observations from a nobody

I can’t believe I missed posting here for as long as I did. I have never missed a month before. Shame on me.

As for an update. Summer is here and it is good. School went ok and I am all signed up for the next semester. I will be working pretty much nonstop all summer so that part sucks. Photography is going good and I’ve been shooting tons of film.

That’s about it from off the top of my head. I plan to actually redo the site at some point this year. Hopefully before the end of summer but don’t hold me to it.

In the last three weeks my love for film photography has been renewed. What I have found is something that lets me explore and create in new ways that will give me more energy and creative juice that I have been looking for.

Since the end of last semester (December) I haven’t taken a single photo with my digital camera. The combination of work and other things in life kept me away from it. When the new semester started and I began my course in Alternative/Creative Photography my urge to go out started to return. Although the class is less focused about assignments were I go out and take photographs to meet the assignment topic, I still had the urge to find a new way to take photos. The class was mostly about altering photographs and doing things to give what is out there new life and a different way of viewing. This idea lead me to find Lomography.

The aspect of it intrigued me. Just take a camera everywhere and shoot anything. The idea of “don’t think” pretty much voids every rule I have learned thus far. I remembered that I pretty much broke the rules in many of my photographs anyway so I continued checking it out. Then I saw images from the Holga, Diana, and Lomo LC-A. They pulled me. The graphic nature and lo-fi aspects appealed to me greatly. It made me want to see what I could come up with, so I bought myself a Holga 135.

Normally the Holga is a 120 film but since there are basically zero professional labs to develop aside from the Bay Area I decided to go with the 35mm version for the ease of it. With it I got a pack of color film, something I never shot with before. All my previous film shots have been on true black and white film, which you can’t develop at any store photo lab. After I submitted my order online I could not wait for it to come. I kept looking at other photos to get ideas until it finally came.

The day I got it I played around with it, getting used to the controls (which are simplistic at first glance but take some getting used to). Sadly it came too late in the day so I had to wait a few extra days for the next day off so I could fully go out with it. When I did I snapped off a full roll and dropped it off to Costco. I was anxious to get the film back with the CD. It reminded me of being the in darkroom and developing the black and white film while printing the photos. After an hour I picked it up and was ecstatic to see the results. I was surprised the kinds of stuff came out and the overall look of it. The whole thing gave me extra energy and passion for it. A week or so later and I was out with a second roll shooting some urban photographs.

Now I have a black and white roll in the camera. It’s not a true black and white (although I have a few of those laying around) but I want to see what comes from it. I am excited to get out and shoot. Lomography has given me a new love of film and I can’t wait to see where it will take me.

You can check out my photos from my Holga here: http://www.lomography.com/homes/nfxfsx

I’ve been lacking posts here as of late. Life has been crazy and I have really only written up things on a Tumblr page I have. You can check it out here.

On Monday I headed down to the college to gather the books for the upcoming semester. Turns out I need six books for the four classes I am taking. History requires two, same with math. Math on the other hand has the most retarded second purchase ever. It’s a CD with random papers attached and costs over $100. I highly doubt I will EVER use it and am pissed. I am hoping that when I attended the first math class the professor will tell us that it isn’t exactly required in which case I will return the piece of shit. Overall I spent $550 on books I will rarely use. Fucking school, they should pay me just for going.

So now I am poor until my paycheck next Thursday night. I am thankful that my Kodak Zi8 is still on back-order, otherwise I would be fucked.

It is hard for me to remote believe that 2009 is just about over. Seems to have happened far too fast. As usual (if things go well) I will have my end of the year wrap up for the New Year. Quite a bit to talk about which should make it far better than last year’s lacker. Just need to sit down and type it out. Lately things have been hectic with work and just the holiday rush. I am ready for it to be over.

I do, however, look forward to the weekend.