wacko!

feels good to feel a little wacko sometimes

Nostalgia

Flash back on some old photos & drawings :

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

9. 10. 11.

Details

1. wonderland pen drawing

2. monster box drawing

3. polaroid "Llama"

4. free art

5. incense : 35mm b/w process.sepia toned

6. fake falling : 35mm fisheye montage.digitally manipulated

7. hustler :four shot 35mm camera. digitally manipulated

8. double : digital & manipulated

9. leaf vision: 35mm fisheye. digitally manipulated

10. mushroom marker drawing

11. live: 35mm fisheye. digitally manipulated

Toy Camera dreams!

This weekend I decided to participate in a "Meet Up" with the Lomographic Society in San Francisco. I couldn't resist the !!FREE!! in the event name - if you attended you would receive a FREE roll of 120 film (medium format) and a Diana F+ camera to borrow. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but as soon as all the "Meet Up" participators set out in downtown San Francisco for a photo excursion I knew the enthusiasm for experimental photography was rampant.

Taking place at the Lomography Gallery Store at 309 Sutter a group of what looked like a class field trip meandered through crowds and crosswalks happily snapping shots of whatever seemed right. The Diana F+ has the ability to manually expose, and create multiple exposures on the same frame.

I will post these photos once they are developed! I have never used 120 film before, so this should be interesting.

Never having the money to invest in such a camera, I have limited my analogue photography to my Fisheye camera (for the most part, just can't get enough of it), but I feel it may be time for a change. It won't be a complete conversion, but a new adventure in experimenting with different photographic formats.

Below are the next two cameras I have in mind :

Holga 120 TLR Twin Lens Reflex Medium Format Plastic Camera |

Holga 120 TLR Twin Lens Reflex Medium Format Plastic Camera | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

& A & N & D &

Lomographic Society Diana Mini 35mm Half Frame Camera |

Lomographic Society Diana Mini 35mm Half Frame Camera | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

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To see the photos from the Diana F+ excursion, and a black and white roll of Fisheye I just got developed @ PhotoLab in Berkeley.

------> > > > > click here! < < < < <------

Below are just a few photos captured on the Diana F+ 120 format camera:

Two faces : double exposed

Crossing the street in a crosswalk : Triple exposed

Photographers looking at camera : Triple exposed

Red pinstriped man : Triple exposed

The red car : double exposed

Unplanned Run-ins

Sometimes I wonder what else is out there in the world for me. I know it is not my calling to work as a server - though it has been my source of money for quite some time. The romantic in me says there is something else out there --- maybe it will be here soon. To be honest, I enjoy the serving role - a main reason that I get to work with REAL people. Almost being done with school I fear a job that will force me to sit on my rump in front a computer. To be completely honest, I have developed some kind of computer phobia. This is the reason I chose to live without the internet in my studio apartment for an entire year. It can consume you - and that is the last thing I need. I need more than that in life - the question is, how do you find this? The answer could be to START it myself. Now there's a challenge.
Working as a server you do the "small talk" thing. Is this how good conversations start? I wouldn't know. I'm not exactly the best communicator, though I do enjoy good conversation when it naturally uprises.

And here is where Unplanned Run-in begins:

Customers come in. Tell me they have a few more on the way. They want to sit and have coffee in the meantime. The rest of their party wanders in, and they slowly begin to look at the menu, though it is obvious they are catching up with each other. It is always fun to wait on people from out of state or out of country. Small talk starter nailed. It may seem like it is a cheatingly good way to start up a conversation, but you'd be surprised. When you ask people where they are from it becomes a whole new conversation of new experiences and such. I noticed that these customers were really taking the time to look at the watercolors on the walls. Instantly I knew art was somehow a large part of their life. I actually picked up the artist vibe when I noticed someone brought in their very own ceramic coffee mug, of odd contortions and colors, most likely handmade. I told the customers they were more than welcome to look in the back room, which is normally closed for service at lunch hours, but held more paintings. They casually walked around the room, in a museum-like fashion. I decided to ask what there plans were for the day, and time spent in California. (The couple in the group was visiting from Massachusetts.) They expressed a desire to go check out some art galleries and museums. I tried to inform them of the museums I knew about - picking my brain as much as I could. We then began to talk about photography. Kirk, expressed his interest in still using film. YES. Instant bells ringing in my ears. I still use film as well, and from there we began to talk about why we shoot with film, where we develop, and the sad reality of disappearing dark rooms. A quirky detail to his photography. He uses disposable cameras! Now isn't that a great idea! A great idea I had considered, after many shopping hours put in a Grocery Outlet down the street, where they are selling obviously outdated disposable cameras in the check out aisles. $4.99 though. But I guess Creativity Holds No Price. Price is that nasty inhibition that capitalists hang over our finite heads. From that day on I was inspired to quit my money shortage whining and do it all for Creativity.

The ultimate realization of ultimate inspiration - A tactile card sent in the mail from Kirk expressing his appreciation for a lovely Lunch at the restaurant, with 2 original 5x7 glossy photographs attached. Sub-notes are the ones contained in the card.

Solano Grill & Bar (Skylight - I was standing on a chair.)
This picture completely fooled me until I read the sub-note. Perspective is mind twisting.

Hotel Stairwell, Monterey

Photographs by Kirk Etherton, 2011
" - and missing the Northern California light."

S i d e N o t e :

From this letter pawned an inspiration. Photo-gram Pen-pals? An entire exhibition of photography sent through the mail. Mail- art. Now I'm thinking about Ray Johnson. Watch How to Draw a Bunny.
OOOh Nostalgia - I love you!