I’m really happy with the selection of images that have been included in the showcase. Featured here are photos taken with a holga, Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, polaroid, and a P-Sharan pinhole camera.

When Boris and I were in Victoria earlier this year I came across the motherload of medium format expired slide film in a small camera store in Bastion Square. At first I was hesitant to buy it all because most of the film was 220 and I wasn’t sure I could shoot this in my holga. For those not familiar with film formats, medium format film come in 120 rolls which allows for 12 exposures or 220 rolls which allow for 24 exposures (this varies with the type of camera). The larger roll also doesn’t work with every medium format camera, at least that’s what I’d been led to believe. I went ahead and bought the lot deciding to take my chances because of the cheap price of four year expired film.

The shots I’ve included in this blog post were the first taken on the roll of 220 with a holga. As you can see, I had a lightleak and it went through the entire roll. With 220 film the whole camera has to be taped up, including the window at the back of the holga, because the film doesn’t have a paper backing the way 120 does. I’ll add more tape for next time. The trickiest part of shooting 220 is keeping track of the number of exposures because you can no longer see the numbers at the back, as well as being careful to count the number of clicks between frames.

For more detailed instructions on shooting 220 film go read “How to Use 220 film in a Holga.”

A few shots taken with my holga inside an abandoned house, from a few weeks back. It’s a location I’m hoping to return to sometime soon and do a more thorough job of photographing.

I was less impressed with the Saturday market in Portland on my latest visit than I was the previous time I was there. It seemed much more crafty and junky with fewer “gems” here and there. My favorite artist from the visit is Theo Ellsworth, a writer, illustrator and comic book artist. His drawings are intricately detailed and feature fantastical scenes, people and creatures from his own made up world. His style reminds me a bit of drawings I’ve seen by Clive Barker but without the dark twists. I bought one of Theo’s lovely prints (and wish I’d picked up more) as well as a copy of his book Capacity Number 7.

The title of this entry is the gist of something my yoga teacher said in class on Saturday morning a few weekends ago. We are so much more than the thoughts that limit us.

I’m up for the second time this morning after a very late night of going to bed at the magical hour when 2am becomes 1am again.
I was looking at my cell phone when it changed back.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen before.
Neat.
And even though I went to bed THAT late my body clock still insisted I be awake for 6am.
Blergh…

I was in San Francisco for nine days at the beginning of October, and even though I was able to get my film back two days after my return I have still haven’t managed to upload many shots to Flickr. The above shot was taken in the Japanese Tea Garden, located in Golden Gate Park. It was a lovely place, but I think my favorite Japanese style garden is still the one I visited in Portland. The rest of the shots of this same location can be seen on flickr using this guest pass.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to upload the seventy-two shots of San Francisco graffiti without overwhelming myself or my audience…

World Toy Camera Day was a very rainy one here in Vancouver, so Kirsti and Christopher came by to shoot indoors with my lights. As you can see from the photos, we were a bit goofy (or at least I was).

Their photos can be found here:
www.flickr.com/photos/mimsybee/tags/worldtoycameraday/ – Kirsti
www.flickr.com/photos/czarf/tags/wtcd2007/ – Christopher

While I’m remembering, I thought I’d post some links to a few of the galleries and artist’s work I saw in Seattle a week and a half ago. I took the above photo with the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim as I was wandering around Pioneer Square looking for galleries.

Paintings by Flora S. Bowley - I love the colours, layers, and textures in her work, but none of it comes across very well in the photos online.

Sculpture by Paul A. Metivier and paintings by Glenn Ossiander – I felt like this show was made for me to see because the paintings were all red, and most of the sculpture were of crows. Again with the online photos the viewer doesn’t get the full effect of the paintings’ colour, texture and the layers of paint.

Oil paintings on paper by Joanne Hammer – I was only able to take a quick look through the gallery because I arrived at closing time, but I wish I’d had the chance to look again.

I think a parasol is essential to my survival during the summer weather. I can’t stand wearing a hat because it makes my head feel unbearably hot, and it wouldn’t protect the rest of me anyway. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when I’m walking around with my parasol because it’s a real eye-catcher, but the benefits of extra sun protection outweigh the drawbacks of attention.

