The Lomo Diana F+ Project- Part 1

So I recently purchased a Lomo Diana F+ after losing a heated ebay bid on a Nikon F2 35mm. As you might have noticed I have taken up a film hobby. I wouldn't say this is new to me, I have always enjoyed photography and I remember as a kid I always asked my mom for disposable cameras so that I could take photos of my dolls. As a little kid I had a severely crossed  eye and NONE of my photos ever really turned out because my aim was off. Even though my eye is still a little wonky I have somehow figured out how to take a straight photo. This is called adaptation bitches. So anyway, I was very upset that I lost the ebay war and decided to go buy some new film for my Polaroid. I found this awesome camera store called "Samy's Cameras" and there they had a ton of wonderful  cameras (all of which I want). I had honestly wanted a Diana for a long time but I thought they were too expensive, but seeing as how I was about to drop a bit on the Nikon that I lost out on I decided that $99.00 wasn't all that bad. I bought the Mr. Pink version of the Diana F+ and immediately began taking photos. The Diana takes 120 film and they have several different kinds to choose from.

The day after I bought my camera I wanted to take pictures of the dogs and I went through an entire roll of film (12 photos) when I went to load my camera again I realized that the entire time my new Diana had been set on it's pinhole setting. I think it is awesome that this camera will double as a pinhole by the way. I wasn't sure how they would turn out and I only got a couple of pictures from that roll. The rest just didn't turn out at all. Eventually I will take a whole roll again on the pinhole setting but I will do it the right way. The Diana is a fickle little gal. She needs to be treated right and you have to really pay attention to what setting you have it on  in order for the photos to turn out the way you want them. I had watched a few tutorials on youtube about it. This guy had done a whole series about loading and unloading and so on and so forth. I guess I should have paid closer attention.

I picked up my prints today and I was majorly disappointed. I thought I had captured so much more, luckily the lady who developed my photos gave me some words of encouragement. She reminded me that it was my first time EVER working with that kind of camera and film and she assured me that eventually I will get the hang of it. I also dropped off another roll today so I look forward to receiving those in a couple of days. Anyway these are the ones that turned out the best, just a few but I hope you enjoy them. Check back in soon to see how I have progressed. Just remember practice makes perfect.. or something along those lines.

  (The first photo is the only one that turned out while it was accidentally on the pinhole setting)

(Pilot)

                                                             (Anne)

                                                              (Chef's Gavin, Mario and Kirk)

                                                                           (Chef Kirk)

(Andy and Pilot)

 (Chef Gavin)

 (Onion Rings)

(Andy and Harvey)

The Polaroid Project- Part 1

Last year I purchased a Polaroid Square Shooter 2 from Ebay for twelve dollars. I then realized that the film required for that model is extinct. There is no getting that film back because they destroyed all of the machines and apparently no one cares enough to make a new one. For over a year now I have been trying to find a Polaroid Colorpack 2 on Ebay that was full functional and finally I succeeded. It was quite a steal at six dollars and it has been bringing me a lot of joy these past few days.  To help you understand a little about the camera I have copy and pasted below from http://camerapedia.wikia.com

Initially produced in 1969, the Colorpack 2 was the first rigid, plastic bodied, colour film capable Polaroid to retail at consumer range prices, and set a precedent for many, many similar models that followed. The Colorpack is designed only for 100 series packfilm.

Focusing is carried out by turning the distance-marked front lens element; unlike the original Polaroid 100-400 series packfilm cameras, this series features no rangefinder mechanism. As an improvement over the original folding series however, there is no need to cock the shutter after each exposure. The Colorpack 2 also takes generic 'blue dot' flashcubes, with a wind-up hot shoe and small plastic diffuser set to one side of the lens.

Early versions of this model featured a glass lens, but most were plastic.

I have been experimenting with both color and black and white and I luckily had one flash cube from the square shooter. It is a process for sure, just getting the photos to be clear  is something I am having trouble with, but in all honesty the blurriness might appear to some as art. It is art, and I am enjoying every minute of it I absolutely love the depth of the black and white but it really is hard to gauge.As you will see some of the photos are really dark. Working with a light background really helps. I only used the flash cube on three pictures. The one of Andy and Harvey, the one of Ellie Mae and Harvey and the single of Pilot. Flash is weird with puppy dog eyes but I am sure I will get this down soon. Practice makes perfect right? I just wanted to document here a few of my favorite shots so far and invite you to come along on this journey into  film photography that I am about to take. This is the beginning stages, come back to see how I progress with film. Hope you enjoy!  

         All photos below are taken with a Polaroid Colorpack 2 using FP-100C film. 

                                                   (Culver City Farmers Market 3/13/2012)

                                                    (Culver City Farmers Market 3/13/2012) 

                                                    (Culver City Farmers Market 3/13/2012)

                                                 

                                                        (Our home in Los Angeles,CA)

                                             

                                                                     (Andy and Harvey)

                                                             

                                                                         (Pilot-the dog)

                                                                           

                                                                       (Best Friends)

                                                                       

                                                                  (Ellie Mae-the dog)

(Andy on his new Symba)

                                                                 

                                                              (Andy on his new Symba)

(Derek Tilley)

The following pictures were taken with the same Polaroid Colorpack 2. This time using FP-3000B film. 

