from my final project in VCT 282, where I photographed Aaron and his videogames in his basement apartment one August night in 1999:

It'll be fun to scan some of my old negatives from Photography class (from which I never had prints made, except the ones I turned in for class) and other slides and negatives I have stored in boxes and books. Plus, I'll be able to have my odd-sized film processed without prints, then scan them myself later. I'll also be able to try some of that sprocket-hole photography I've never bothered to try out because I couldn't have properly seen the final result.

I don't usually drop $500+ so easily... but it was something I'd been thinking about for some time.

Navy Pier Park

As seen during our Labor Day Weekend in Chicago, 5 September 2009.

Blustery Day

Brownie Starmite Test Roll, 2007

I was recently cataloguing my camera collection, figuring out which ones I like to use in various situations and which ones hadn't even been tested yet. (For the record, I currently own 16 film cameras and two digitals.) Some of them I was unsure of, so I scanned my blog for reference — and, oddly enough, there was one camera that I had mentioned acquiring and finishing a test roll with, but never posted any photos from.

Long story short, I managed to unearth the test prints from the disaster that is the area beside my desk, and am now posting a test roll two years tardy.

read more...

On The River, Chicago

Taken from the upper deck of a double-decker tour bus in Chicago, Illinois: 5 September 2009.

Lomography.com

I was just poking around in my photography category on my blog, and clicked on a link to go to my lomohome on lomography.com.

404 Error? Hmm, looks like the site got a redesign. Oh, look — I can migrate my old account. All is not lost.

Or is it? All my photos are gone. Huh. Good thing I have local copies, eh? Ah, well. I can reupload.

Then I read the legalese:

5. Use of Ideas

If you send any communications or materials to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like, all such communications are, and will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary. Anything you transmit or post may be used by Lomography, its parent and/or its affiliates for any purpose, including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast, and posting. Furthermore, Lomography, its parent and its affiliates are free to use, without any compensation to you, any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to the Site for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing, and marketing products using such information.

I'm reading this as saying that I lose the rights to any photos I upload — or, rather, they gain unlimited rights without me getting any kickback or even acknowledgment. They might mean this to refer to unsolicited product ideas, but it comes off as ANY upload to the site ANYWHERE.

See ya, lomohomes. Check my Flickr for my Lomo pics from now on.

Spartus Full-Vue Test Roll

The good news is that the Spartus Full-Vue works and takes some decent photos. The bad news: a.) The long-exposure toggle is in an unfortunate spot versus the shutter release, and b.) It's a bitch to get 120 black and white film developed anymore.

read more...

Selling Myself Short

This evening, over the phone, my Mom was telling me that my photography has gotten so good that I should be photographing for a magazine or something. I'd just uploaded the first half of my photos from our Chicago trip, and she'd been paging through them as we talked.

Now, mothers are known for exaggerating the talents of their progeny. However, being that mine is a portrait photographer by trade, I'd like to think that gives her opinion a little more weight. Still, though, I see the other photos on Flickr — the ones that make the Explore page, or have high ratings of Interestingness — and I realize that I'm nowhere close to being in their league, for the most part.

Then, again, sometimes I look at photos on Flickr, or photos for sale at art shows, and I think, "My photos are easily that good!" Maybe I just don't give myself enough credit. Maybe I don't pimp myself out enough on Flickr by posting to relevant groups. Maybe I should start submitting my work to stock photography websites/companies. After all, I've been published in a magazine (Tricycle) and in an online travel guide (Schmap Baltimore), among others.

Then the question becomes: when will I feel satisfied with my photography? When I'm making a steady income from my photos? When one of my photos is recognized by Flickr's super-secret Interestingness algorithm for the Explore page? And how much time and effort do I put into these goals, just to satisfy my own ego?

Maybe, for now, I can simply remain satisfied with my continuing progress as an amateur photographer, and just enjoy taking pictures.

Yashica FX-D Quartz Test Roll

I mentioned last month that I was planning to get a new battery cover for my Yashica FX-D Quartz. It cost me $25 for a Yashica FX-3 off of eBay (which doesn't seem to work, incidentally), plus a $10 battery from Radio Shack, but it was totally worth it.

read more...

Gulls on the Maumee

Seen near One Seagate in downtown Toledo, this past Monday.

Pictures of Mom

My Mom asked me to scan in some pictures of her over the years, since the family photo albums are all at my place now. I posted over a dozen of them over on my Facebook... but this is one of my favorites. She's probably about 18 years old here, and I'd like to think that the family resemblance is obvious, even though I was never quite that thin.

Catbus In Flight

I bought this miniature catbus-on-a-stick during our last trip to Tokyo. Now he happily guards my jade plant.

What's New With Me

I rarely do these catch-all blog posts anymore, but since I've committed to blogging every weekday for a while, I figure I can let one of these slip in.

Last night I bid on (and won) a Yashica FX-3 35mm film camera on eBay. I bought it specifically so I could have a battery compartment cover that will also fit the Yashica FX-D Quartz I already own — I think that's all that's wrong with it. This particular model of camera won't work with a dead battery, and the battery cover is completely stripped out, so it's nigh on impossible to remove the cover once it's screwed in. So, if a fresh battery fixes it, then I have two cameras to play with, and I just have to swap the battery cover between them. (Also? Once I get the FX-D working, I'm planning to re-leather it for cheap.)

Today I finished running a test roll through the Spartus Full-Vue. Brought it to work, in fact, and got several comments about the fancy/old camera sitting on my desk. The test roll will include photos from my house, the Hindu Festival, and downtown Toledo. I really hope I kept the camera on "instant" exposure instead of "time" exposure — when I went to remove the film this evening, it was on "time", which could mean that the last part of the roll will be especially blurry and overexposed. Crossing my fingers that I didn't accidentally fuck up my test roll...

I mentioned the Hindu Festival — Aaron and I went to see my supervisor perform a Bollywood-style dance with a group. Well, to be fair, that wasn't the only reason we went — we wanted to try the food and see the sellers' stalls, too — but it was the main one, and the reason I knew the festival even existed. My supervisor, it turns out, once did classical dance (she's built for it like I never was — my height, but long-limbed), and she was a joy to watch.

And now for something completely different: I went on my first walk/jog in a VERY long time yesterday morning, and I'm feeling it today. I only ran for a total of maybe three or four minutes out of the 20 I was outside, but I'm OK with taking baby steps. My plan is to walk/jog — or do "interval training," as it were — on Sunday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings. How I do it: I have an exercise playlist set up on my iPod, where the songs are mostly four minutes long, and between 100 and 150 beats per minute. I run through the first verse and chorus, then see how I feel — run through another verse, or switch back to a walk? I should probably stick to more brief jogging stretches for now, and not try to push myself too hard in the middle of my jog like I did on Sunday (damn you, Kool and the Gang). I also should add more songs in the neighborhood of 150 bpm, as I think that's about the pace I jog (gauged from running around the basement for less than a minute just now).

Well, It may not be terribly coherent, but that's the latest in a nutshell. Looking forward to the International Festival this coming Saturday, going to King's Island with Amy and Aaron in a few weeks, and going to Chicago over Labor Day Weekend. Which reminds me: I need to go research the conveyor belt sushi joints in Chicago...

Camera On-Deck

Next up for a test roll: the Spartus. It's basic, it's old, and I think it's actually supposed to take 620 film, although I managed to successfully load a roll of 120.

Perusing the Jewelry

At the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, Saturday 18 July 2009.

Actually, Amy is perusing the jewelry, while Aaron is looking bored out of his gourd.

Miniature Diners

Seen at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, 18 July 2009.

Front Porch Barbershoppers

Seen during the Toledo Old West End Festival, 2 June 2007.

Street Musician in Alley, Ann Arbor, 2008

Taken at The Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair (The Guild) on 19 July 2008.

We'll be heading to this year's art fairs on Saturday. Since I've taken photos of Ann Arbor with my Holga 120 film camera (photo above), DiMAGE X50 digital point-and-shoot, Nikon DSLR, and my iPhone, I figure it's time to bring my trusty (?) Lomo to the fairs.

Digital Memories

The last time I put photos into a physical photo album was June 2005, from my step-brother Philip's high school graduation.

I purchased my Nikon D50 DSLR in December 2005.

Coincidence? Definitely not.

I didn't completely stop using my film cameras once I bought my DSLR, of course. I still regularly used my Lomo LC-A — and, later, my Olympus XA and Holga and some vintage cameras. So, now I have two photo storage boxes full of photos from Jan 2005 (and two with photos from 1994 through 2004, in addition to multiple photo albums). Since I get my photos developed by online mail-order photofinishing, I get scans of my photos before the prints arrive in the mail, which is helpful for blogging and Flickring, even though they're not super-high-res.

Now that the majority of my photos are digitized (except the occasional roll from the Holga or another vintage camera), I sometimes forget that my switchover to digital wasn't so long ago. Our honeymoon photos aren't digital. Our photos of our apartment in Bowling Green aren't digital. I did take digital photos when we first moved into our house in Toledo, but with the point-and-shoot we had at the time. Plus, like I mentioned, I have scans saved of all my Lomo and other 35mm photos that I sent to Snapfish or other services.

But there are events I'm remembering that I don't have digitized, like previous years' fireworks photos (which sparked the thought in the first place). I'm definitely going to go through and start scanning and posting notable photos from years past — I'll have to go through my boxes and albums to see what rates being scanned and what can just stay analog.

Stay tuned to my Flickr photostream to see what gems I unearth...

Fireworks, 2009

Aaron and I enjoyed our evening of Myles Pizza and fireworks in Bowling Green this year. It had been a few years since we'd done the fireworks thing, and we enjoyed ourselves, even though the fireworks weren't especially spectacular.

This was the first year I shot digital for fireworks photos; I think they came out great, and photographing fireworks with instant feedback was a lot of fun! Check out other fireworks photos from years past, including 2005 (in Holland, Ohio), 2004 (in Bowling Green), and 2002 (at Hemlock Lake in Michigan).

Bonus shot from 2002: Diana incredibly fat and sunburnt. Yikes.

Quick Nap

Seen from the window of Okonomi Yukari, in Akiba Ichi.

Tokyo Tower Sunset

As seen from Room 950, Tokyo Prince Hotel, in that brief moment between sunset and the illumination of the Tower (6:15 PM).

In other news, all of my Japan 2009 photos are finally uploaded to my Flickr account, so feel free to peruse, if you haven't already.

Jizo and Pebbles

Seen in Nikko, west of the Annex Turtle Inn Hotori-An, where we had stayed the previous night.

From Wikipedia:

In Japan, Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents. Since the 1980s, the tendency developed in which he was worshipped as the guardian of the souls of mizuko, the souls of stillborn, miscarried or aborted fetuses. In Japanese mythology, it is said that the souls of children who die before their parents are unable to cross the mythical Sanzu River on their way to the afterlife because they have not had the chance to accumulate enough good deeds and because they have made the parents suffer. It is believed that Jizō saves these souls from having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river as penance, by hiding them from demons in his robe, and letting them hear mantras.

Jizō statues are sometimes accompanied by a little pile of stones and pebbles, put there by people in the hope that it would shorten the time children have to suffer in the underworld (the act is derived from the tradition of building stupas as an act of merit-making). The statues can sometimes be seen wearing tiny children's clothing or bibs, or with toys, put there by grieving parents to help their lost ones and hoping that Jizō would specially protect them. Sometimes the offerings are put there by parents to thank Jizō for saving their children from a serious illness. Jizō's features are also commonly made more babylike in order to resemble the children he protects.

This Jizo must have been part Wicked Witch, or made of sugar, as it seems to have melted...

Blackbird Fly Test Roll

I purchased a new toy camera at Kiddyland in Harajuku while I was on vacation. I hadn't expected to find any such thing there; we had other cuteness on our agenda. But when I saw that camera on display, I couldn't say no.

I had planned to take a test roll in Tokyo and Nikko, but I forgot the Blackbird Fly in Aaron's backpack at the inn, and once I realized what I'd done, wasn't about to walk all the way back to the edge of town to get it. So I finished the roll at the Old West End Festival on Saturday, instead.

Overall impression: I like it. It makes distinctive photos, which is a big plus; also, it's just manual enough to keep me on my toes, while being forgiving enough that my slip-ups don't ruin everything.

More photographic geekery follows — and more pictures, too.

read more...

Tokyo Tower, Thursday Morning

As seen from the Tokyo Prince Hotel, room 950, on 18 May 2009 at 7:45am JST.

Why I Don't Do Event Photography

I had been planning to write an entry about the strong and weak points of my new "walkaround" lens, and why I'm contemplating buying a similar but more expensive version of the lens. After some reflection, though, I realized that I just need some more real-world experience, both with my Sigma 18-200mm and with my DSLR in general.

Don't get me wrong: I got some great shots in Japan. My new, wider lens allowed me to get everything I wanted in the frame without backing way up: meals, quick snapshots, and self-portraits all turned out a bit better for the wider angle. The zoom factor also helped on occasion, and allowed me to choose how to frame a shot, instead of just getting in as tight as I can and composing what I've got in frame.

The major downside, apart from some bigtime distortion at the 18mm end, was the speed of the lens -- that is to say, how well it performs in low light. It's not a particularly fast lens, meaning that it can't "suck light out of a black hole." This can be problematic, since I tend to do a lot of available-light photography.

My knee-jerk reaction? I need a better lens. One that's faster, or that has vibration reduction. The truth? I need to learn to use my camera to its fullest before I go maxxing out my consumer-grade equipment.

The whole time that I was mentally complaining about my slow lens, trying to use a slow-sync flash or brace the camera or whatever -- that whole time, my ISO was set to 200. I could have cranked it up to 1600, if the thought had ever occured to me. Better to have a sharp and grainy picture than a blurry and unusable picture, after all. But the thought literally never occured to me.

I guess I'm still living in a film world, to a degree. ISO? Set it and forget it. I should have set it to auto and let the camera decide, if I wasn't going to keep up with it myself.

I still got plenty of neat pictures, even so. (And, yes, I'll be posting them over the next while. Check my Flickr for the latest.) I just still have a lot to learn.

Playing Field, Tokyo

Seen from the Main Observation Deck of the Tokyo Tower, 13 May 2009 at 6:55pm.

Second-floor Light

Seen from the upstairs of PizzaPapalis in downtown Toledo.

N University and State St, Ann Arbor

Sanja Matsuri, Asakusa 2007

Seen in Asakusa during the Sanja Festival, 19 May 2007.

We never did find out what mythology was being played out here, and were slightly disappointed that the main characters never actually enacted the swordfight that kept being alluded to.

Party Like It's 1996

Heather, me, Liz, and Mary at Drew's party, March/April 1996. (Or thereabouts.)

From back in the days when friends were plentiful and my love with Aaron was new, shortly after Mary introduced the two of us. This party involved watching the Star Wars Christmas Special, drinking Everclear mixers, and playing Risk.

(Taken at the same party this photo was from.)

Exactly 13 years ago... Damn.

Candle Composition

Pictured: Cosmopolitan, Amaretto Sour, and Lavender. Wish I would have played with this composition a little more; I didn't try this particular angle until the very end of this evening's photo session.

