minty cam

For the first time since I left uni I have been back into the idea of homemade cameras. Recently it's rare for me to have the motivation to do something like this from scratch, but somehow I got off the sofa to make a pinhole camera out of a little altoids mint tin. 

I mostly followed the directions from the book form of Christ Keeney's directions.

I shot, developed & scanned the negatives at home - and it still feels really amazing. One day a darkroom? 

Here are a couple of the pictures I managed:

More hours in the day please.

temporary elation.

i went to Liberty today. on the fourth floor i experienced something akin to euphoria. the reason for this state? the christmas floor at Liberty, that's what. it's a magical place... i don't care if it's too early to think about christmas. christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.

i bought this decoration to remember the happiness i felt on the fourth floor of Liberty today.

incidentally all of the floors at Liberty are spectacular. have a look at their website.

DIY developing.

Today I shot a roll of Black&White film, I developed it and I scanned it in. I'm really pleased. 

I took pictures on my walk around Hitchin today, to be honest I didn't take a great deal of care taking these photos because the main objective was to try out my new chemicals. I used to develop film all the time at uni (I did a photography degree) and at home during the three year course, but it's been over 4 years since I tried my hand at it. It all came flooding back, especially the smell (not entirely pleasant). After developing, stopping and fixing, it was with baited breath I opened the lid & unrolled a small portion of film - images. What a relief. 

Here's some of photographs from today -

Beautiful un-tampered-with black and white images straight from the negatives. They probably need 'neatening' up a bit, but I like them a bit scruffy. 

Onwards...

jacknife posters

pretty much all of the stalls at glastonbury were the same as you get at every festival, i.e. cheap shit... but one stall caught my attention - cut to jacknife posters - independent screen printers who are commissioned by bands/events/organisations to design and produce hand made, limited runs of screen prints. check out their website here. 

these are few of my favourites: 

i wish i had the skillz... X

glastonbury

in shocking news, i think i must be one of the only people in attendance to think that glastonbury was only 'okay' - maybe it was the incredibly inconsistent weather (varying from rain storms to blistering heat) maybe it was the uncompromising mud (prevalent, difficult) maybe it was the sheer size of it all (overwhelming, crowded) or maybe it was just all the idiots (unavoidable, everywhere).

highlights include some of the excellent bands we saw; tame impala, the kills, radiohead, battles, biffy clyro... and sitting on top of the hill at the park stage and watching the little ant like attendees go about their festival business. 

although in my head i am already romanticising the whole event, i doubt i will be returning to glastonbury festival soon. i get the impression that glastonbury has changed a lot from what it first set out to be, and i think i'd prefer to go to the festival that glastonbury wants to be, as opposed to the festival that it has become.

here are a couple of photos i took while i was there:

photograph 1 taken on a disposable camera, photographs 2, 3 & 4 taken on canon eos 300d with holga lens attached.

i've just lost an evening to this -

i was just having a peep at the incomparable Navy&Brown blog belonging to my new acquaintances, Sally & John, and i found a post about this project. have a look at the different things folks have selected to save from their burning houses. although its a sad concept, and some of the selections are a little bit pretentious - i find both sadness and pretentiousness pretty inspiring. here's some good ones:

i am now thinking very hard about what i would save.

wednesday

i bought this camera on ebay for an incredibly fair sum, and now that it's arrived, i'm even happier. it's pretty bulky, probably not one to take to glastonbury, but it takes killer photographs and get this, you can still get film for it. thanks fuji. 

here are the first attempts -

 it can take all 4 pictures the same... and supposedly it can take 4 different ones too, with the help of some manoeuvring & make shift bottle lid lens caps. i will be trying that...

the soundtrack to these photos is the doors' self titled first album.

sicknote

i'm poorly (like whoaa) and my lovely boyfriend brought me these flowers ... and a load of drugs. he's a really good egg X

crochet.

Based on the fact that I like the way crochet looks when it's finished and the notion that it is supposed to relax the participant, my dear mother (who calls it croTchet- already alarm bells should be ringing) decided to teach me how to do it. 

I still love the way it looks when its finished but I have managed to disprove the quite frankly ridiculous theory that it is relaxing in any way. I tense my shoulders the entire time I'm doing it and I also hold my breath - making me not only achey but also at risk of dying. 

Baring that in mind, please marvel at what I've achieved so far: 

I look forward to seeing my granny square grow and living a long and full life. 

the impossible project

With Polaroid foolishly turning their backs on instant film in favour of digital cameras, someone surely had to take up some of the analogue slack? Luckily then, The Impossible Project stepped up to the plate (a baseball metaphor, yes really) and in early 2010 started the painstaking task of coming up with new recipes and chemical processes for the beloved instant pictures. 
I bought a couple of packs of the very first 'flush' of film, hot of the production line - customers were warned of its unpredictable nature and uncertain results. Just one foible of the new PX600 film (for SX70s) was its incredible sensitivity to light after being ejected. Users had to fashion clever ways to shield the newborn pictures from light until they were old enough to be set free! 
Here are my first three pictures:

Not only is this film unstable, quirky, frustrating and unpredictable, it's also very expensive. That said, it's also beautiful, unique, challenging (in a good way) and a positive step in the right direction for Impossible. I am hopeful for the future of instant photography. bon.