camera meet and greet

As you know I love my holga and will always be a holga girl at heart.  Recently though I expanded my arsenal of toy cameras to experiment, play, and hopefully realize again that I’m a holga girl.  I borrowed two cameras from Mom’s collection (she has lots of cool ones).  I borrowed a Brownie Hawkeye (far left) and the Lomo L-CA+.  Kodak put out a line of cameras called Brownies and the Hawkeye is just one version of these.  It takes 620 film which was made by Kodak so that you would be required to purchase their film and not go elsewhere.  620 film is actually the same size as 120, the spool is a slightly small that the 120 spool.  So in order to use the brownie I need to either respool film onto a 620 spindle, sand down a 120 spindle to fit, or as the developing lap to please please please not throw away the spool and return after processing.  I opted for the last option for my first run through with the Brownie and my lab was wonderful enough to save the spindle.  The results of the brownie were similar to the holga, its more of a different feel while shooting.  You get to look down into the camera to see what your aimed at which is kinda fun to figure out.  It has the same bulb mode as a holga which I made good use out of.  And I think this camera would/could make some amazing vertical panoramas.  I’ll have to explore that in the next roll I put through.
The Lomo LCA+(center camera) is a camera I have a little more experience with since Mom used to carry it around with her every where we went for a while.  It was one of the cam’s that initially even got me semi into photography.  They are made in Russia and have a wide angle glass lens.  Die hard toy camera people don’t consider lomo’s to be toy cameras.  In fact there is in a bit of a rift between the die hard plastic toy people and the lomo people.  But I digress.  I haven’t gotten through an entire roll of film in the Lomo yet, it takes 35mm so 24 pics takes a lot longer to go through than the 120 12 pics. 
The far right is my beloved Holga.  While playing with these other cameras I’ve built up some excitement about my holga.  I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I have several things I want to try out and experiment.  One is going on right now.  I have my holga pointed at the night sky on a super long exposure.  Sitting at 30 min right now.  When I started there were clouds on the skyline glowing, but now they have gone away and it is very dark.  Hence the super long exposure.  Lately my biggest problem with my holga is that I’m not paying attention to the lighting and lots of my pics are under exposed.  This probably isn’t the best project to be working on when this is my biggest problem right now, but I couldn’t help it.  I was inspired.
Finally my Blue Ribbon Slim Camera.  This I bought my self for my birthday and is all plastic and very toy like.  It’s tiny which I like b/c I can throw it in my purse.  It is a wide angle like the lomo but should or could give me vignetting like the holga.  It’s a 35mm which I wanted so that I had something a lil bit cheaper I could play with.  I just finished my first roll of film today.  So back to the camera store I go…  I’m hoping for some cool pics to share on HLW. 
I still have the Fujifilm Instax Mini camera.  We use it occasionally.  We used it a lot when Ryker was first born.  And I have a couple ideas for future projects w/ this camera.  I just need to buy a ton of film if I get them underway.

That’s about the sum of it.  The cameras sit on a bookshelf in the living room while not in my purse.  Easy access for when inspiration hits.  Which fortunately has been a lot lately.  =)

HLW brownie pics count

=This is my first favorite pic from the Brownie Hawkeye camera borrowed from Mom’s collection
=Brownie pics as well as lomos and pics from the new blue slim camera count for HLW
=More on cameras and what I’m playing with in a different post
=R rolled over onto his belly all by himself for the first time today
=Now every time I have him on his back he flips to his belly
=Mobility has started
=Mom sent me a link today for a recipe to make homemade pop tarts
=I’m now obsessed w/ this cooking blog and with wanting to cook/bake
=Made homemade soup for dinner tonight
=Bought stuff to make the pop tarts, her mushroom spinach and gruyere quiche this weekend
=Am thinking about picking some pears and attempting to make my pie this weekend, we’ll see how the pop tarts go
=She also has a list of 100 things to bake…its amazing.  Makes me want to eat.
=Not much crochet has happened this week
=I have started to get more into my book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