The candles are, of course, made by Yours Truly and are for sale — $5 for the Cosmo, $4 for the Amaretto Sour, and a mere $1.50 for the cute 2oz Lavender. Other scents that would be smashing in a cocktail glass: Piña Colada, Fuzzy Navel, Green Apple (appletini, anyone?).

High-Level Bridge

As seen from the fitness path by the Owens Corning building.

This was originally going to be a test of posting a photo to my blog from Flickr via my iPhone... until I discovered that I can't blog photos via Flickr Mobile. D'oh!

I can, however, "moblog" by e-mailing a photo to my Flickr account. Flickr will then automatically post it to my blog at the same time, which is handy. I'll give that a try sometime soon.

I do wish that Flickr had more specific settings for category and excerpt and a few other minor tweaks. It's a pain to have to go in and assign a category after blogging a photo from Flickr (which is why I rarely do it that way).

Attentive Kitty

Mei always gets so excited when the windows are opened for the first time in Spring. It's like her Cat TV turns into Cat HDTV.

Built By King Bridge Co.

Seen in downtown Toledo, 1 February 2008.

Stalking the Wild Totoro

[View larger on Flickr]

Weekend Hangout

As seen on 26 April 2008.

Lensbaby 3G

The Lensbaby 3G that I purchased on eBay last week arrived yesterday — just in time for me to have only a few minutes to play with it before heading off to Zen. I spent all of today looking forward to having time with my Lensbaby this evening... then found myself fresh out of ideas for still life setups in my house after only an hour (which, honestly, didn't seem like that long).

Two more photos and some product commentary after the jump...

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The Laughing Buddha

Fantasy

Seen in Barnes & Noble, at the Shops at Fallen Timbers in Maumee.

Someone was making an editorial comment about these elusive male multiple orgasms... Cute.

Published

Many thanks to the fine people at Tricycle Magazine for offering me my first real opportunity to be officially published. My photo, Zen Altar with New Bowl, was printed in conjunction with a brief article on Setting up your home altar in the Spring 2009 issue of Tricycle.

I'm published!

Review Addendum: Sigma 18-200mm Lens

My husband was surprised when I gave such an uncomplimentary review to the Sigma 18-200mm lens I recently purchased. True, I did originally drool over the idea of having a wide-angle and a telephoto in one lens. It's also true that the entirety of my "test" involved only low-light interiors: a sushi restaurant, a coffee shop, and our living room.

Before passing final judgment on this particular lens, I thought it only fair to research the other comparable lenses. By "comparable" I mean similar focal lengths and maximum apertures. I had thought to find a faster and more expensive lens but, as I discovered, even the most wide-open superzooms or walkabout lenses aren't suited for low light photography.

I do own a Sigma 50mm macro lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8, so I thought it would be only fair to compare the new superzoom with the 50mm prime lens, just to make sure I would be able to get the shots I was after with a faster lens. Earlier this week, I took a few identical photos with each lens to see how they compared.

This image basically embodies what I found: the results from the 50mm prime lens were definitely more passable, due to the faster shutter speed, but were still nothing to write home about.

If I were to want to take ambient light photos in this kind of lighting situation, I would likely brace myself and/or my camera against something stable, rather than shooting handheld alone. I would also crank up the ISO as far as possible — something I failed to do in either test.

I'm planning to give the walkaround lens more of a walkaround, learn to use it properly, and develop a steadier hand. I really am looking forward to having such a wide range of composition options open to me... although this will force me to consider all of them, rather than just working within what my 28-70mm (and my feet) can give me.

Review: Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 AF DC II Lens

I've been wanting a longer lens for my Nikon D50 for some time. I've owned this camera for over three years now, and have been making do with my Sigma 28-70mm zoom for most of that time.

My previous "good" camera was the Minolta X370s 35mm SLR. Over the six or so years that it was my main camera, I acquired a 28mm wide-angle lens, 50mm standard lens, 80-200mm zoom, 2x teleconverter, and three macro filters. I've been jonesing to be able to get in close to the action like I once could.

So, I went online, seeking out the zoomiest zoom for the most reasonable price, and I found the Sigma 18-200mm. First, I found one with Optical Stabilization, but when I saw how much that added to the price, I opted against it and ordered one without.

It really is true, what they say: you get what you pay for.

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Winter Walk Triptych

Self-portraits during my lunch walks in 2006 (Arrowhead Park in Maumee), 2008 and 2009 (both downtown Toledo).

I always seem to be scowling in my self-portraits, except when I'm being deliberately cheery (or cheesy). Makes me wonder if I always look like that, and if everyone around me always thinks I'm pissed off.

She's Ready For Her Closeup

Thanks to the dedicated flash that Aaron bought me for Christmas, I can now take photos of my kitty Mei without weird shadows and otherworldly glowing eyes. I also love the soft catch-light in Mei's eye, from the bounce-flash off the ceiling.

See Mei larger-than-life on Flickr.

How Far We've Come

Diana, Kris, Mark, and Aaron pose in the parking lot after the Dirtbombs show on 21 September 2002, at the Magic Stick in Detroit. We sat the camera — whose was it? — on the roof of the car, set the timer, and posed together behind the back bumper.

Diana and Aaron are both at maximum girth (and still engaged), Mark is younger and skinnier, and Kris... well, he's just Kris. At least some things never change.

(Incidentally? I officially started blogging the day after this photo was taken.)

Buddha

Sophie and my iPhone

On Christmas Day, Aaron's cousin Sophie was playing with my iPhone, checking out the photos I'd posted to Flickr from Thanksgiving.

Twitter Update (#1081854694)

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Christmas Portrait 2008

Season's Greetings from the Schnuth Family - Aaron, Diana, and Mei.

Cozy Thanksgiving

Curled up on the couch after a pleasant Thanksgiving.

Quiet Night At Home, December 2007

This is how I still see myself in my mind's eye, even though this is how I really look now: 20 pounds lighter and with 13+ inches less hair.

MC Frontalot @ Howard's

Aaron and I went to see MC Frontalot and his nerdcore friends at Howard's in BG on 6 November 2008. Right up front. Awesome show.

I also took some video from our front-row vantage point, and Aaron posted a review of the show on his blog at schnuth.com.

Lomo LC-A: How Do I Love Thee?

I realized before I went out to the Fulton County Fair out in Wauseon that I hadn't used my Lomo LC-A in a good three years, since the Bob Mould show in Detroit back in October '05. So, I loaded up with two cameras for the fair: the digital point-and-shoot, for pics to post online ASAP; and the Lomo, for artsy, low-light pics of carnival rides.

I took a whole roll of hopefully-artsy photos of people and rides and buildings, trying to recapture the look and feel of my old Wood County Fair pics from back in 2002. Burned through the whole roll, sent it off to Snapfish, and awaited my scans and photos.

Alas, it appears I should have tested the camera first. The shutter isn't firing. I got back not a roll of artsy photos, but a replacement roll of film.

So, after the disappointing performance of the XA at the Matthew Sweet show, I decided to look into fixing my Lomo. See, the Lomo is fully automatic, while the XA is aperture-priority, so the Lomo actually might have performed better in those conditions. Anyway, I Googled "lomo shutter repair," and found a site I'd actually used the last time I had to repair the Lomo (again, three years ago), which reminded me that maybe I just need to get some new batteries. *facepalm*

But. If it's not just the batteries...

Maybe I should look for a new Lomo.

Checked on lomography.com: $250. Heck, no. Checked on eBay: $150-ish. Not entirely OK with spending that much, either. I mean, it does make unique pictures, but I only use it a few times a year, if that.

I'm hoping that it's the batteries.

Matthew Sweet at the Beachland Ballroom

Unfortunately, the usually-trusty Olympus XA didn't handle the lighting very well, so this is the best photo I got from the show on 25 October 2008.

One Thing I Saw This Weekend

Seen in the dealer room at the Providence Anime Conference, 5 October 2008.

More photos (and con report) to come...

Downtown BG

Seen during the Black Swamp Arts Festival, 6 September 2008.

Grandpa Pants

This is especially funny because my Grandpa Cook seriously does wear pants like this.

Rainy Church Rainbow

Seen on Nebraska Ave, en route to downtown Toledo for a Mud Hens game this past Saturday.

Zen Altar with New Bowl

I purchased this bowl on Etsy.com from Bridgeman Studios. Beautiful workmanship, simple design — exactly what I was looking for.

The flowers in the background are clay flowers purchased at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs... but they deserve their own close-up later.

Graffiti Conversation

Seen on William Street during the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, 19 July 2008.

My Obsession With Photos

This weekend, Aaron and I spent an afternoon with his Dad and brother. We went out to lunch, then spent a few hours just talking at their Dad's house.

Of course, me being such a sucker for photos, and being curious about Aaron's family, I started off the requisite photo album viewing by declaring, "I want to see pictures of Fat Grammie!" (Referring, of course, to the brief period of time in the early 1970s when Aaron's grandmother was quite overweight. She went on Weight Watchers and lost it all, and kept it off over the years.)

We ended up looking though nearly a dozen photo albums from the late '60s and the '70s, and I got to see not only Fat Grammie, but Poppa with a beard, and Baby Aaron at two weeks — and Aaron's mother, who passed away just about five years before I met him. I kept being amazed by the people and places I was seeing in these photos — "Wow, you really do look like your mother," and, "Is that the same rocking chair that's still at Grammie and Poppa's house?" and just looking over toward the kitchen to be sure that the linoleum in that photo from 1978 is really the same linoleum that's still there today.

It wasn't until then that I realized why I have such an obsession with photos, and candid, unposed shots in particular.

They're a time capsule.

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Litres

Working gas pump, currently dispensing diesel, seen in rural Ontario in June 2008.

Hawaii Report #2

Friday was our day to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. When we'd bought our airfare and hotel package, the PCC was listed as one of the possible touristy things we could tack on for an additional price. Since we tend to gravitate toward cultural sorts of things anyway (like Behalt in Amish Country, for instance), we decided to go for it. It wasn't until after everything was bought and paid for that we read online that the PCC is owned and operated by the LDS church, and that the center is more of a theme park than an actual cultural experience.

Even without booze at the luau, though, we still had a great time:

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Flickr'd!

The photos we took in Hawaii are now posted in a set on Flickr. If you go through the slideshow, it'll take you about 25 minutes, assuming you don't pause the slideshow and don't skip through.

Next on the agenda: scanning the two photos we bought — one before the Orientation Breakfast (OMG cheesy!) and one before Germaine's Luau (not really cheesy at all). Also, I plan to post some short videos ("moving pictures") to Flickr, as I think some video we took will adhere nicely to that concept. I'm also going to edit together the 100 minutes of video we took into something a little more watchable.

For those of you who have asked if we're planning a party to show off our pictures, here's your Save The Date notice: June 21st, the first day of summer. Start scouring the local Goodwill for your aloha attire!

Happy Birthday To Me

My husband sent birthday flowers to me at work! Aww!

Blast From The Past

This used to be one of our favorite antique / retro stores to frequent, before it went out of business. Now, about eight or nine years later, it is merely an amusing play on words.

Building Dreams at BGSU

I found this juxtaposition amusing. What kind of dreams are they building?

Photo: Walker Texas Retard

Seen on the BGSU campus, 29 March 2008.

Business Trip #2, Wrap-up

The short version: Hotel was what I expected. Training was what I expected, and exactly what I needed. Time spent with co-worker was what I expected, yet not quite, in many ways. Chicago was as cool as I expected, and I expect to go back someday soon.

The detailed version follows....

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New Toy

Since I've had a little extra money to throw around, I've been treating myself here and there to things I've been wanting, but haven't really been able to justify. This time, it was a macro lens for my Nikon D50.

I'd noticed recently that the lens I usually use didn't work so well with close-up photography. This is unfortunate, as I really enjoy finding small and/or unusual things and photographing them as best I can. Granted, I do think my "old" lens is in need of cleaning (OK, I know it is), which would explain the weird glow in the comparison photos I took tonight:

I can get in so much closer now, and the images seem to be crisper and have more contrast. I can also narrow the depth of field waaaaay down, throwing everything but my subject out of focus. (Which, for those of you who have seen a decent amount of my photography, is my usual MO.)

So, now I can give you the marimokkori photo I really wanted you to see:

Note the pronounced, um, mokkori. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

OH MY GOD.

View From the 12th Floor

Per my mother's request: a view from 12 South Conference Room.

Toledo: City of the Future

Found at Promenade Park on the Maumee River in downtown Toledo.

City of the future... now there's a scary thought. o.O

Christmas Portrait 2007

It's going to be a long time before I take a Christmas family portrait that I don't have any qualms with. I must say, though, that this year's portrait session went more smoothly than any so far.

If you'd like to know more, read on. Otherwise, accept our best wishes for a happy Yuletide.

(By the way, I've posted all six Schnuth family Christmas portraits, 2002 to 2007, in a set on Flickr.)

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Maumee River, Toledo

Taken during my first week working downtown, over a lunch break. I hadn't realized how beautiful downtown Toledo could truly be, if you just look in the right places.

The Happy Couple

October 27, 2007
Brio at Polaris, Columbus OH

L'Chaim!

The Flaming Lips at the Agora Theatre

The Flaming Lips at the Agora Theatre, originally uploaded by dianaschnuth.

The Flaming Lips in Concert

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

This was quite possibly the most fun I've ever had at a concert.

Not only are the Lips an incredible band from a musical and lyrical standpoint, but they put on a great show. The audience participation bits actually don't seem cheesy or silly. —Well, I guess they do seem a little silly, but no one really seems to mind. Who cares, when you're beaming a laser pointer (provided by the Lips) off of a giant mirror, or participating in a "scream-along," or bouncing a giant balloon through the crowd up to the very top of the upper balcony?

You MUST check out the rest of my Flaming Lips photos. They tell some of the story. As for the rest of the story... you really just had to be there.

Best concert EVAR.

ETA: Here's the first couple minutes of the show, recorded by Yours Truly:

Samurai Statue, Imperial Palace

I'm overdue for another Japan Trip installment, I know...

In lieu of that, for now, I present this photo of the statue of Kusunoki Masashige, just outside the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo.

Laughter

Somehow, I really like this picture. I think the blur adds to the photo, rather than detracting from it.

Productive

Finished the initial roll of film in the Brownie Starmite. Today was appropriately sunshiny, so I took identical photos to yesterday's overcast ones, plus some others to pad out the roll. Wrote a check to Dwayne's Photo for $14, packed up the film, and will be shipping it off tomorrow morning. I expect to have twelve 4" x 4" prints in my hot little hands by May 1st.

Put away the mess of clothes on the floor by the bed. Went into the small bedroom and arranged all of our board games on a small plastic shelving unit in the closet. (Damn, we have a lot of board games. Trivial Pursuit especially.) Moved my empty steamer trunk from the small bedroom to beside my nightstand. Sometime in the near future, I'll be going through the linen closet and moving blankets into the trunk to make room for the new sheets I intend to purchase.

