Quotidian Photography by Jessica: May 2012

My New Toy

So, I have a secret to tell you.

I got a new camera.

I know, right? It's honestly the last thing I really need. Because I already have two cameras. That's, like, twice as many as I can use at one time. One for each hand. Now I'm going to have to start taking pictures with my feet. And that's just going to be awkward for everyone.

But I'm going to let you in on another little secret. There's something different about this camera.

Take a look. What's missing?

There's no LCD on the back! Gah! But how do you review the photos after you've taken them?? How do you know if it was in focus? Or over or under exposed?

Short answer is, you can't. Long answer is, you can not.

Just kidding. Except . . . I'm also serious. Yup, it's film! My first film camera, since my little baby Olympus point and shoot in middle school, or something like that. And the first time, for me, that I have to just guess exposure and hope that things work out ok.

So yeah, it's a pretty heady sensation. And I know, everyone used to shoot film. That was the only option. So I shouldn't make a big deal out of doing it myself now, except that it feels like a pretty big deal. And it also feels a little decadent, and risky, and magical. And the anticipation of waiting for the negatives to be developed is killer.

It's a Canon Elan 7n, if anyone's wondering. I bought it used off Amazon for $44 plus shipping. The person I bought it from even threw in this bag, which was pretty cool of them! I can use all of my Canon full frame lenses with it, so it's not a huge investment, which is always good.

And mostly, it's fun. It's something different. I like to think that it will help me become a more careful shooter, and help me think through each shot before I push the trigger. In the week I've had it, I haven't shot much digital for fun at all, since this camera is my new fun camera. We'll see if that holds true. Chances are, I'll still probably be mostly digital.

But now, a little analog too.

Come back tomorrow to see some of the scans from my first two rolls of film!

Out the Window

Sometimes when I share a photo I feel like I might need to explain why I took it. Usually, this means I didn't really succeed at what I was trying to say with it, since I do subscibe to the belief that photographs should for the most part communicate on their own, without too many words to shore them up.

These are kind of like that. I can't explain it, but I was just mesmerized by the interplay of the light and the color through the screen on my window. Sometimes things just get me. You know? And I don't always succeed in completely communicating that through the photo. But that's why it's all a work in progress. The work of photography is never finished. There are always more photographs tomorrow.

And honestly, that's the best part.

Happy Memorial Day!

Thanks for the sunflowers, Mom! Hope you're having a great time in Hawaii.

Evan and I are sitting at home, having a lazy holiday morning. My coffee sits beside me, the cats are off sleeping in the warmest spots they can find, and Evan is enjoying some 'relaxing' Diablo 3 while I process some photos, hang out a bit on Facebook, and write some blog posts.

I love the weekends when we're busy busy, off doing exciting things. (Including this weekend - we went down to Half Moon Bay to attend the wedding of some good friends of ours.) But sometimes it's great to just be homebodies, enjoying each others' company and getting in some serious veg time. Plus, you know, cleaning the house, and other things that just won't do themselves.

I hope all of you are having a great weekend, whether you're barbecuing, vacationing, or just enjoying the opportunity to sleep a bit later than usual.

A Daisy

Part 4 - The Fog!

Evan's Silhouette

Some Photos of Us, for a Change (Part 3)

And then, in the golden evening light, I decided it was time to have a few photos as proof that we'd been there. Together. Starting the next steps of our lives. So I took a few of Evan.

And then I made him take a few of me.

Our Mini-Honeymoon, Part 2

We came home from the woods to find our trusty goat friend still sitting on the rock. The rock seemed to be his (her?) favorite place. 9 times out of 10, if we looked out the window, he was on the rock.

Well, it's good to know what you like. And that goat liked that rock.

The trees here were just fabulous! I want to bring a couple here for an amazing engagement session. It would be off the hook!

The little shed out front. We never went inside, so I never figured out if it was used for storage, or just for cuteness. It does pretty well on the cuteness front, though.

We made friends with a banana slug. I (rather uncreatively) named him Mr Banana. He was very patient while I made a few portraits of him.

Isn't this just the most fabulous place to stay ever??

Our Little Getaway Spot in the Clouds, Part 1

So when I went through the photos and edited the ones I wanted to share with you, I may have counted like 45. Which, let's be honest, is a little overkill. It wasn't so long ago that a two-photo blog post was a big deal. Since then things have changed (I spend a lot less time blogging and a lot more time doing other more cool and fun stuff, and I won't lie, it's a better balance). But 45 photos is still overkill. So I broke them up into two posts for you.

Also, I apologize. You're probably looking for some wedding photos, since I did, in fact, just get married. But the strangest thing about that is that I took no photos at all, not a single one. I think that's because I completely trusted my wedding photographer to take care of me. Also I was just having too much fun.

So these photos are from the few short days after the wedding when we took off work and climbed high above the clouds to out little hideaway: The Crow's Nest. It's a little cabin in the woods at the top of some gorgeous rolling hills, near the Russian River.

And that description doesn't do it justice at all!

Take a look.

Yup, that was our view. Pretty spectacular, right? Those chairs were MADE for lounging with a glass of something cold to drink.

There were lots of other places to sit outside and enjoy ourselves as well.

About 20 feet in front of our door! Hills and valleys, oh my.

Some local flora, of course. I can't resist.

We visited Armstrong Woods and took a walk among the redwoods. The bases of the trees were completely overgrown with redwood sorrel, this clover-look-a-like. It's a plant that's adapted to the extremely low light levels under redwood trees (trust me, it's dark down there - trust my camera too, I had to bump up the ISO quite a bit), so much so that if it gets exposed to direct sunlight the leaves fold down so they don't overheat and dry out. Pretty cool, right?

And that concludes the natural history portion of this blog post. :-)

Redwood Sorrel

Of course, like the tourists we were we had to pose in one of the huge trees.

And here I am!

Often I think that if I just hand my camera to Evan, go stand where he was and make him stand where I was, I should be able to get him to take a similar shot, right? Well, somehow he managed to overexpose me and turn me pale as a ghost, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to take the shot vertically instead of horizontally. Once he did, all the vertical shots were blurry. Ah well.

More redwood sorrel.

I wanted a photo of the two of us, and so I rocked it old school - I put on the 35mm, held the camera in front of us, pre-focused, and took a few shots. It worked!