HLW new pics next week

>Dropped off 3 rolls of film today, they’ll be ready Friday after 4pm
>This is my other portrait shot that I think is really good, maybe b/c I was there, but to me it has a lot of emotion
>It’s beautiful day today, cool and sunny and breezy.  I can feel fall not far away.
>Chris took a half day and we went for a walk on the Rock Island Trail, 2 miles
>Finished season 1 of Six Feet Under
>Making slow headway in crocheting
>Been sampling wines in order to get the wine blog back up and running, thinking about a redesign
>Can now button some of my pre-pregnancy pants, they’re tight but they’re buttoned!
>Been watching lots of Food Network lately, mostly Giada and Ina
>Was awake this morning at 330
>Full moon and clear sky made silver shadows over the yard
>Wished I’d have stayed up and sipped coffee on the deck to enjoy it
>Maybe tomorrow

local bizness

Number 11 on my list of 29 plus 1 is to seek out and support local businesses.  This is sort of an on going thing but so far I’m surprised at how well we’ve been doing w/out actually thinking about it.  Here’s a little promo for the local businesses we’ve visited. 

Mackinaw Valley Vineyard: We’ve been here before and it happens to be my fave winery in the area.  It’s a gorgeous setting, you can go see concerts on Sat nights, have a quiet glass of wine on Fri nights, and in the winter go to trivia nights.  The owners are very nice and they’ve been coming up with new wines that I need to try.  I always just drink my default fave, Eric’s Red.
Not Your Average Joe’s Coffee shop in Dunlap IL: Love this place.  We stopped in to check out back in May after walking the Rock Island trail.  It’s a cute little shop in one of the oldest buildings in town.  The owner was very nice and personable.  Her selection of coffees is great, and she boasts to have the best latte in town.  It’s a bit of a drive for us but worth it for reliabley good coffee and a selection of sweet baked goods that make you drool just looking.
Ewe-Nique yarns in Morton IL: When I found the pattern for the chameleon blanket I did a quick search to see if any where locally sold Noro sock yarn and Ewe-Nique yarn shop fit the bill.  It’s located in Morton Il next to a really wonderful bead shop and an amazing quilt shop.  Both locally owned but I haven’t bought anything from them recently.  Ewe-Nique yarns is great.  I’m all signed up for their mailing list and at some point hope to learn to knit here.  All the employees are very helpful and very informative.  They wanted to see my pattern of what I was working with.  They were able to point me in the right direction for types of yarn and in the future types of classes to take.  It’s a great atmosphere and I get excited about going there again….even if I don’t need anything.
Peoria Camera Shop:  I am lucky to have a great camera shop here in town.  Employees all know their cameras.  They have a developing lab in house and they can develop 120 film.  They offer classes, beginning ones for free which I’ve taken a couple of these and then more advanced classes for a small price.  If my focus was more digital photography I’d be in every one of their classes.  I need to get up there next week and get more holgas developed.
Copper River Coffee shop in Peoria: Miranda discovered this gem this summer and we went on her recommendation.  We haven’t been here more than a couple times but we like it a lot.  I’m in love with their coppercinos.  It’s an excellent atmosphere to catch up with friends, meet for a book club, or bring a book and sit and read. 

HLW running low on pics to choose from

*Not that I don’t like this photo, it’s just not up to date for lil R
*Now when he’s on his tummy he pics his head up and part of his chest and flails his arms and kicks his legs.  It looks like he’s trying to swim.
*If the boy were strong enough to pick up his whole body he’d be crawling already.  scary!
*We haven’t begun childproofing yet…ugh
*Not sure why childproofing didn’t make the list.
*I have 2 holga rolls, 1 roll from the Brownie Hawkeye, and 1 roll from the lomo to develop
*Just need to get up to the camera store
*Started a roll in my new Blue Ribbon Slim wide angle toy cam, real excited!
*Started work this week, already glad I have Wednesdays off.
*Been checkin out new local businesses..will blog on that soon
*Started a my first book for my list, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 
*It’s real popular right now and supposed to be good.  so far its a slow start but I haven’t gotten far.
*I can’t believe R is still sleeping, i should write some emails while i have a few min