Submitted the new freelance site to Google for spidering and indexing. I'm planning to use a Google search for the site search, so a good spidering by Google would be a definite plus. Still have a lot to do... I'm not going to end up getting everything done this week that I told them I would. I knew I was giving myself a mighty tall order, what with the laundry list of stuff I had yet to do. Not to worry. It'll get done well before the Japan trip. Hopefully by the end of April, if not sooner.

Paid my credit card bills. A simple task, but still one that makes me feel... satisfied? Relieved? Accomplished? Meh. It's done, anyway.

Paying bills is going to get more interesting in July, when Sky changes over to Huntington's payroll system. Bi-weekly instead of semi-monthly. This will take some getting used to, after being paid on the 15th and the last day of the month for the past 4½ years.

Kodak Brownie Starmite

A couple of days ago, my cubemate James told me that he and his wife had found a couple of old cameras while they were cleaning their house. Since he knew I collect old cameras, he saved them both from the landfill and brought them in to work yesterday for me to check out. One was a simple late-70s / early-80s Instamatic 110 camera, which I dismissed as passé.

The second camera, though, piqued my interest.

It was a Kodak Brownie Starmite camera from the early 1960s (an "instamatic" of sorts itself, as it has no adjustable settings). I gladly took it off of James's hands, and offered him five bucks for it, which he refused. I just so happened to have a roll of 127 film leftover in the freezer from testing the Brownie Bullet a couple of years back, so I brought the camera home, cleaned it off, and loaded it up, then brought it to work today to test it out during my lunchtime walk.

The research I did online said that the Starmite has an aperture of f/11 and a fixed focus at infinity. That basically means that I'm limited to sunny landscapes, so today's overcast weather didn't bode well. I went ahead and took the standard test shots, though: gazebo, telephone pole, path. I'll take similar or identical pictures in a day or two, when it's sunnier out, and we'll see how the camera (and film) reacts to different levels of light.

Note to self: This time, when I'm done with the roll, I'm going to have individual prints made, rather than a contact/proof sheet. The proof sheet for the Brownie Bullet didn't turn out so good. Maybe I'll do some searching for a different place to process, too... but I'm not really dissatisfied with Main Photo. I'd just like to find someplace a little closer to the Midwest, for some quicker turnaround.

Imperial Flash Mark XII Test Roll

Part of the fun of buying antique cameras, or even just crappy plastic cameras, is that you never know what kind of results you'll get. Could be the focus is off. Could be some crazy vignetting. Could be that those things add charm. Could be that the images are just crap.

I'm not quite sure with this one. I think I need another test roll...

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The Perils of Film-Based Photography

You will have noticed the photo post from earlier today — a rare bird these days, as a.) I haven't been photographing much lately, and b.) I'm not particularly smitten by much of my photography... enough to post it here, anyway.

So, how did it come to be that I waited nine months to get this particular roll developed? Well, I'll tell you...

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Drum Corps Cameraphone

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

Taken at the Toledo All-Star Review, 17 June 2006.

(Yes, I just got the film developed...)

Ohayocon7 Retrospective, Part I: Fried Bologna Sandwiches

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

I haven't blogged about the last few cons Aaron and I have attended, mainly because I prefer to save my opinions and narratives for Aaron's podcast. This time, though, there are enough other random, un-anime things that deserve mention that I think I'll go ahead and blog about the weekend. And I will begin at the beginning, with fried bologna sandwiches in Waldo, Ohio...

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Christmas Portrait 2006

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

After ten minutes of experimenting on myself, and ten more minutes of throwing a less-than-thrilled husband and cat into the mix, this was the resulting Schnuth Christmas Portrait for 2006. Not quite sure what I think of it, although it is definitely the best of the set. I think it might be an improvement on last year's photo in some ways, although it's still way ahead of what I did in the past.

What follows are notes to myself for next year and general photography rants and wants. If you're down with that, read on...

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A Photo Retrospective

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


My drumcorps buddy Paul just started a Flickr account and, like so many new Flickrites, has started scanning and uploading photos from his past.

I had been using my Flickr account for artsy photos I was proud of... but Paul inadvertently made me rethink that decision. So, I've started scanning and uploading old photos of my own, starting in 2002. (I was going to start at the end of college in 2001 and work backwards, but 2002 was still a lot of fun.)

Expect more retrospective photos in the near future!

PS - Kris. I must borrow and scan your photo album with the photos of Aaron's move out of Lake of the Schnuth. Especially the one with the giant long brown couch strapped to the top of the Taurus station wagon. Holy shit, that was priceless.

Cla-Zel Theatre, Bowling Green OH

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


Haven't posted a photo in a while, so I figured I'd post one of the Black Swamp Art Festival pics I just got around to getting developed.

I need to use my Olympus XA more often. Most of the photos on this roll came back out-of-focus, which was *very* disappointing, since it could have been remedied with a steadier hand and more practice at rangefinder focusing.

"Published" Photos?

I received a message on Flickr today, from an Alexandra Moss at schmap.com. It seems that these two photos are to be included in the second edition of an electronic guide to Baltimore — with my permission, of course.

How neat!

It somehow validates my meager talent and boosts my self-esteem when I get non-solicited praise on my photography. I forget sometimes that I really am OK.

Incidentally, these Schmap Guides seem to be pretty cool. If I could put one of these on my Palm IIIc, or even an iPod Photo, that would really be the bee's knees.

My New Hair

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

I donated 10 inches of my hair last weekend. I haven't had hair this short in three years, and I'd forgotten how fun it is.

I have a new 'do, and I've helped a cancer-stricken child get a new 'do. It's a win-win situation.

Records For Sale

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

Haven't posted a photo for a while, so here's one from the Old West End Festival back in June.

Honeywell Pentax Test Roll

As promised, photos from the Pentax test roll. Taken 7 May 2006 at Wildwood Metropark.

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Voigtländer Test Roll

I purchased a bag full of camera equipment from my friend Kris about a month ago. This bag contained a 1970's-model Pentax camera with three lenses; an electronic flash and other accoutrements; and a Voigtländer Vitrona rangefinder camera, circa 1964.

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Black and White Film Photography

Like I mentioned earlier, I had loaded up my Olympus XA with black and white film a few months back, in preparation for Beth's wedding. I was curious about shooting black-and-white with my XA, and it's great in low light. I had also planned to test out the proprietary flash, but I realized too late that I'd forgotten to put a battery in it.

When I saw how dark the reception hall was, I thought for sure that none of the pictures would come out with no flash. So, I only took half the roll, not wanting to waste a relatively expensive roll of Kodak.

That was a mistake.

Had I just gone for it, and not worried about wasting film, I could have gotten so many great images. As it was, I only got about ten. This is where digital has definitely spoiled me: had I been able to see that the images were in fact good, I would have continued to shoot. As it was, I shied away from using up my film, because I'd started thinking of it as such a commodity as compared to my reusable memory card. I can't let myself do that when I'm shooting film instead of digital, even if I'm not positive the pictures will come out. I have to take chances. After all, it's just money, right? Besides that, I ended up blowing the rest of the roll on pictures of trees and shit, just to finish it up and get it sent off for processing.

I can also see the allure of black and white photography now. The last time I shot in black and white was my very first photography class, I think, and I truly didn't appreciate the artistic possibilities back then. Shooting in black and white forces your brain to look at the scene a little differently, to see the tones and the composition, rather than the colors and the literal scene in front of you.

It's difficult for me to see what would make a good black and white image when I'm looking at a color print (or jpeg). I know that people say you should shoot in color, then convert the image to black and white later if you think it would work better that way. If left to my own devices, I would focus on isolating the subject of a given photo using depth of field (having only the subject be in focus, and the rest of the photo be blurry). Using b&w, though, I don't necessarily find that the only (or easiest) way to isolate my subject. Lighting conditions and composition can help create a powerful image, as well.

I should set my Nikon to black and white mode and go out photographing. Get some practice, see some different compositions, so that next time I'm faced with a film-based situation, I won't feel so frugal with my frames.

Beth's Wedding

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

Finally got my pics back from Beth's wedding back in February. I had experimented by loading some black and white film in my Olympus XA... but I forgot my flash. The pictures actually came out extremely well, though — I'll have to post the rest here shortly.

Update, 5/27/06: I scanned in my negatives and posted them to Flickr. You can now view a slideshow of the ten good photos I took at Beth's wedding. When I did my post-processing on the photos (i.e. Photoshop adjustments), I purposely left them a little dark, just to keep the ambiance. I was honestly surprised that so many of these came out — I don't think they would have if I'd been shooting color.

Heathbar's Final Move

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

Aaron, Mark and I helped Kris and Jamie move stuff from Waterville to their house in Maumee on Saturday. See the whole move in my Flickr set "Moving Kris And Jamie."

Alternatively, you can browse my "moving" tag, or view all photos I took on Saturday 6 May 2006.

Forty Pounds Ago

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

As a reference, this is what I looked like when I was 40 pounds heavier. Amy, Aaron and I were going to the Dayton Air Show back in 2003.

I hunted down this photo because I'm thinking that I want to cut my hair and donate it again, and was wondering if I wanted to go with the standard bob again. I think it was cute, but man, I can't get over my hugely round face.

Weeds I'd Be Happy To Grow

As I've mentioned in my weekly diet updates, I like to take a half-hour to 45-minute walk every day during my lunch hour. There's a short path through a small wooded area in the middle of the business park, and I've walked it almost every day for... gee, probably seven or eight months now. I feel like my day is incomplete without my walk through the woods.

Since this is the first year I've walked the path in the early spring, I'm seeing all kinds of new wildflowers and plants I never noticed before. They all just melded together into a fantastic wooded greenness. Now, though, after walking in the winter and seeing everything bare, the new growth is really catching my eye. Especially flowers and things with splashes of color or unusual shape.

Now, I figure that if these plants are growing in the woods with no help from Man, they must be native to the NW Ohio area and able to thrive on their own in a shady environment. That's pretty much a definition of my back yard: shady and neglected. :-) If I could identify these plants, and could procure seeds or seedlings (I'd rather not remove them from the walking path), I could very likely grow quite the kick-ass wildflower bed along one of our hedge walls. Assuming Aaron wouldn't nix the idea due to his allergies.

I wish I could do a reverse Google Image search: plug in an image and have it search for images like it, or a definition of what I photographed. But alas (and alack), the only thing I can do is take pictures of the pretties and post them for my good readers to help me identify.

For pretty pictures of weeds wildflowers, read on...

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Under the Radar

I was just updating my About page to reflect my upgrade in digital cameras and blogging software, when I noted that one of my links was broken. So, I went to the Konica Minolta site to find a new link to my camera's info, and found this instead:

Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc. ceased the camera business on March 31, 2006.

As of April 1st, 2006, Sony Corporation is providing customer service for Konica's, Minolta's, and Konica Minolta's cameras (excluding single-use cameras) and camera-related products except for the binoculars.

Apparently, somebody must be behind on reading her photography magazines. I'm sure I should have heard about this before now. Ah, well. That sucks.

Incidentally, it looks like the specs on my manual-focus Minolta X-370s are no longer available online. You can, however, read about my new Minolta point-and-shoot. Hmm.

Seedling Update

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

The seedlings are just over two weeks old, and they're starting to show me what they're made of. The catnip (above) is growing like mad, and I'm seriously contemplating planting it in a container, rather than in my soon-to-be herb garden. If I actually plant it in the ground, I expect that it will run rampant and destroy all growing things in its path.

The parsley is finally coming up, the sweet basil is growing tall and stately, and the lemon basil is about on a par with the parsley.

I've managed to kill four out of six hollyhocks, thanks to us being out of town during an apparently crucial watering weekend. (Who knew?) One had already died from damping-off, and three others just died of thirst. My two remaining hollyhocks are about 2-3" tall and not very strong. One already needs staked, which can't be good. I'm hoping they'll grow out of it (so to speak).

Growing Things

This weekend, I drug Aaron out with me to purchase some planting supplies — most notably, a seed starting kit. I'd purchased several packets of seeds last year, and decided that this is the year I start my own plants from seed.

I ended up starting five plants each of hollyhocks, lemon basil, sweet basil, parsley, and catnip. Well, each peat pellet pot has two or three seeds in it, but they'll be thinned to one per pot, so we'll just say it's five plants apiece.

I've never done this before, so I had no idea how peat pellets worked. It is SO COOL. They start out as little flat discs. You water them with warm water, and poof! They become little miniature biodegradable pots! How cool is that?

And what's cooler? My hollyhocks and my basil are already starting to germinate, after only two days. There are little, pale green stems curling up out of the soil. I opened up the lid of my mini-greenhouse, and it smells like those bean sprouts we planted in first grade. *squee*

So, what's my diabolical plan? Well, I'm planning to plant the hollyhocks close to the fence that borders the neighbors. This will hopefully act as a bit of a privacy screen, as I understand that hollyhocks can grow pretty tall. Beside the hollyhocks, farther away from the fence, I'm hoping to plant one or two of the potted Rose of Sharon bushes/twigs I've been trying not to kill for the past two years. I'm hoping to manage this in a way that doesn't complicate Aaron's lawn-mowing mojo.

In the NE corner of the backyard, I'm planning to plant a little herb garden, with my basil and catnip and parsley and maybe some store-bought plants. There's a decent little patch of sunshine by the fence and the gate, so hopefully I can nestle a little corner of herbalicious goodness there — and, again, not complicate Aaron's lawn-mowing mojo. I'm hoping that my strategy will reduce the amount of edging for me to neglect.

As much as I'm tempted to go buy myself a nice climbing rose, I know I should hold off. I've already just about killed one rosebush from neglect; I don't need to continue my murderous rampage of flora until I can take care of what I've already planted. Plus, goodness knows how much I'll be able to take care of any of this once we pop out a kid. I can't help but assume that infant care and gardening are not particularly compatible.

But that's not for some time yet. For now, I'll be content in watching my baby plants germinate and make condensation inside their little greenhouse.

Wanted: Men Who Like To Sing

...They didn't mention that the men needed to sing *well*.

Taken in Sylvania OH by  sheryls, while we were walking off our J&G's pizza and gyros.

View From The Hornline

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

Taken at the February 19th rehearsal of the Lakeshoremen Drum & Bugle Corps.

I Think I'm Dumb

After several years of use, our trusty Fuji FinePix 2400Zoom is finally starting to call it quits. The clamshell-style lens cover no longer latches closed, and it's difficult to open it far enough so that the camera knows it's open. Besides that, it still takes decent pictures... but it's really kind of a pain to deal with.

So, I took it upon myself to research and purchase a new digital P/S (point-and-shoot). After the general annoyances from the Fuji over the years, I had an idea of features I wanted. The new camera had to be an ultra-compact. Fits in any pocket. Unobtrusive. It also had to have a *fast* start-up time and minimal shutter lag. Too many photo ops were lost while waiting for the Fuji to power up. The new camera only needed to be more than two or three megapixels, so discontinued models were fine. Keeping it on the cheap, preferably around $200. It needed to take SD Memory Cards, which my new Nikon D50 uses (as no cameras seem to use the SmartMedia cards the Fuji used). And finally, it had to have positive reviews from "real" photographers who use the camera as their own P/S.