(Harvey- the curious dog)

                                                (Andy on his Symba wearing his new helmet)

                                                          (Rolled out of bed self portrait) 

                                                                (Kitchen window)

                                                               

                                                                (Daniel Ponsky)

                                                               

                                                          ( Chef Gavin Lansdale)

                                                         

                                                                   (Charley Feldman)

                                                                 

                                                                  (Robin Hinkle)

                                                         

                                                               (Chef Kirk Plumber in the kitchen) 

                                                        (Andy and Harvey working on relaxing)

I MADE SAUSAGE!!!

For Christmas this year my wonderful man friend got me the meat grinding and sausage stuffing attachment that goes on my kitchen aid mixer, and I made my very own sausage! I am not going to put my recipe on here just yet, because I want to tweak it and make it absolutely perfect. Don't get me wrong the sausage I made was very delicious and very rustic, but it was my first attempt at sausage making so I can't wait to try the perfected product. I chose to make two types of sausage, including sage sausage and I made a lamb sausage. I absolutely loved the flavoring in both, the lamb was so amazingly earthy. I plan to make all kinds of weird sausages including rabbit and rattlesnake. 


First thing first, find yourself a good butcher, not only is it important for the quality of meat, but I had no idea going to the butcher could be so fun! If you are ever in the Los Angeles area I would highly recommend the guys over at Lindy&Grundy, probably the hippest butcher ever. Although they don't really carry a lot of the exotic game meats that I want to experiment with other than the occasional rabbit, they are still pretty hip. Anyway check out this link and see how awesome they are! http://lindyandgrundy.com/


The key to making sausage is fat and the second key is to keep everything extremely cold, including your equipment. Sausage making isn't exactly the most attractive process and I wouldn't advise it to happen on a first date, unless you are way awesome, then by all means stuff away. I think it is quite funny that a lot of people don't realize that stuff that is shaping your sausage is actually the thin membrane of the pig's intestine. Being elbows deep in that might turn some of you away, so if your prefer you could just make sausage patties which require no casings. It honestly just feels like a balloon and has no smell, so don't be a pansy and try it! it is a very lengthy process, although I am sure with more practice I might be able to pick the pace up. It was a very fun experience and I am pretty proud of myself! I mean, how many people do you know make their own sausage? Follow my journey on sausage perfection, in the mean time enjoy these pictures of the sausage making process!

Hope you enjoyed the photos, I look forward to making more delicious sausage, stay tuned for recipes, and as always I will see you a little further on down the line!

 

Man's Best Friend

As some of you may already know my family dog Jenny passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 17. She had a special bond with my father so losing her this close to Christmas of course made all of the family feel the loss of our father even more. I chose to look at her passing in a different way. First and foremost, we all die, everything dies, it is inevitable. Jenny lived a long full complete life and my parents spoiled her rotten. I got excited thinking that perhaps my Dad and Jenny had  been reunited for the holidays and were happy. I could just see her sitting on his lap eating a cheeseburger or even a bologna sandwich (my dad always fed her what he ate).
Anyway I was on the way to the beach with Andy and two of our dogs Ellie Mae and Harvey when my brother told me that Jenny wasn't going to make it. Of course I cried, even being so far away from home it is hard because she was such a big part of my life. I was lucky though to have a comforting boyfriend and two very special dogs and the ocean to ease my pain. Andy went off to take some hang gliding lessons and I went down to the water and set up a little spot for myself and the pups to just relax. The dogs absolutely love the water, maybe not so much of being in it too deep but they like the waves crashing on the shore. Ellie Mae is absolutely fascinated by the ocean and also by fire, she stares at it very intently and she is very calm.    
    After we had explored and ran around a little bit I had a father and daughter approach me  and the dogs. The little girl asked if she could pet the dogs and I said yes. Harvey was kind of barking so she was a little afraid of him at first. I found out a lot about this little girl, her name was Alex, she was spending Christmas with her father who said that he would love to have a dog but his place wasn't big enough. Alex told me that her mothers place was big enough but her mothers boyfriend wouldn't let her get a dog. She also said that she always wanted a dog so that when anyone would pick on her, it wouldn't matter because her dog would be her friend. I knew exactly what she meant by that. She was a beautiful little seven year old girl, and for a good 30 minutes her and I chatted and then took the dogs on a walk and running through birds. I was able to capture some beautiful photos. It made me feel great to let this little girl experience the joy of having a dog and to let her father experience the joy of how happy his daughter was. It has to be a great mental image he has of her running and laughing by the water with Harvey. This helped me as well because as most of you know Harvey was originally my dad's dog and I took him after my Dad passed and my brother Ronnie kept Jenny. Harvey has brought me so much joy since I have had him, not a day goes by that he doesn't make me smile. It is OK to be sad, and grieve when someone or something special to you dies, but it is an amazing feeling to be at peace with it and to rejoice the life that was lost, and to remember to keep on living. This story goes out to everyone who has a loved one that they are missing this holiday season, I know personally how hard it is. But you have to remember to keep living, because there are so many beautiful things left to see. I hope you enjoy the photos.