Yippeee! Summer arrived in Vancouver this past weekend. Let’s hope it’s here to stay for awhile.

I had a really great long weekend. How was yours…?

I’m hoping summer will be back REALLY soon, because I’m very tired of being cold and wet. I saw a glimmer of warmer weather yesterday evening, just as I was on the return trip from a bike ride around the seawall. I’d like some more of that, please….

Danny Michel was in town this week for two shows at the Railway Club, and I’m very happy I made it to one of them last night. I’ve missed him the last few times he’s played Vancouver, and didn’t want this to happen again. He’s always an entertaining performer and anyone I take to see him becomes a convert to his music. He’s on tour right now to promote a new CD/DVD box set he’s put together independently, featuring material recorded at two live shows in Toronto.

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Speaking of gratitude, five things I am grateful for:
1. All the wonderful and generous friends I have in my life.
2. The emails I receive sometimes from people via flickr to let me know my photography is inspiring.
3. The sunshiny weather forecast for the next five days.
4. Meeting the many interesting people who contribute to Momentum Magazine at a brunch last Sunday.
5. Finding more wisteria vines than I previously knew about, growing in my neighbourhood. They are almost in full bloom!

I can’t remember if I have mentioned this already, but I have recently added more prints for sale in my etsy shop.
I’m hoping to upload more soon, once things settle down and I get the chance to scan my most recent holga photos.

A special thank you to Liz Shuman for blogging about my store on Abstract the Day earlier this week, and to Leslie Webster for the featured gallery of my work on Apartment Therapy: San Francisco today.

[Edit: I meant to add this to the entry earlier...]
There are two things you should check out this weekend if you live in the Vancouver area: Vancouver Moving Theatre’s production called “We’re all in this Together. The Shadows Project: Addiction and Recovery” ends on Sunday. The play is inspired by the ancient tradition of shadow theatre (see the photo on their website) using stories of the Downtown Eastside. It features a cast of thirty community actors performing as shadow-casters and musicians.

There is an open house at the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (O.W.L) this Saturday and Sunday. I learned about this organization, located in Delta, after reading Conversations with an Eagle by Brenda Cox. The book is her personal account of working closely with a Bald Eagle named Ichabod, during her years of volunteer work at O.W.L. The open house gives people the opportunity to see more of behind-the-scenes at the rehab centre than is normal. I would really love to go to this, but sadly can not make it this weekend.

I took this photo with my holga a few weeks ago on a trip to the Squamish area to go exploring with friends. It was a beautiful, peaceful day, with weather hot enough to make us wish for shorts and sandals to wear. It came very close to this type of weather again yesterday. Spring is here and summer isn’t far behind.

Yesterday I attended the Creative City Conversation, conference at the Vancouver Playhouse. The purpose was for “the City of Vancouver to gather information to develop a 10-year, long-term plan for arts and culture in Vancouver. Local, national and international speakers were invited to share their experience and stimulate discussion. It was free and open to the public.”

I want to write more about this experience at a later date, but for now let me leave you with a talk by Ken Robinson at the TED conference earlier this year. Mr. Robinson was the keynote speaker at Creative City and gave a very entertaining and inspiring speech very similar to the one for TED.

I haven’t felt much like updating my photo blog lately because I’ve been pondering what exactly I want to do with this thing. It’s in need of a proper design, featuring a portfolio and contact section. I should also add a link to my new etsy store. (Now I can proudly say that I sell my work.)

There is a small show of Holga photos on display at the Pendulum Gallery. The work is by local Vancouver photographer Trevor Brady, and will be on display until April 21st. I liked seeing Holga photos printed very large and bold. It gave me a few ideas for things to do with my own work.

I’ve been wanting to try out a few of the modifications that are possible with a holga. There are many out there, but the three I am most intrigued by are panoramas, macros, and shooting with 35mm. Last week through a contact of mine on flickr I discovered a simple variation on the “macro mod”, where I can use my close-up filters to get closer to my subject than the one meter minimum a holga normally allows. If you don’t have close-up filters, there is an article on Toycamera.com with three variations for macro modifications.