I finally narrowed the playing field down to two contenders: the Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph, and the Minolta DiMage X50. After checking eBay, I decided to go with the DiMage X50, since it is regularly at least $50 cheaper than the Elph.

Next step: do some bargain hunting. I figured out early on that my best bet would actually be to go with eBay, since both of the cameras I was looking at were discontinued models. I found some for parts, and some with cracked screens, but I finally found a DiMage that I thought looked good. I bid $115 plus shipping, and won.

I told Aaron about it that weekend, and showed him the completed auction.

And saw the fine print.

My camera had a cracked LCD. D'oh! I couldn't believe I'd missed it! I could only wait until the camera arrived and hope that it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Today, my wait was over.

I opened the carefully-packed box as Aaron watched, lifted out the retail camera box from within, and opened that box to see what awaited me. The camera looked great from the front: amazingly small, stylish. From the back? A small black mark spidering from the lower left corner of the LCD.

I thought I'd gotten all worked up over nothing. Surely the LCD would still work!

Not quite.

If I tilt the camera just so, I can see enough of the menu to know that I'm changing, say, the resolution or the white balance. There are several features that are impossible to find, due to the nearly inoperable screen.

There are two particularly good things about this, though. First: the camera does work. I can test it out, quality-wise, and I have every intention of posting it back on eBay and trying to get some of my money back. Which brings me to the second high point: there was a 256MB memory card in the camera when I received it. This card was *not* listed in the auction.

So, as long as I resell the camera (sans 256MB card) for around $90, I'll actually come out even. In truth, though, I'm assuming I'm going to take a loss for this one. Karma is going to bite me in the ass for being stupid and not reading the auction thoroughly before bidding. And I'm OK with that.

Next time, though, I'm bidding on a refurbished camera with a 90 day warranty...

Update: Both the cameras I was considering have video capture capability. Fun! I took a test video to see if it would work... and, lo and behold, it does. Fun stuff.

Happy Birthday, Carrie (er, Carolyn)!

Carrie and I were best friends in Middle School. We sat next to each other in the first day of Choir in seventh grade, completely by chance, and ended up as friends. We were both awkward adolescents in our own ways, rejected by the majority of our classmates, and that fact was probably our biggest bond. I was a new kid at the school that year, too, and shy to boot, so finding friends wasn't easy for me.

As with all friendships at that age, we had our ins and outs. Carrie had a very peculiar sense of humor, and if you didn't know better, you might think that her jibes and insults were really meant. She liked to call me "Tech," because I always used long, technical words, and she often poked fun at me for my long strides and fast walk. At dances, the term "wallflower" somehow morphed into "Wall Idiot," her endearing term for my tendency to never actually dance, and especially not with boys.

She also never failed to badger me during the two months between her birthday and mine. Her mantra would be, "Ha, ha — I'm older than you!" (If you know how old I am, you can already see where this is going.)

During the summer after 8th grade, Mom separated from my stepdad, Tom, and so ended my stint in the North Central Local School District. Carrie (who opted to go by her full given name of Carolyn in high school) and I still stayed friends, visiting one another during the summers between school years. Even into college, I would borrow Mom's car and drive from Medina to Creston to visit during breaks, especially summer.

We started to lose track of one another later in my college years, especially as she became involved with her then-boyfriend, now-husband Jeff. Still, though, we made sure to keep in touch somewhat, always making sure that we knew how to reach one another, should the occasion arise.

Not long ago — well, over a year now, I guess — I received baby photos from Carolyn's mom, Candy. Shortly thereafter, I received an invitation to attend a baby shower for Carolyn. Of course, I Mapquested the directions to Carolyn's house in West Bumfuck, Ohio, and drove the two and a half hours out to see her and her new son, armed with a soft and fuzzy teddy bear.

The coolest thing about the visit, besides seeing Carolyn's new son, was hearing her call me her best friend again. It's like that, isn't it? Once best friends, always best friends, even if you have other best friends in the interim. Sure, we hadn't seen one another in probably four years, but I still have the right half of our "Best Friends" necklace from circa 1988. :-)

Tomorrow, I believe, Carolyn turns 30. I have a card all ready to send to her. My inscription?

"Ha, ha! You're older than me!"

I've been waiting over 15 years to say that. Now I just need to unearth her mailing address...

Update, 10:35pm: Found it. Had to clean (well, sort) my entire desk area, but I found the baby shower invitation. Carolyn's address is now in my Palm Contacts, synched to my iPod, so I won't lose it again. :-P

Happy Valentine's Day

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


I was running late this morning, and hadn't even considered what day it was.

Until I saw the white carnations sitting on my purse. ^_^

I have the best honey-muffin in the world! :-D Happy Valentine's Day... even if it is a Hallmark Holiday.

Portrait By Aaron

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

I had just shown my husband Aaron how to use the D50 in Auto mode. This was Aaron's very first picture with the new camera.

He is no longer scared of the D50, and now thinks the camera is tres cool.

Yawn

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


It's been a while since I posted a cute Mei photo... so here you go.

I do have a question for anyone who uses Flickr and blogs their photos: What are your feelings on blogging your photos directly from Flickr versus uploading separate versions to your own webspace?

I'm hesitant to use Flickr as my main photo repository, just because I've had bad experiences with storing my files online and having them go poof (ahem, Angelfire). Although it's not like I won't keep copies of my own... but it's easier to archive a website when the photos live the same place as everything else.

Plus, Flickr doesn't offer thumbnails in the size I prefer, and they don't support categories. I'd have to edit my entries, anyway, by uploading my own thumbnail to my server and adding a category. I'm thinking it's more trouble than it's worth... but I also don't know why the heck I have a Flickr photostream if not to share and blog my photos.

Thoughts?

Ohayocon6

I can't seem to think of a witty introduction, so I guess I'll just give you a link to my Ohayocon 2006 photos.

I've found one photo of Aaron and me posted online so far. I'm sure there will be more eventually, though.

Aaron and I recorded a con report in the car on the way home from Columbus on Sunday. The audio didn't turn out quite as well as Aaron had hoped, being that we didn't take into account the sensitivity of his mics and the acoustics of the car. Still, though, if you haven't already, check out our Ohayocon report on the Weekly Anime Review Podcast, scheduled for release this Thursday.

Inflatable Snowman

[also available on flickr]

I was coming home from my 45 minutes of photographing Christmas lights in the 'hood, and I had just about given up. An occupant of the first house I had photographed had come to the door, ostensibly wondering what a honkey with a camera and a tripod was doing in the dark in front of their house. That kicked up my normal photography paranoia an extra notch, and really threw me off for the rest of my shoot.

Anyway, as I said, I was coming home after not having gotten very many good shots. I almost turned the camera off, but decided that I would leave it on until I got back to my house (another block away). Almost as soon as I said that to myself, I saw this wonderful inflatable snowman and his tree-friend.

This turned out to be the best shot of the evening.

Thoughts on Flickr

I had mentioned earlier that I wasn't sure how often I would actually use Flickr, being that I have my own MO for posting pics.

Tonight, I discovered the Flickr Groups.

This is going to be a treasure trove of project ideas. I've joined groups like Nikon D50 Users, "I love my cat," the Tips From The Top Floor podcast group, Night Images, Bowling Green OH, Toledo OH... and, finally, one for which I WON'T be using my D50 to take photos, "Camera Toss."

If I ever run out of ideas for things to photograph, I need only pick a group, and I'm on my way.

Portraits of Christmas Past

Since Aaron and I moved in together and bought ourselves our very own plastic prelit Christmas tree, I decided to initiate a new tradition: Christmas family portraits. This year, with the arrival of the new Nikon D50 digital SLR (read: fancy camera), I decided it might be fun to look at the photos of our Christmases so far.

It's interesting to see how we've changed, and how my craft has improved over the years.

I do have to mention, though, that one thing remains constant. After witnessing my mother trying to pose the two of us for portraits way back in '97, I know that the basis of getting a good portrait with Aaron is making sure he is comfortable. Mom can pose portraits well — she worked for Olan Mills for 10 years or so, and continues to work in a portrait studio — but Aaron's back doesn't deal well with the kinds of sitting and twisting she requests sometimes. Make sure Aaron's comfy, then fit me and the cat in the picture, and everything's on it's way to being good. :-)

My Grandparents, May 2003

As promised, a photo of my grandparents at my wedding. I think they look pretty damn good for being 70-whatever years old.

Aaron and I, on the other hand, were 50 pounds overweight. Yeesh. Too bad the wedding photos had to be the "before" pictures.

Christmas Ornament Self-Portrait

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


So, I finally succumbed to the Flickr thing. Actually, I didn't succumb — I think it was Yahoo that automatically signed me up for a free Flickr account somehow

I'm not thinking I'll be posting very many pics to Flickr, or posting photos to my blog this way, as I can't set the category to "photo" from Flickr itself, and I can't post photos in my preferred 480-pixel width.

Still, though, it's a cool function. If I decide to start an honest-to-god photoblog someday, this might be a quick and dirty way to accomplish that.

Brownie Bullet Test Roll

This should be a familiar sight by now, as I take this photo as one of my basic test shots with every camera, it seems.

After some online research, I discovered that the going price for developing and printing 127 film is about $15. With this in mind, I opted to order a proof sheet from Main Photo, instead of individual prints, just to save a couple bucks. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me that this would totally eliminate any chance the lab had of adjusting the tonality of individual frames (that is, making sure all the different pictures came out right).

So, I now have a particularly dark proof sheet, all but the above picture, and three negative strips that won't fit into my scanner. However, I did some experimenting with the scanner, and discovered that scanning black and white negs in reflective mode isn't a complete loss:

Although I don't think my scanner has a very professional... what's it called? Delta-V? It's been a long time since VCT 208 or whatever it was. Anyway, I don't think my scanner is terribly good at capturing the differences in grays, especially when scanning transparencies in reflective mode, but it's a decent enough scan to help evaluate the camera, I think.

Basically, if I'm planning to do some shooting outdoors, in sunshine, and decide to go all artsy, maybe I'll get some more 127 film and bring the Brownie as a backup. Apart from that... I'm not in love with it. Maybe I'll change my mind if I get some reprints made of a few of the images on this roll, or if I try taking some snowy winter pics and get real prints made.

My opinion as of this moment, though, is that the Brownie Bullet is merely a neat and functional art-deco knick-knack I got for super-cheap at the thrift store.

Nikon D50 Test "Roll"

In which Mei seems to say, "My GOD, woman. You've been taking my picture for two hours. Give it a rest!"

read more...

Autumn Leaves

Autumn, Eppstein Park, Maumee OH.

Yet Another New Toy

After two years of pondering and saving, I finally bought a DSLR. (For the photography-impaired, that's a big fancy digital camera.) Amazon.com had the Nikon D50 kit listed for $709, which is about $90 less than B&H wanted for the same camera/lens. Throw in a 512MB SD memory card, a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate from using my Amazon Visa, and free Super Saver Shipping, and I'll have a usable camera arriving in about a week and a half for about $715.

I can't believe it. I've been wanting a DSLR for so long, and I'm really not one to make big-ticket purchases without days of deliberation. I saw this deal, though, and only took an afternoon to make up my mind. Plus, I've got $500 of the $700 in savings, so I'm really only going to charge up $200 of the purchase price, as I'm paying that $500 on my card tonight. Plus, I have a 0% APR on my Discover Card right now, so I decided to charge it to that one instead of one of my other cards with a "normal" rate.

I could blather on about the features of my new camera, but I think I'll wait to do that until I have it in hand. Suffice to say that I *will* be bringing it to Ohayocon in January, especially since it will be easy enough to operate that Aaron could even take pictures with it.

Early Christmas present for me! @whee!

*does happy camera dance*

Youmacon 2005: Photos

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you've all been waiting for: Youmacon 2005 photos!

For a list of other Youmacon photos, check out the Youmacon website. For other pics of our costumes, check out Fan's View (click "next page" to see Aaron's pic), Fiery Panda Studios (again, click "Next Image" to see Aaron), and Tastetheneedle's gallery on Cosplay.com, among others.

Listen to Aaron's and my con report on the Weekly Anime Review Podcast next week!

Maiden Voyage of the Olympus XA

  

Got these scans from Snapfish on Tuesday, five days after the film was postmarked. I have no complaints about their service, FYI, except that I wish they processed medium format. :-P

About the Olympus XA: OMG, a rangefinder! I've never owned one before. See, you look through the viewfinder, and there's a ghosted image of your subject superimposed on your little view of the scene. When the subject is in focus, the two images become one, giving you the focusing feedback that normal point-and-shoots lack. I like the fact that this will help train my eye regarding distance and focusing.

This is not a shoot-from-the-hip camera like the Lomo. This is a photographer's compact camera. The user sets the film speed (ISO) and the desired aperture, and the camera's light meter reads the scene and displays its calculated shutter speed in the viewfinder. This is a good feature, don't get me wrong, but I do like the Lomo's ability to do automatic exposure, as well. With the XA, there is no such option.

There are also several features you wouldn't expect on a compact camera, including backlight compensation, a self-timer... even the light meter is nice to have on such a tiny axe. The lens appears sharp and doesn't seem to require cleaning, which is good.

The test images were taken around the same time as the Argoflex pics: late September. For a camera comparison, compare the photo of the telephone poles (left) to the photo taken with the Argoflex, and compare the photo of the bench (right) to the Lomo version. (The Lomo version is a much better composition, though, IMO.)

Overall, I'd say I like my XA. It's all I was hoping for... except no auto mode. That's a small price to pay for a decent-quality compact camera, though.

Maiden Voyages of the Argoflex & the Brownie

My turnaround time from Dwayne's Photo was much better this time around: 8 days total. Verra nice.

So, the maiden voyage of the Argoflex 75 was back at the end of September — around the 26th or so. I loaded it up and took it to work in my purse, and took a test roll of the path I like to walk during my lunch break. Same old photos, nothing overly original (which, IMO, is good for testing a new-to-me camera, as I know what the images "should" look like).

I noticed that there was some fogging and light leaks, although that could be from the 120 film spooling up on a 620 spool. The two spools have different diameters, so the paper backing and the film itself don't quite meet up correctly at the end, leaving a bulged and loosely-wound roll of film after exposure.

I also noticed a desaturation of color — as this didn't happen with my Holga pics, and I used the very same film type, I'm deducing that it's related to the Argoflex's lens. I'm actually OK with the saturation level, though, as it adds a certain mood and character to the prints. (Some of the brighter photos are of almost "normal" saturation, though, so it could even be a combination of the lens and the lighting conditions.)

I think I may also have smudged the lens once or twice, as the few out-of-focus spots on the images aren't always in the same place. ;-) I forgot that I'd taken some long exposures with the "time" feature — looks like the wind was blowing the tree around during the five-second exposure of my street (right).

After seeing the results of the test roll, I think the Argoflex will get a decent amount of use. More so than the Holga, possibly, since the Argoflex is smaller and less bulky, and doesn't cramp my style when I carry it.

The Brownie's maiden voyage didn't go nearly as well. The vintage 127 film I bought off of eBay was pretty much only good for display purposes, as 50-year-old masking tape tends to come loose, resulting in a resounding CRACK when the paper backing pries loose from the film within the camera. So, no vintage-looking 127 photos of the annual Apple Butter Festival, and no Brownie test roll. Yet.

The good news is that J & C Photography sells brand new 127 film (and several otherwise discontinued sizes), so I ordered myself a roll of 127 and a roll of 620 for the Argoflex. I've found a couple of places that seem to process 127 film, so we'll see how this goes.

Bob Mould: Detroit 10-1-2005

Here's my first attempt at a homegrown MySQL photo album: 10 photos from the Bob concert last weekend.

Fantastic show. Bob started out with three songs from his early-90's band Sugar, which I'm fairly sure gave Aaron and me simultaneous geekgasms. The entire gamut of Bob's solo career, Sugar, and Husker Du were all represented in the setlist, which almost made up for my missing Sugar in concert by a few years.

Aaron's better at concert reviews than I am, so maybe he'll post something more in-depth in the comments. Until then, suffice to say that this was the best concert I've been to in a very long time. I hadn't seen Bob for fucking years, and this show was extraordinary. Awesome.

Archway

Eppstein Park, Maumee OH - 19 September 2005

Foiled Again

On Sunday, the day after I purchased the Argoflex 75, I found a Brownie Bullet camera for $1.99 at Savers. I saw that it took 127 film, and contemplated leaving it... but not for long. WTF, I figured, it's only two bucks.

So, I thought I might be able to try 35mm sprocket hole photography with my new-old camera, to test the camera's workings for much less than the cost of a roll of vintage 127mm film. Went out to the garage and located some foam to hold the smaller film canister in place, opened up the camera — and realized that 127 film is much narrower than 35mm. The camera wouldn't even think about closing with that huge 35mm film cartridge in there. D'oh!

Damn... off to eBay I go, to purchase some 127mm film.

Maybe someday I'll get saucy and learn to develop my own black-and-white film. Until then, I suppose I'll just get butt-raped by Rocky Mountain Film Lab (who, incidentally, can also develop all my obscure rolls of Super 8 film). We'll see if the Brownie's worth the trouble after a test roll...

Bench

Bench, Eppstein Park, Maumee OH - 19 Sept 2005

The Argoflex 75

Dear readers: my new old camera.

This is the Argoflex seventy-five, purchased yesterday at the Lucas County Flea Market. Aaron was actually the hawk-eyed thrifter on this one, and pointed out a couple of older-looking cameras. I was intrigued by this one, and popped open the viewfinder to get a glimpse of a fantastically bright (if dirt-speckled) view.

Next step: see what kind of film it takes. I knew from my Holga research that some older films are actually identical to the 120 that I use in my Holga, but the spools are larger and won't fit into the older cameras. So, I looked around for a release catch... and looked... and looked. Aaron found a little metal nub on the top of the camera, and tried fussing with it, at which point I said, "If I can't get it open, I'm not gonna buy it."

Cue the seller lady. She got up from her lawn chair and mutely asked for the camera, then fussed with it for a moment before opening the viewfinder and triumpantly offering it back to me. At which point I asked her how to open the back, where the film goes. To my carefully-supressed glee, she fussed with the same metal nub that Aaron had, with the same results.

Finally she looked up at me and said that it was mine for two bucks, since she couldn't get it open. I told her that sounded like a deal to me, and the transaction went down. As we left, Aaron and I heard the woman talking to her husband, saying, "I just sold that camera for two bucks! I couldn't get the back open..." and we heard the husband mutter his irate disappointment in reply.

After we had done the rest of the flea market (meeting our mail-delivery lady in the process!), we got in the car and I gave Aaron the camera to manhandle. And, sure enough, by wedging his fingernails under the top of the back, by the metal nub, and giving a mighty pull, the back finally swung free.

I wonder how much money I saved by letting Aaron wander off while the nice lady was trying to make the catch work, instead of having him manhandle it there at the booth. Probably at least $8.

So, let me tell you about my camera.

• The Argoflex 75 was manufactured between 1949 and 1958. So, this little camera is somewhere around 50 years old.
• It takes 620 film, but I managed to make it accept a roll of 120, despite some info listed online. We'll see how it actually works once I expose this roll. All I know is that it seems to advance OK.
• It's fixed-focus, so no focus ring. I've read differing stats on how close it can focus: some websites say 7.5 feet, but the manual says six. There were close-up lens attachments made, but I'm doubtful about ever locating any.
• It can take "instantaneous" or "time" photos; basically, it has a bulb setting. The aperture is f/13, but I haven't been able to find the shutter speed listed anywhere.

Basically, I've got myself a fancy-looking box camera. I'm cool with that, though. I'm enjoying my new hobby of collecting old and inexpensive cameras. As I photograph with them, I find that they all have their own style and personality — which sounded like total crap to me years ago when my aunt tried to tell me the same thing. It's true, though.

If I ever go on a trip with all my camera equipment, I'm gonna need a bigger bag. ;-)

New Camera Self-Portrait

I picked up this little four-panel camera at Savers for 99¢ a few weeks back. This was one of the test shots I took over my lunch break, while walking in a local park. I'm impressed with the focal length, as this shot was taken at arm's-length, a distance that makes most of my cameras cringe in blurry horror.

After only a moment of research this evening, I think I may actually have an honest-to-god Lomo ActionSampler. All the details of this unlabeled thrift-store find look exactly like the cameras on the lomography website.

Fantastic!

Fireworks

Fireworks at Community Homecoming Park, Holland OH: July 4, 2005

Waiting for Fireworks

Community Homecoming Park, Holland OH - 2 July 2005

Downtown Millersburg At Sunset

As seen from a park bench by the Holmes County Courthouse, 10 August 2005

Closed

Checking out the comics: Ann Arbor MI, 23 July 2005

This Is Drum Corps

Duane Jones teaches the Lakeshoremen a drill move, 9 July 2005, DeKalb IL.

Nature Photo Op

When I came home from work today, Aaron told me that he'd been startled by a THUMP on the air conditioner installed in the dining room window earlier that afternoon. Apparently, he'd looked out the window to see a not-quite-baby bird—say, an adolescent bird—sitting on top of the air conditioner, outside. It looked right at him, and wasn't afraid. (Maybe not old enough to be afraid of people yet. It'll learn.)

Anyway, his first instinct was to get the cat. :-D Instead, he decided to get the camera and snap a digital pic of the birdie. Unfortunately, by the time he got back, the birdie was facing away from the window, and instead of turning back for its photo op, it flew away / jumped off.

Fast forward to this evening. Aaron was gone to work. I didn't feel like doing anything on the computer (for once), and decided to go outside in the back yard and enjoy the brisk breeze from the impending rainstorm. And what did I see but—you guessed it—an adolescent bird sitting on the grass right by the back door, not five feet from the aforementioned air conditioner.

Time for me to run inside and get the camera.

When I came back out, the bird was still there, hungrily opening its beak and chirping at me. I snapped some not-so-good photos of it, getting mighty close—within a foot or so, if not closer, judging from the horrendous focus on some of the pics (even using the macro setting! I need a fancier digital camera).

With the photo op over, I sat back on my haunches and wondered what kind of food I could drop into a little birdie's mouth. It looked mighty hungry, and although its mother was seeming to answer it from the nest several trees over, she certainly wasn't coming to rescue him or anything. I don't know if the little guy could even take off from the ground yet.

I, like every other good Girl Scout, know not to pick up baby birds. Still, though, I'm really expecting to find that little baby bird still sitting in the yard tomorrow, much worse off than it is today. *sigh*

Damn that Prime Directive, anyway.

Holga Roll #1

True to my word, I didn't capture any amazing photos with my first roll of Holga film. I did manage to puzzle out 1.) how to load the bastard thing, and 2.) how to guesstimate the focus (and I thank the Lomo for prior help with that).

It also appears that the camera is, at least for now, free of major light leaks. That may change as time goes on, and the camera receives more abuse. :-) It's also apparent from the photo above that the center of the image is indeed crisper than the edges, and that there is a noticeable amount of vignetting around the corners. I did use the flash, though, which might have added to the effect.

Overall, I think I'm pleased with my Holga.

Now I need to go ship off my three rolls of Lomo film and my one roll of Holga film from the 4th of July.

Lachesis

One afternoon in early September 1999, shortly after we moved back into Kohl Hall for our third year as roommates, Amy and I discovered this interloper living just outside our window. We named her Lachesis, after one of the Fates (Clotho, the weaver; Lachesis, who measured the cloth; and Atropos, who cut the thread — rightfully, she should have been Clotho, but Lachesis just sounded cooler).

We and Lachesis lived in harmony for at least a week, until one morning she and her web had vanished. Amy and I maintain that she must have been power-washed off of our windowsill.

Holga Film... Away!

As of tomorrow morning, the first roll of Holga film will be sent off to Dale Labs for processing. I tried not to take any OMG-I-hope-that-turns-out shots, as this is more of a "control" roll: no mummifying the Holga in gaffer's tape to eliminate light leaks, no mods, nothing fancy. I just want to see what this bad boy will turn out with no help from me.

I'll scan and post anything that comes out particularly interesting... but don't expect much beyond artsy, square-shaped pictures of my cat. o.O

The Lomo Is Fixed

The Lomo appears to be working at specifications once more. The post-op test roll came out A-OK, if a touch boring.

In other photo news, the Holga has arrived and is now loaded with film. I'll burn through this first roll quickly and post the results when I get them processed.

Dead Pine Tree

Taken on Saturday, June 4, on our way to Cleveland for my step-brother Philip's graduation.

Things to note:

1. How is there one singular dead pine tree in the midst of a line of perfectly healthy ones? That was what drew me to this urban vista in the first place.
   
2. Doesn't MCO's new logo look kind of like the Republic's crest from Star Wars?
   
3. How and why have I started taking great pictures of my freaking middle finger? God's sake... out of the 21 exposures that came out before my Lomo had its little shutter crisis that day, my finger is prominently displayed in four. WTF?

Holga Me

I've been waiting impatiently for my Holga to arrive from Hong Kong. Since it's not being tracked, and I have no idea how long airmail from Hong Kong will take, I decided to play with Photoshop and Holga-ize this image to bide my time.

From surfing around lots of Holga sites and photoblogs, I think I have a pretty good idea of how this photo might have turned out, had I taken it with a Holga. Of course, the Lomo with which I actually did take the photo is a decent low-light camera, and the Holga certainly wouldn't have performed quite as well. So, I took some liberties.

I cropped the photo square to go with the 6x6 format I intend to use. Then I burned in the edges to simulate the vignetting of the lens, and I blurred the outer edges of the photo to add to the softness of the image, while leaving the center of the frame clear. As an afterthought, assuming I would have been using a super-fast film to capture this low-lit indoor image, I added some grain. And this is what I came up with:

I know I don't have it quite right, but... *shrug* It was still fun to play.

I can't wait to get my new Holga and try out a roll of test film to see how bad the light leaks really are. ;-)

Lou Barlow

Neither myself nor Aaron had ever gotten to see Lou Barlow live before this show. (Lou Barlow = Folk Implosion, Sebadoh, Sentridoh, Kids soundtrack... remember the song "Natural One" from the late 90's?) Being a giant fan of Lou, and wanting to support the Hannelore Barlow charity tour, we bought ourselves tickets and headed out to Coventry.

Anyway, he performed back in March at the Grog Shop and, despite my less-than-stellar Tegan and Sara results, I brought my trusty lomo along. This was one of the two shots of Lou that I got; after a while, I realized that they weren't really going to come out well, and I gave up on snapping pictures and just enjoyed the show.

New Obsession?

Last weekend, as I was snapping off some shots with the lomo after Philip's graduation, a minor catastrophe struck.

The shutter release on my lomo stuck down. The film advance kept advancing. It wouldn't stop. My heart leapt into my throat, then sank.

My poor lomo. I <3 my lomo. I would be sad if it were gone. Not to mention that bitch cost me $100 used on eBay.

Luckily, the next day, I looked up how to do emergency surgery on a Lomo LC-A—basically, how to take off the cover and look at the insides. Just doing that must have jarred something back into place, because now it seems to work fine. (We'll see for sure after the post-op roll comes back in another week.)

In those 18 hours or so before I managed to get the lomo back on its photographic feet, though, I entertained the idea of buying another "toy camera." I'd heard about the Holga, and I knew that the Lomo LC-A was actually a knock-off of another camera, which was based on yet another camera, so I knew there had to be something else. And, as much as I <3 my lomo, I'm in no hurry to cough up another $100 for one.

So, after a little online research, off to eBay I went, searching for Holga 120's and Cosina CX-2's and Minox 35's and Olympus XA's and even Diana cameras and Fed 5B's. Finally, after some sticker shock on certain models and some disappointing bid-sniping for others, I managed to get myself a brand-new Holga 120N. Now I need to get myself some 120 film (I forgot that this auction didn't come with any), and wait for my camera to arrive...

Here's the danger: if I <3 my Holga like I <3 my Lomo, I could see myself becoming a collector of "toy" cameras. No, not just a collector, but an enthusiast. "Collector" makes me think that I'd have them all lined up on a shelf, pretty-like. Kind of like Mr. Marks, my clarinet instructor, did with his vintage clarinets. No, if I had more cameras, I'd be taking pictures with them, that's for sure.

I'd want to start with the cameras-I-can-fit-in-my-purse genre, though, because that's the thing I love the most about my lomo. It's *there*. It's like the old #1 rule of photography: f/8 and be there. (If the part about f/8 —that's a setting on the camera, you non-photo types—if that's right, I should be happy with my Holga: it only has one f-stop. I think it's f/11, though...)

The other thing I really love about my lomo is that it has depth-of-field. Again, for you non-camera types, that's where the subject is sharp and in focus, but the background is fuzzy (and sometimes the foreground, too). It took me a while to get the hang of the range focus concept—there's not a focusing ring, there's a focusing lever with four selections—but once I figured it out, I loved the results. The Holga, with an aperture of f/11, isn't going to have that so much, but it'll be a square format, and it'll have that vignetting (darkening around the corners) that looks like you're about to pass out. I think that's a fair artistic trade. We'll see.

I hope this doesn't suck. I might have to find a place that develops 120 film locally, so I don't have to wait a whole week to get my first roll of Holga prints back. Of course, I've had poor luck with most any local photofinishers I've tried... so maybe I should just cultivate my patience.

Or maybe I should wait until I even get the damn camera before I start worrying about it. ;-)

Me and my Mom

My Mom has been reminding me (every chance she gets) that I haven't posted her picture anywhere on my website yet. (Y'know, Mom, that's not entirely true; you were at my bridal shower.)

Anyway, to appease my mother, this is a Kmart portrait of the two of us when she was younger than I am now. :-)

(Oh, and yes, it did take some Photoshop skillz to remove that fantastic Kmart-portrait red tint. It's not perfect, but it's good enough.)

Memorial Day 2005

My Memorial Day in a nutshell: drive to Michigan, 2½ mile parade, lunch, 3½ hour rehearsal, dinner, performance for returned Marines, drive home. Total time away from home: approximately 14 hours. Total driving time: approximately four hours.