I’m really happy with the results from my first roll. Even though I chose flowers as my subject for the test I can see potential in using this technique for shooting portraits. It’s always frustrated me to keep my distance when photographing people with the holga, and now I can get much closer.

I have a gallery of the night shots taken this past winter up at Toycamera.com. Please check it out.

I have chosen the above sunflower photo as my avatar to summon up a bit of sunny weather. Here’s hoping it works.

Last Saturday I went for the loveliest walk in the rain. The air was fresh with the perfumed scent of spring, the temperature was warm, the plants and moss glowed a vibrant green, and everywhere the trees were blossoming. A week later it’s still raining, and my walks outside seem less lovely and more…soggy. We are at the point of springtime when every Vancouverites thoughts turn to ark-building.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Exposure Gallery over the weekend to visit with me and see my photo in the show. I was able to get a bit of reading done during my gallery sitting shift, and discovered the work of two photographers new to me.

The current issue of Light Leaks magazine features an interview with pinhole photographer Martha Casanave, and a stunning selection of photos from her series Explorations along an Imaginary Coastline. A nice compliment to her work is that of Robin Bartholick and his digitally constructed black and white images. (See series 1 and series 2.) It’s interesting to me that their work is so similar, with gentlemen dressed in turn of the century garb and imaginary landscapes, but they achieve their results at opposite ends of the technological scale.

If this picture is any indication, I must be getting better at stalking crows. He (or she) was preening when I snuck up to take its picture, and though it was startled it didn’t fly away. Usually crows get very nervous about having their picture taken, but this one seems to be posing for me.

Vancouver has a huge crow population, and every morning and evening they can be seen crossing the city’s skies to and from their nesting site in Burnaby. It’s an impressive sight to see, and one I never seem to tire of.

I rarely take self portraits with my holga because my arms don’t seem to be long enough to meet the minimum requirements for getting myself in focus. But I wanted to take a spring-themed photo with the cherry blossoms, in focus or not, and finish the roll in my camera. I’m glad I took a chance with this shot because I’m very happy with how it has turned out. I managed to get the composition I wanted, even with my eyes closed…

Putting my show together is not going as smoothly as I’d hoped. It makes me very glad I still have plenty of time left to prepare, and also that the original date I am slated for may be pushed back. I think in the meantime I need to look for other, less involved opportunities to submit my work for exhibition. For my own sense of satisfaction I need more than just this one show – even though it’s a solo – to have on my plate this year. Maybe I am crazy to think so…

Creativity has really taken a backseat to other, more pressing things this week. If only the weather would improve and provide better outdoor lighting conditions then I could get out and finish rolls of film I have loaded into three different cameras. I can hear them calling my name, making me feel guilty…

I’m really glad Zak invited me to work with Foo Associates at Northern Voice this past weekend. I don’t think I would’ve attended otherwise because my experience last year didn’t leave me “wanting more”. I would’ve missed out on a lot if I hadn’t been there.

I felt last year was great socially, and interesting because I was “thrown” last minute onto a panel, but lacking in the kind of content I’d actually paid for. This year was still very social, but because of my role as “Foo Associates representative”, brought me into contact with many new and interesting people instead of just chatting with friends. I was definately more interested in this year’s speakers, and made a point of not opening my laptop and (mostly not) shooting my camera during sessions to divert my attention. An open laptop in the audience usually seems to mean surfing/chatting/photo editing is going on, and I didn’t want to fall into it this year like so many others I observed.

Zak and I led a morning session on the first day called “Photo-Blogosphere-Meatspace-Mashup.”
The idea was to document different information related to blogging, such as the year people started blogging, number of blogs kept, and so on. We threw out some ideas, as did the audience, and then found a spot to create human graphs using the twenty or so participants. The results were fun, and though we hoped to explore this further during the conference, weather and space issues were against us. It’s an idea I’d like to try again, if I can figure out a good way to bring together interested bloggers.

I never did get further on the second day with my diptych series of conference attendees and their equipment, as mentioned in my previous blog entry. But again, I definately want to explore this further, now that I have a better idea of what works well and how best to shoot it.

All in all Northern Voice was a great source of inspiration, knowledge and social interaction.