Overall impression of the day: productive.

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Flashback: My Bedroom

I'm not sure why I took this photo. I think it was mainly because of the cats on my desk. At any rate, I kind of enjoyed seeing this snapshot in time: Autumn, 1995.

During the summer before I went off to college, Mom and I moved out of the craptastic Walden Apartments in Medina to a nicer neighborhood on Jackson Street. We were on the third floor of a small apartment building—about eight units total, I think.

I didn't get to spend much time there before I went off to college—or did we not move there until I was *in* college? I think that was it. At any rate, I spent one year in college before I got put on Academic Suspension and had to spend a semester at home. No internet, no computer, and Mom's new boyfriend Gary was suddenly in the mix. This photo was taken during that time.

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Relay For Life 2005

Friday night was the BG Relay For Life at City Park in Bowling Green. Around 6:45pm, the Sky Team gathered at our campsite for a team photo. Had I realized that the team photo wouldn't actually be posed, I might have taken a little more initiative to assist in posing people... but, especially as a first-year team member, and as I didn't know the person heading up the photo, I didn't feel it was my job to get the people in back to move up front where they could be seen.

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My Memaw

My Memaw knew a lot. She wasn't particularly book-smart—I think she completed 8th grade—but she knew little, important things. How to keep my ballet recital costume from unravelling. How to french braid and how to do a french twist. How to make awesome fried chicken, and tuna croquettes, and dozens of other wonderful foods. How to grow an avocado plant from a pit. How to grow plants in general.

About plants: Memaw definitely had a green thumb. Not in that Jerry Baker sort of way, though; he knows all sorts of bizarre tips and tricks for keeping your plants and lawn green and healthy, like spraying it with a solution of dish soap and beer and ammonia and some other household chemicals. Memaw had the other kind of green thumb, the kind where she had only to stick a plant in soil (or in water first, to root it), then water it (from the bottom, always), and poof. Big, healthy plants. Or so I remember, anyway... I was still kind of young when Memaw's plant collection was in its heyday.

(Funny, isn't it, how we never seem to take pictures of everyday things, like our living room... but, years later, we find ourselves trying to remember details that we once thought we'd never forget. Like how many plants sat in our windowsill in Apartment A-13 when I was 7 years old.)

Anyway, I wish I'd been able to ask her about more of the little, important things. As I got older, and as she got older, I did write her letters and ask her about some of the little things. How to make tuna croquettes (which I still haven't attempted). How many different jobs she held, and where she worked (which I wish I'd written down, but I was in the car on the way to BG). And my Mom gave me the recipe for meatballs that Memaw had gotten from the Italian girl that worked with her at Bix's Restaurant.

How to grow plants, though... if she had a secret, I wish I could have learned it. I do well enough, and I certainly *have* enough, but sometimes I wonder. I think I managed to inherit some of that green thumb, but... you know.

Sometimes I miss her.

-----

Next Friday, I'll be participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Bowling Green. If you'd care to sponsor me, you can donate online all next week, until the event. Donations are, of course, tax-deductible, and will forward the fight against cancer.

Someday, I hope someone else gets more time to ask their own Memaw the questions I didn't.

Making a Statement

While I was hanging out with Donna in Bowling Green back in March, we came upon this truck. I believe my comment at the time was, "THIS is why I bring my Lomo everywhere."

Happy Birthday, Gary!

I am destined to forever remember my step-Gary's birthday. Damn his mnemonic device:

"May the Fourth be with you."

*groan*

Another New Toy

I have decided to try some home recording.

To that end, I purchased the Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer. It's certainly no comparison to the Mackie mixer I got to use back in my Recording Technology days, but the price was right, and it's good enough for home recording. After all, I haven't done this in a while...

If what I turn out from this little experiment doesn't suck (very much), you can expect to get a sampling when it's ready for prime-time. If it does suck, you can expect me never to mention this venture ever again.

Update: A couple hours of experimentation yielded a one-verse cover that doesn't entirely suck. However, I have remembered something. Something very vital to the success of my little experiment.

I can't *stand* the sound of my own voice. OMFG.

It's just one verse of a Depeche Mode song, me plunking away on my Casio and singing my little pea-pickin' heart out, but if you really want to hear it, e-mail me and I'll send you a URL where you can download it.

Please be gentle.

Birthday Visit From Amy

Myself and Amy, before heading out to lunch and a movie with Aaron. Two days after my birthday, and it's snowing like a motherfucker. o.O See, Aaron? I *told* you it could happen, and not just in the snowbelt.

Other highlights of the weekend: opening presents from Christmas and Amy's birthday; dinner with Amy, Aaron, Mark, and myself at Dolly & Joe's; Amy's and my three-hour discussion at Grounds For Thought in BG; and, of course, watching Sin City at Levis Commons.

Happy Birthday To Me!

When I was little, I would get excited about my birthday, just like all kids do. As I got older, and grew to expect less out of birthdays, I got less enthused about them in advance. After all, what's the point of getting worked up just to get let down? These days, I go into birthdays expecting a day like any other; then, if something good happens, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised.

I'd already gotten my iPod from Aaron, thanks to my managing to ruin the surprise. I knew something was up with Sheryl, because earlier this week she'd asked where my office was. I also knew that our department was planning a pizza party for lunch, because Holly couldn't keep it a secret, and had to know what kind of pizza I liked. So, I knew something was up before I even came in this morning.

I'd thought maybe the early arrivers would decorate my cube before I got to work—but no. I arrived to two cards (one from the whole department and one from Scott) and a lucky bamboo plant (also from Scott). That was cool. I put water in my bamboo plant's little home and prepared to start my workday.

Not long after, I got a hand on my shoulder and a "Boo!" shouted at me (in an indoor voice, of course). I offered the standard reply, "Boo who?" before I turned around—and, holy shit, it's Sheryl! She brought me two pots of mini daffodils and a gift card to Lane Bryant! *squee* She hung around for a couple minutes before going back out and heading to work (but not before talking to Rob Wozniak, who didn't recognize her at first).

I coasted on a good mood for the rest of the day, enjoying my springy cubicle and the Twinkie tiramisu Scott made and the pizza for lunch and... yeah. It was a good birthday. At least, as good as having a birthday at work can be. :-P

And now, the documentation:

My shelf is all springy now! Daffodils from Sheryls in back and bamboo from Scott in front.

I put the other daffodils by my computer, so I could look at them all day. I actually took this pot home with me after work, though.

My birthday cards: The one on the left is from my coworkers, and the inside reads: "Smells just like a birthday card, doesn't it?" or something to that effect. The one on the right is from Scott, and the inside reads: "Forget about that low-carb diet!" Heh. Then there's the gift card from Sheryl in front there.

OMFG. Twinkie-misu. Twinkies cut in half, soaked in espresso (or strong coffee), layered on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Coffee ice cream on top, Kahlua (if you're not at work), Cool Whip, with mocha fudge drizzled and chocolate crumbled on top. To. Die. For. (Assuming you like coffee.)

Good day. Yeah. And Amy's coming over tomorrow! Yay for birthday weekends!

The Annual Dan Visit

Dan Clouse at Max & Erma's in Maumee, 24 February 2005

Photo Opportunities

I was just over at the Jolesch website, ordering myself a 10x15 of the portrait we had taken at the MCGC finals last weekend. (I <3 the Intarweb + digital cameras for quick photo turnaround.)

While I was perusing their website, I contemplated the conversation I'd had with the photographer after our little photo shoot. For the sake of the non-photographers here, though, I'll put my geekitude (and self-esteem issues) in the extended entry, where you won't have to read it if you don't want.

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My First T-Shirt Surgery

When was it? Last year? Anyway, some time ago, I got the idea that I could make t-shirts with neat designs, and started a CafePress store to that end. I made a keen design that was reminiscent of a late-70's era tee my mom had:

So, I ordered myself a 2XL jersey with my design on it. And, when it arrived, I thought it was cool.

Then I tried it on.

OMG. I could wear it as a nightshirt. (And I did, on occasion.) I hung it in my closet, rarely to be seen again.

Until now.

When Sheryl took me on Shopping Spree Part One, she showed me a "fashionable tee" she had in her closet, and told me about the people who do t-shirt surgery to make their big, boxy tees into chic and, well, fashionable tees.

It took me a week or so, but I began to resent the oversized tees I own that are too cool to thrift, but too baggy to wear comfortably anymore. (Who'da thunk it?) So, I went to the t-shirt surgery LJ community, snooped around a while, and decided to go for it.

I didn't have the CafePress jersey in mind as my test subject at first, but it presented itself after only a moment of closet-searching.

Look at this thing. It's *huge* on me—and that's saying something.

I chose a new shirt that fits me well, and used it as a template, tracing around it and then sewing on the lines. Good grief, though, look at how *huge* that shirt is!

Voila! I took a few inches off the width and the length, and added a little zig-zag stitch to the bottom for that finished-yet-unfinished look. (Actually, it's really because I'm new to the whole sewing thing and didn't know how to properly sew a hem into the bottom of my shirt.) I had contemplated shortening the sleeves, but decided to leave them for now.

Here's another view of the finished shirt. My slightly surly look is due to having argued with the digital camera for over half a dozen exposures.

Now all I have to do is get rid of the spare tire around my middle, and my shirts will fit even better *without* surgery.

(Next in line for various stylistic surgeries and possible home-brewed silkscreening: my bevy of RCC shirts!)

Magazine Rack

At the Grand Opening of Books-A-Million, Levis Commons, Perrysburg. Some weekend in late February / early March.

Cute Skirtness

Per Sheryl's request: a photo of my cute skirtness. It didn't come out quite so well, but you get the idea.

Cthulhu Fish

This kicks our Trek fish's ass. Seen at the Grand Opening of Books A Million at Levis Commons in Perrysburg.

One Year Ago

As Erk reminded me a few days ago, Aaron and I moved into our house exactly one year ago Monday.

I still wish I'd kept the digital camera handy during the move, so I could have taken pictures of the perfectly-packed 24-foot giant U-Haul, or the inside of our empty apartment, or the all-volunteer moving crew at their complimentary Easystreet lunch.

I do have some other pictures of interest, though:

Our house, at inspection time (February 2004)

The aftermath of getting the U-Haul stuck in the mud across the street from our new house

Our living room, after we got the furniture in place, one year before we got the widescreen TV

So, yeah. Happy one year in the house to us! (Only 29 more years of house payments to go...)

Holy Big-Screen, Batman!

Courtesy of Sheryl, for a whopping $800: a 55" Mitsubishi widescreen TV. Not pictured: Kenwood surround sound system (ProLogic).

Anyone who knows how big that damn orange lamp is can truly appreciate the scope and magnitude of our new purchase. Holy shit.

Sleepy Mei

I've gone entirely too long without posting a cute Mei pic. So, here you go: Mei looking all sleepy on the chair in the living room, sometime last month.

Family Portrait, Christmas 2004

Mei was unimpressed with the annual Christmas portrait experience, and refused to sit still until the self-timer would fire. Afterward, of course, she was content to lounge by the presents.

Edit:

Here's an alternate version, with some artsy color tricks. Nothing fancy, but it adds a little something different. Skin tones still aren't quite right, but... *shrug* Artistic license? Sure...

Question: Do I Really Need a DSLR?

After yesterday's disappointment with A&M Photo World, I've been contemplating whether I would really use my new toy, once I ever manage to save up a grand to get it. I don't think this is a case of 'sour grapes'—it's more of the usual process I go through when I'm about to buy a big-ticket item.

The big question: would I use it?

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Damn.

Finally, after Sky's year-end incentive payout, I had enough money to get the camera I've been wanting: the Nikon D70. The best part? I'd found an ad in Popular Photography magazine, in the back half where all the camera stores have their catalog/ads, that A&M Photo World had the Nikon D70 kit (kit = camera body + lens) for—get this—$649.00.

!!!

Retail on those is usually upward of a grand! I was so stoked.

So, tonight, I transferred some money from my savings over to my checking, put the much-desired electronic into my shopping cart, entered my debit card info, and almost pushed the Checkout button. But first... a coupon code field? Hmm. That's my cue to Google the name of the place and "coupon code" and see what I come up with.

And what did I come up with? Shitty reviews of A&M's service and business practices.

*sigh*

I had noticed that their accessories were a touch overpriced—I'll need a CompactFlash card to use the camera, after all—but it seems that your prized item suddenly becomes backordered when you opt not to purchase said overpriced accessories.

It wasn't hard to make a decision. Highly disappointed as I am, I'm going to put my money back into savings and wait until I've saved enough to buy my new toy from a reputable dealer, like B&H or Adorama or even find one on eBay.

It's just... damn. That was disappointing.

For The RCC Alumni In The House

Yep, the Champion of the World works in the next cube over from me.

Sunrise, mid-January

I went out to the car to head off to work one morning in mid-January, and was met with this fabulous sunrise. It was one of those moments when I was glad the Lomo was in my purse.

Christmas in Lakewood, 2004

Poppa rests on his sofa before heading to Uncle Pete's in Westlake for the Christmas festivities

Christmas in Westlake, 2004

Aaron and his cousin, Nathan, fighting boredom at Uncle Pete's house.

Rainy Commute

Ohayocon5

I'm still working on a weekend review, but I did manage to finish my Ohayocon5 photo gallery. (I've gotta come up with a new way to make slideshows for my site—besides Flickr.)

There is also a great collection of photos at fansview.com, in addition to an informative narrative on the weekend.

Edit:
OK, here's the overview I promised. Now, it's kind of cold in this room, so my fingers are a little stiff; plus, I didn't take notes during the weekend like I'd planned. So, I don't promise literary greatness here. But, hopefully, between my photos and my narrative, you'll get the general idea.

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Home From Ohayocon

Ohayocon was a great time! Almost like a mini-vacation. Very cool.

I'm currently working on adjusting and resizing the 30+ digital pics we took over the weekend. Until then, here's a pic I just took of Aaron displaying his two prized purchases: his moogle hat and his Mr. Sparkle t-shirt.

Con pics and a review/narrative soon to come!

My And My Lomo

Maybe I?m supposed to be a photographer.

This morning, around 10:30, the fog rolled in. It happened to get brighter outside the window, in my periphery, so I turned to look. And the first thought in my head was, ?I can?t wait to go to break so I can photograph that!? I carry my Lomo in my purse or my jacket pocket almost everywhere now, so I?m almost always ready for photo ops like this.

As it turns out, I couldn?t even wait till breaktime. I pulled out my Lomo, pressed it up against the window to avoid glass glare, and took a shot. Then, about fifteen minutes later, I took my break upstairs in the quiet room (as usual) and took a couple photos from the second floor windows.

It?s gotten to the point where I don?t care who sees me and thinks I?m a dork for bringing my camera to work. Everyone in my department knows that I have my little plastic camera with me wherever I go, and I take pictures of weird things (like when the squirrel outside jumped up on the windowsill). Plus, the chintzy sound of the Lomo?s shutter has made it possible for me to take photos of people who don?t realize they?ve been photographed, not even after the shutter fires—maybe they thought it was a door latching shut. :-)

Fun Times With Disposable Cameras

Disposable cameras: they're not just for wedding receptions anymore.

Some inventive folks have come up with CameraMail, in which one assembles a disposable camera on an oversized postcard with the instructions that postal workers are to take photographs during the camera's trip cross-country.

How cool is that?

More Lomographs

Remember how I said after Halloween that Mei likes pumpkin? Well, here are the pictures to prove it:

And, while I'm at it, here are a few more lomographs I've neglected to post:

 
This was the wintry view that greeted me from the window one day while reading in our second-floor Quiet Room at work.

 
One of my co-workers turned 50 the day after Thanksgiving, so a few of the girls in the office decorated the day before Thanksgiving (after he left work for the day), to make his birthday that much more memorable.

 
Autumn sunset over south Toledo—Tireman, to be exact.

My Best Friend's Baby

...Well, my best friend from Middle School, anyway.

It occured to me that I have a backlog of lomographs that I haven't posted, including my visit to Carolyn's baby shower back in October (mouse over thumbnails for descriptions):

Carolyn's mom took the pic of me and Carrie, and had a little trouble with the lomo's shutter. It took me a while to master myself, when I first got the camera. Of course, I got some flak from Carrie for being a super web-goddess and bringing a cheap plastic camera. It was at this point that I made the fatal error of telling them how much I paid for my kitschy Lomo LC-A.

Then I got made fun of even more.

But, then again, a visit with Carolyn wouldn't be complete with a little humor at my expense, right? ;-)

In Sterrie-errie-o, In Stereo!

Holy shit, this really works!

Courtesy of kottke.org (whose coolness I only recently came to appreciate):

To view the images in 3-D, cross your eyes until a composite image forms in the middle (it even works with the thumbnail above). From what I've read, a small percentage of you (5-10%) won't be able to see the effect, so if you can't get it to work, that might be why.

It took me a dozen times crossing my eyes to make it work right—but now that I understand how to do it, it is such a fascinating effect! The trick seems to be, first, to cross your eyes enough to perfectly overlap the two images. Don't worry that it's still blurry. Then, let your eyes relax and slowly focus on the scene. In a few seconds (for me, anyway), the stereograph will focus and pop out.

It's almost as cool as those black-and-white stereographs you find in the antique stores. Maybe even cooler, since it doesn't require extra equipment. (Or does it now...?)

Edit: Turns out this is the same concept used by those damned Magic Eye 3D illusions. Well, shit. If someone would have just *told* me to cross my eyes and look at it, I might not have spent ten years looking for the damn sailboat.

Holy Snow

Before I compose my rant on how wrong I was about the weather last night, take a look at how my neighborhood fared.

I took these photos around 6pm, after Aaron had left for work.

  
A view from our front door

  
Aaron shoveled the driveway while I was at work

  
The front yard, as seen from the street

  
*this* was the biggest nightmare: braving our unplowed street

So, let's just say I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, and neither does Aaron. We can stay home, open presents, drink some decaf, and enjoy the astronomical electric bill—er, I mean, the warmth. :-/

Topless Drumcorps

As requested... I have delved into the drumcorps archives and dredged up the smuttiest and sleaziest drumcorps photos of the late 90's! (And don't forget... you asked for it!)

Here they are, in no particular order:

 
Here's a teaser: just a little midriff.

 
Mmm, some more midriff. Check out that hot... um, chick. Yeah.

 
Chad shaved his head for Finals in '95. That's sort of "going topless"...

 
When I think of topless drumcorps, *this* is my fantasy. Mmm... tasty.

 
But these two fine specimens are more of the reality than the fantasy.

 
And finally: bottomless drumcorps. Or pantsless, if you prefer.

Party Pix

Finally... pictures from Aaron's surprise party!

Since the slideshow doesn't have captions, I'm also posting a Cast Of Characters:

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Lunar Eclipse Revisited

Looks like I need some more practice at full-moon photography, not to mention lunar eclipse photography. Not bad for a first try, though:

Pumpkin Carving

If I'd had the digital camera handy, I would post a photo of Mei licking the jack-o-lantern lid and loving it. Who knew cats like pumpkin? Anyway, I took a couple shots of her with the lomo, and I'll post them as soon as I finish the roll and get the pics back.

Edit: See this entry for pumpkin-licking Mei pics!

Lunar Eclipse

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times:

Always have an extra camera battery.

It would also help to remember to turn off your camera after the last use.

Fear not, though: the lunar eclipse photography attempt was not completely in vain. I got some good shots of the partial eclipse (I hope), and a couple good ones of the last sliver of moon before totality. Just as I was ready to take the last photo before the total eclipse, though—that was when my battery finally gave out.

So, no photos of the absolute total eclipse, but that's no biggie. I'm wagering that my setup wasn't quite equipped to take photos of totality, since my 2x extender cuts my aperture by 1/2 while it multiplies my focal length by two. Meaning, for the photo-savvy, that my teleconverted telephoto lens wide-open is about a 400mm f/8 lens. For the non-photo-savvy, all this means is that while my gadget makes faraway subjects bigger in the frame, less light can get to the film, making for less successful low-light photography. Like total lunar eclipses.

We'll see, though. I'll post photos as soon as I get them back from Dale, and we can discuss.

lomo portraits

Black Swamp Lomographs

Here they are, the photos of the Black Swamp Art Festival. Taken with my almost-trusty Lomo LC-A on Saturday, September 11, 2004 in Bowling Green OH.

Launch slideshow

A Good Evening

Good things were to be had in my Gmail this evening. It was difficult to decide which thing to get all giddy about first...

I ended up looking at all four rolls of lomographs on Snapfish—not from any conscious decision to look at the photos before completing my Amazon shopping spree, but from the fact that I just get sucked into photography easier than I do shopping. (Am I an abnormal female because of this? Who knows...) Anyway, I'll post my better lomographs tonight for all to see. (And I'll add to my lomohome.)

On to the next exciting piece of Gmail: my Amazon gift certificate. w00t! I never imagined I'd get to go on an Amazon shopping spree, so this is pretty frickin' sweet. Coming to me mid- to late next week are:

• Epson Stylus R200 Photo Printer
• Kodak Premium Picture Paper, High Gloss, 100 sheets
• Epson Heavyweight Matte Paper, 50 sheets
• Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 capture card
• Carlo Robelli Acoustic-Electric Guitar
• Tubular Guitar Stand

And I still have about $80 left to spend! I'm sure I'll think of something. Like, oh, all the Muppet Show DVDs I've been wanting, or the Indiana Jones DVD box set, or I could fill out my CD collection. There's still a lot I could buy with eighty bucks!

Sheryl, I think this is where my frugal, thrifty side is coming in quite handy... ;-)

First Lomography Attempt

The roll of Lomo film I sent off to Snapfish has been developed, and the pics are up on their site. After seeing some of the crap other "lomographers" have produced, I was apprehensive about what my first roll was going to look like. But, as it turns out, I'm actually pretty pleased with the results.

To show you what the Lomo difference looks like, I've restrained myself from editing these photos at all—no color correction, no adjustments. I specifically requested that Snapfish make no color corrections to the prints, either. It goes against every digital instinct I have, letting these photos keep their flourescent green caste, but I'm doing it for the good of the order. Let me know what you think...

        

Drumroll, please...

Sure enough, I blew through that roll of film in my Lomo in no time. The last third or so of the roll I took in the laundromat this evening. I'm very curious about how this stuff is going to come out. I tried to use different focus ranges and even set the aperture once to see the difference between autoexposure and manual. If they come out, I should have some really keen lomographs. :-)

I think I have one free roll of developing from Snapfish, so I'll probably dig out one of those mailers and send out my roll of Lomo film tomorrow.

...Which reminds me, I think I still have a roll of film MIA to Signature Color. What was the last thing I photographed? Not Dayton, because I used my digital (and Amy took the pics at the museum with her digital). ::looks back for photo-worthy events in LJ:: Hmm. I dunno. ::checks checkbook register:: Oh, yeah! I went to the zoo with Aaron on our vacation. The check was dated for 8/2, so hopefully they should have my film by now. Jeez. Maybe I'd better check and see if my check has been cashed yet... and by whom.

PS - My layout is really almost done now. Check it out. w00t!

Lomomania Returns

Well, in the midst of my website obsession, and shortly after the wrath of Hurricane Charley, my Lomo arrived from Florida. Surprisingly enough, after all the stink I made about wanting one, it has been sitting neglected on the kitchen table until today.

Today, in the midst of our other random errands, we purchased a three-pack of SR44 camera batteries and a three-pack of Kodak High Definition film (but only because I had a $3.00 off coupon). Now, according to the Lomographic Society website, a little red light was supposed to come on in the viewfinder if the batteries worked—unfortunately, I failed to note that in order to make said light come on, you have to actually press the shutter release. So, I was quite perplexed and ended up messing with the battery contacts and loading film before I realized that all I had to do was push the button and the little red light would come on. ::sigh::

Anyway, I now have a loaded Lomo, and have taken almost half a roll of film. I intend to keep it in my purse and hopefully find some spontaneous photos to capture. I understand that the first roll or two of Lomo film always sucks, so I'm not setting my sights too high for this first attempt. I'm just hoping that the film I loaded advances OK and that the shutter works and that the camera doesn't suck too bad. For $100, it better not suck.

Family Photos

Well, I've successfully managed to adjust, upload, and order copies of 27 family photos. And, for you Photoshop geeks out there, I've only just now discovered the magic and majesty of the Healing Brush. To think I was using exclusively the cloning tool for so long! My life has just become a lot easier.

Anyway, I will soon have actual 4x6 prints of my great-great grandparents on down, also including some rare photos of Yours Truly in the late 80's. Middle School was a scary time to witness. Maybe I'll post the pics sometime when I'm feeling particularly sadistic.

Hey, Beth!

I scanned in that article about the wax paper transfers and posted it here if you'd like to read it. Someone messaged me on the Pop Photo forums and that reminded me that I'd been planning to scan it in for ya.

Fun With Photoshop

After surfing around awhile, hoping to find a used lomo for cheap, I instead found an interesting photo manipulation technique. I first found a Photoshop action to "lomo-ize" photos—basically pumping up the saturation and vignetting (darkening) the edges. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. But then I found a link to an article on Dooce's page, and this made me sit down and play for a while:

Here's a nifty photo I took of a bee on some flowers:

Here's the same photo after tweaking it with Dooce's not-so-secret recipe:

Works well on portraits, but I think it looks pretty spiffy here, too.

Lomography

One of the blogs I check on a regular basis is [daily dose of imagery]. I've been noticing that, in his technical photo info, he sometimes mentions a "lomo," and he's even won an award for one of his "lomographs".

So, finally, I'm like, "OK. What is this lomo thing?" I go to the lomography page that Sam linked from his page, and it's weird. I follow some links, check out eBay, check out PhotographyReview.com, check out the Popular Photography forums, and find mixed reviews. What I did find for sure is that the lomo:

• is a Russian-made compact 35mm camera
• has a fast wide-angle lens with manual focus and adjustable speed/aperture settings
• has a lens coating which makes colors more saturated
• receives mixed technical reviews from photo-snobs and art-snobs
• seems to have a two or three-roll learning curve before producing "good" images
• is currently more expensive than it should be, due to its cult status

Therefore, after obsessing over the lomo for an entire day, I have decided to purchase one—but only if I can get a new or gently used lomo for around $60. New, they cost $199.99 with the instruction manual and case. I'm not down with that... but if I can get a relatively cheap point-and-shoot with adjustable settings that can fit in my purse or pocket, I'm all about it.

Beth, was that four-pane motion-capture camera of yours a lomo? That's not the model I'm going for, but I saw that the actionsampler looked kind of like the camera you had back in 2001 or so.

Superfast Photofinishing

Hot. Tired. Kitty on lap. Don't really feel like posting. Going to anyway.

Got my sunset and fireworks and kitty action pictures back from Dale Labs today in a record five days. Mailed them off last Wednesday, received them today (Monday). Most impressive. The turnaround, that is, not the images. Those are just ehh, IMO. Hang on—I'll scan a couple for ya.

*runs upstairs to pick out a few good pics*
*cleans up rainwater on floor inside open front door*
*grabs pics, scans on Aaron's computer*

OK, then. We've got a couple decent fireworks photos, a couple cute pics of Mei, sunset down Ventura Drive, and a couple pics off of an old roll of Aaron's from last year.

So, I might send off my two rolls of Wildwood pics tonight or tomorrow, and see when I get those back. That was some crazy fast turnaround time. And good prints, too. I think I've finally found a photofinisher-by-mail that won't screw me over.

Field Trip

This evening, I took my camera, telephoto lens and new teleconverter, and three rolls of film to Wildwood Metropark. I burned through two of the three rolls between about 6:45pm and 8:00pm—by then, I'd lost so much light that it was time to go home. I didn't get to use the teleconverter because the 7pm light was already too faint. I wonder how practical it's really going to be.

My original intention had been to photograph bikers and bladers; however, there weren't very many out tonight, and I'm just not patient enough to sit on a picnic table and wait for people to pass by while I'm losing light by minutes. So, I ended up taking lots of pictures of flowers and bumblebees and architecture and trees and just a few of bikers and bladers. Two rolls' worth... hopefully something good will come out of it.

If nothing else, I plan to do this every week just to get my reflexes sharper and get my eye for composition trained a little better. I missed just as many photos as I took today, mainly from not getting my camera focused in time. I lost a perfectly good shot of a male cardinal, simply because I turned my focus to closer instead of farther, and didn't manage to fix my error before he flew away. There were a few that I missed simply because I didn't have the right lens with me—I'd planned to take long-distance action shots, and purposefully left the normal and wide-angle lenses at home.

One thing I'd forgotten about photographing in a normal public place (as opposed to a festival): it's fun to see something that no one else sees, in a pattern or a shadow or a particular form, and have people try to see what you're taking a picture of. Nope, there's not a bird up in that tree; I think the gnarled tree is cool all by itself. But keep gawking, and maybe I'll take a picture of your goofy ass. Heh.

Almost-normal-sized clothes again...

You know, self-portaiture isn't quite as easy as it might seem, especially without a professional portraiture setup. In other words, finding an appropriate spot to set the digital-camera-on-a-timer in my house is a challenge. But I wanted to share my small joy with you, so... ph34r my new tank top. Rah.

To celebrate my return to this-is-how-fat- I-used-to-be- before-I-got-sloppy, I scrounged up a few pics of myself over the past 10 months or so and made a weight-loss montage. I didn't seek out too many pictures, and I didn't scan anything; it was just what I had already on the computer for whatever reason. But I think it gets the point across. And not only do you get to watch my double-chin melt away through the photos, you also get to watch my hair grow. :-)

Aaaaaand I'm done.

Contest Entries... Away!

Well, I done it. I e-mailed my six selections to the Popular Photography annual contest tonight. I ended up choosing:

+ Manual, Black Swamp Arts Festival, 2000
+ Mei (June 2004 - aka "The Artsy One")
+ Wood County Fair (aka "Wood County DMB Under The Table Album Cover")
+ Fort Meigs
+ Signpost, Michigan Renaissance Festival
+ Rose of Sharon

Photos I ended up not choosing and why:

The other Mei pic: I hadn't been going to even consider that one until I posted it in my cubicle at work and Scott told me it looked like a postcard. I thought it looked like a snapshot, but that made me think maybe it was better... Well, maybe not.

East Hall, BGSU: Might have been more interesting with a more interesting sky. As it was... eh, it's BG.

Gravity Games, Cleveland OH 2003: I agree with Amy that my composition was off. I cropped this one horizontally for a desktop theme earlier, but didn't know how the crop would translate into an actual photo submission. I may try cropping and submitting it for another contest in the future, or I may just chalk it up to a learning experience and bring more than two rolls of film to this year's Gravity Games. And my new teleconverter.

Cleveland Skyline: Didn't receive the critical acclaim I was hoping for. I'd kind of liked it, but I liked the others more.

Random Affirmation (Birds Know They're Alive): This was more of a "WTF?" snapshot that I took, and doesn't have much artistic merit in and of itself. I still think it's kind of a funny picture, but not necessarily contest material.

So... winners will be notified in October. I'm not getting my hopes up too much, but wish me luck, anyway. Go me!

Let's Take A Vote...

OK, I need everybody's help here. And I do mean everybody's. July 1st is the deadline to submit photos to Popular Photography & Imaging's annual photo contest. For the past few years, I've meant to enter, but my procrastination has gotten the best of me. This year, though, they're allowing e-mail entries... so, I'm there. Problem is, I'm having trouble narrowing my entries down to only six.

I have an idea of which pics I'd like to submit, but I want your input, as well. So, check out my page o' possibilities, then vote by leaving a comment here (or a tag on the front page). Vote for as many as you like, but tell me which of them is your favorite and why.

Thanks for your help, everybody... and remember, I need to e-mail these out by Wednesday night!

New stuff for Diana

Well, the 2X teleconverter arrived today, dusty but in otherwise new condition. Nothing my little lens brush with the air-puff thingy on it couldn't handle. Wanted to go try out my new lens combo, but it was already getting toward evening when I got around to it, and there wasn't enough light left outside. Damn that camera physics, anyway. There's nothing to really photograph in my immediate neighborhood that would benefit from the use of a teleconverter, anyhow—I just wanted to test it out. Ah, well. Maybe some other time.

Thanks to Meijer Non-Drowsy Severe Cold medication, my severe cold is getting a little less so. I no longer have that hacking, phlegmy cough, but my nose still drips like a broken faucet. Sort of. I slept for freakin' 10 or 11 hours last night, so that helped a little, then I got the cold medicine over my lunch break today, which has helped a lot. Hopefully I'll be better by Saturday's class reunion.

Now, about my new job...

read more...

(bad) photo of yours truly

Check out this horribly underexposed digital pic of me in my oversized XXL Bluecoats T-shirt (purchased Saturday night) and my favorite shorts (which are now two sizes too big). The original point of this pic was to show how stupidly big my clothes are on me; hence, the goofy "WTF" shrugging gesture.

Also: just went to shut the front door, and caught a glimpse of a pretty cool sunset. Even though our front yard / street isn't much for a photogenic sunset view, I ran downstairs, slapped on the new wide-angle lens, screwed on the tripod mount, ran upstairs with camera and tripod, loaded up film from the fridge, and was outside shooting sunset photos in about three minutes flat. Used about 14 exposures of a 24-roll in not even ten minutes.

This is the trying tug-of-war between film and digital. The badly backlit photo of me might have been more easily salvaged if I had actual film to scan and work with; the sunset photos I just took might all suck, and I should have changed one little thing to make them rock, and I won't know it until I get the prints back.

I Need More Toys...

So, after making pretty much an impulse buy on eBay (I didn't mull it over for two days before bidding, which makes it an impulse buy for me), I'm contemplating buying myself a bigger, more premeditated camera toy: a new case. My current case just doesn't have enough room for...

+ Minolta X370s (manual focus)
+ 28mm wide angle lens
+ 50mm lens
+ 80-200mm zoom lens
+ 2x teleconverter just purchased on eBay
+ macro filters (lets me get in reeeeal close)
+ polarizer (makes the sky bluer and water less reflective)
+ hotshoe flash
+ fresh and used film
+ various manuals, lens and body caps, notepads, and other accessories

The dilemma has been whether to just keep my current camera bag and pick and choose what I bring on any given shoot (a "shoot" for me being a trip to the Ren Fest, Fort Meigs, the zoo, the Apple Butter Festival, a drumcorps show, or other interesting local flavor) or get a new bag that can hold all my gear but that has the potential to be a touch cumbersome. The jury's still out for me, I think.

Beth, Erk, other photo-types—any help?

Affirmation

Found on a dorm room door in Anderson Hall, BGSU, 2001:

Genealogy

So, I was just burning a CD of genealogy info from my Mac to use on my PC, and opened some genealogy photos to test the burn. In the midst of my browsing and testing, I came across this image of my great-great-grandmother—my maternal grandfather's maternal grandmother. (Did that make sense to you?)

OMG. Does anyone else think that, given a circa 1908 Katherine Janeway-style hairdo, I look like her? Can you see the resemblance? I can. It's kind of weird. I looked at the whole picture, with her husband Harvey and child Lucille, and thought that Harvey looks a little like Grandpa Cook (or the other way around). Then it occured to me that Nora looks like Mom... and me! I mean, I know we're related and all... duh... but it's still kind of strange to look like someone who died almost a lifetime before I was born.

Beth, your family's into genealogy—any input on genealogical photographic weirdness?

Mission Accomplished

Last night I finished matting and framing my photos for the fair, at the expense of one fingernail. See, I was trying to affix the sawtooth picture hangers to the back of my cheap-ass Ben Franklin photo frames, and first Kris and then Aaron jumped in to help. Aaron asked me to take out the photo and glass that I had so painstakingly managed to fit into the cheap-ass frame, so he wouldn't accidentally break something. I was kind of annoyed at having them horn in on my little project, so I was a little too rough with trying to remove the glass... and bent my left middle fingernail all the way back. Waaay back, and down in the cuticle, too. It bled. Quite a bit. Aaron felt kind of bad. It's still sore.

After that, we went to eat at Junction (on the patio!) and then to the Cla-zel to watch 28 Days Later. It's a new take on the zombie flick, and the print at the Cla-zel has the alternate ending after the credits. I personally wouldn't go to see a second showing, but I'm glad I saw the movie, and I would suggest you see it wherever you can. Very thought-provoking twist on the genre. I might write a review later... though I have a tendency to think about writing reviews, and never quite get around to it. :-)

After we got back home (narrowly avoiding the Rocky Horror crowd... yeesh), Kris and Mark left, and Aaron and I decided that trying to pound nails into the frames (esp. at midnight) wasn't going to work. So, Aaron busted out the Super Glue and I glued the remaining hangers onto their respective frames.

In case you were interested, the flower picture (technically, the Rose of Sharon) is an 8x10 in a 11x14 matte and wooden frame. The other three are 4x6 photos matted in 8x10 mattes with black frames. The mattes are actually the colors shown below, in my last entry. (Ain't I smart? *chanting* I am so smart... I am so smart... S-M-R-T... er, S-M-A-R-T...)

So, yeah. I was a little concerned about the verbage in the rules for whether or not I was supposed to have my stuff framed. See, the rules state: No Frames except for Division A (that's me). Then, in the Division A rules, it says: Standard size photos up to 16x20 matted on double-thick matte board. Photos larger than 16x20 must be framed, wired, and ready to hang. So, I was a little confused as to whether sizes smaller than 16x20 were allowed to be framed, or if it was optional, or what. I ended up framing them and bringing my photo sticky squares with me today when I submitted my photos, just in case they became photo nazis and made me remove my frames.

But my fears were unfounded. They were very nice and polite and moved me right along, giving me my claim tickets and making sure to tell me that I'd need them later to pick up my projects. The only snag in today's Fair trip was having to park across the street in the so-far-empty fair lot. There was nowhere to park on the Grounds. Holy crap.

I still don't have very much confidence in my ability to actually win anything, but I think I may just be trying not to psych myself up too much, in fear of a letdown when I go to see what I won (or didn't win). We'll see how this goes — judging is tomorrow, and the fair officially opens on Tuesday, I think. If it goes well, I may try my hand at the TFOP show that Eric told me about. I think some publicity, seeing my art displayed alongside other works of art, might bolster my confidence a little. I might start considering myself an amateur photographer finally, instead of just a hobbyist.

Wish me luck...

The Fair and Stuff

Well, I've decided for sure that I'm not going to the Bluecoats show on Sunday. I'm just too damn broke, and I've spent too many weekends in a row away from home. I've already seen my boys (and girls) once this season, and I can't really complain about having no money when I spent it myself on a new brain for my computer.

I'm working 10am to 2pm on Sunday, after which I'm taking my four photography entries to the County Fair. I've got two of them already scanned to show you... hang on, and I'll boot up Aaron's computer and scan the other two.

[brief pause]

OK, here they are, in no particular order:

Due to the fact that the fair's categories are stoopid, I ended up entering in the Professional Division. I don't think I'm going to win anything, and the best I could really do as far as prize money goes is break even on my entry fees, but I figured what the hell. The bike photo and the fair photo are classified as "photo journalism," while the flower and the building/skyscape are in the "landscape" category. Creative categorizing, I know... but I'd already decided which ones I wanted to enter before I knew what category options were open to me. Silly me assumed that it would be like any magazine photo contest, with a Portrait-Landscape-Humor-Digital-Blah-Blah-Blah entry system. But no. In the Professional Division, here are my choices:

I chose the Pro Division because the Non-Pro Division had such categories as B/W Architecture, Digital Imaging - People, "Ohio Pride" - People, Digital Imaging - Nature, Panoramic, Children - Holiday, and Child - Special Event. So, yeah. They've got a pretty selective idea of what kinds of pictures they want displayed at Ye Olde County Faire. Maybe they try to mix it up each year so people will take pictures of different things during the year or something. Which would only make sense if you knew the categories a little more than one month beforehand, IMO.

On a different topic, I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with Aaron this weekend. Many recent breakups (and almost-divorces) amongst my friends and acquaintances have really made me appreciate the friend and partner I have in Aaron. We've been together for over seven years, and I still haven't tired of him. I'm still excited to come home early and see him before he goes off to work. Thinking of him still makes me smile. Sure, I miss the early days of giddy butterflies and shaky caresses... but I love even more the sure, steady support and comfortable intimacy we share now.

I had no idea in my angst-filled youth that there was something like this awaiting me...

Getting Old(er)

Before I get to the mushy parts (be forewarned), here's the interesting part of my day:

So, last night was the crazy thundery ice storm of death and destruction. This morning at 9am, Aaron and I were awakened by the sound of the city workers cutting and removing fallen tree branches from the middle of the road. Fun. Once I was ready to go to work, it took 15 minutes to chisel my car out of the ice. Had I known getting my car out was going to involve ice sculpture, I would have brought an ice pick and hammer...

Anyway, all day I was peering out the office windows at the ice-covered trees. Took a couple pics through the window with my point-and-shoot, but was waiting anxiously to get off work so I could take some "real" pictures with my SLR. (For you non-camera types, that's my bigger camera with the cool adjustable stuff and long lens.) Luckily, I got out of work at 5:30 — plenty of light left for photography, and the sun was just in the right place for backlighting the ice on the trees.

I ran in the house, warmed up a hot dog, put on socks and sneakers over my knee-highs, ate my hot dog, gathered my camera and an extra roll of film, and hit the road again, all in the space of two minutes. Gotta catch the good light, after all. Sped down to the bike trail — although I would rather have taken photos at the end of the trail nearer my house, there's no parking at that end. I had to drive down to Wal-Mart and park on Gypsy Lane. That's OK, though; there's plenty of photo ops all down the trail.

Parked my car, as I said, and gathered up my equipment. As I got out and onto the trail, I was glad I didn't bring my tripod — the concrete bike trail was literally a sheet of ice. At this point I was getting a little apprehensive about my photo trip, but crossing Gypsy Lane (toward the area I'd originally wanted to shoot, anyway) unveiled a much easier-to-travel trail, with little to no ice for a good 50 yards.

So, I photographed for about a half hour or so, using up one and a third rolls of film. I could have kept going, but I had no more film. I got what I hoped were some great shots of icicles from tree branches, frozen leaves dripping icicles, and some sort of berry or wild fruit sporting an ice covering. Trés cool. Back to the car.

My pants muddy from kneeling on the trail, speeding back toward town, I contemplated how to develop my pictures. I figured I'd hit Blue Ribbon Photo in town — I'd always rather go with them, but I usually go with Meijer for convenience's sake. I parked in the public lot behind Blue Ribbon, walked around the building, down the sidewalk, into the door, and asked if it was too late in the day to get one-hour prints. (I was really anxious to see these pics.) No, she said, they won't be ready today. I asked if I could drop them off, thinking I could come back after work Friday. She responded, "Yeah, but they probably won't be ready 'till Monday."

Monday?

Then she said the dreaded words: "It's 'cause the machine's broke." Aargh!

I waffled over leaving the rolls or not, and opted not to leave them at Blue Ribbon to be processed at some indeterminate time on an indeterminately working machine. By this point, my photo high was deflated, and instead of dropping the film off at Meijer, I just brought it home. I'll get it developed this weekend.

Now, on to the mushy stuff I thought about at work today. If you are ultra-sensitive to gooey sweet musings, please have a trash can, barf bag, or other handy receptable nearby.

I've been doing some thinking and reflecting about love. Yeah, love. Not just snoo-snoo, although that's a very important part of love. And I've been contemplating how my relationship with Aaron has transmuted over time. We've gone from being boyfriend and girlfriend to being lovers and lifemates. (Wow, that sounds cheesy. Moving on...)

Today, I was thinking of the things that have changed — the little things that make me more aware that we're in it for the proverbial "long haul." Things like:

• In everyday conversation, I can start a sentence with, "When we have children..." and Aaron doesn't even blink. We can talk about these things, because we plan on having children, as frightening as that prospect can seem right now. (And, FYI, I will be one of those parents who says things like, "You are not going outside this house wearing that." Assuming we have children that look like hoochies — which, given their genes, is unlikely.)
• We bought a car together. Thirteen-grand worth of mutual debt, and both of our names on the title, is a pretty binding thing. It's a good start to our future of combined debt. :-)
• Speaking of future debt, we can talk about buying a house. It's not a thing to be entered into lightly, but we know we're getting one eventually, because that's how things work. You get married, then one of two things happens first: you have a kid, or you buy a house. (Of course, some of our friends do all three things in bass-ackwards order... and you know who you are.)
• (Wow, this one is kind of personal. I don't know if I should post this, but...) When we make love (I told you it was personal...), I can look into his eyes and cherish what I find there, not be disconcerted by the intensity or wonder what he's really thinking. (No, honey, not that I ever really wondered that! Just for example...!)

Of course we're getting old. Or older, anyway. We've both matured a lot over the last several years, and it's one of the things that has helped us grow closer. I'm not upset about this in the least.

And, anyway, he'll turn 30 before I do. ;-)