adobe photoshop touch

I decided to purchase the new Adobe app for iPhone (photoshop touch). I had a lot of fun with it at first, then slowly became detached, like everything else I buy. I don’t really edit any of my photos in the program, but I do use the layering tool like a mad woman. Here are a few digital photos that I created in the program. If you don’t like nebulas then you can go and fuck yourself.

Ferris Wheel, Abandoned Six Flags, NOLA

Land Between the Lakes, Redd Hollow

A photo of Kelsey the first day we met.

Bison Range @ LBL x running bison nebula

Paul on the beach from our 2011 vacation to Gulf Shores

This photo was taken underwater with a fisheye.

I still use the app sometimes, but not as much as I did when I first got it. It’s fun. I recommend it.

Ringgold Creek

I was going through photos today when I came across one of me swinging out over a creek on a rope. It made me ache for summer again, and also youth. I will be 27 years old next month, and yes, I consider being 21/22 ‘youth’. I remember these days well, even through waking up and drinking beers in the shower every one of them. Was I an alcoholic? Maybe. But every awkward step I took in the wrong direction when I was younger led me here – to this life. It’s funny how a photo (especially a polaroid) can bring you back, way way back – and you still remember how everything around you smelled, and the sounds of the waterfall pounding on more water below it. I remember how the mist felt on my body as I suntanned on the hot rocks. The first time I ever came here, I was 17 and I caught a giant butterfly in mid-air and tied a string to it. I tied the other end to Zach Lerman’s hair and watched it fly in circles. This was 2007. I was 22 and it was the summer that I spent a lot of time shooting polaroids with Chad. I was apprenticing under Andy at the tattoo shop and had just gotten dumped by my ex husband (for like the 3rd time). I drank heavily and would drive over to his apartment and throw rocks at his window. I was crazy. I spent a lot of time at this creek and I just wanted to share the polaroids I had of it. I will probably never go back again.

adieu!

Polaroid Week 2011

Last week was ‘roid week for this year, and what better way to spend it than doing what I love the most. I had just received some Spectra Gridfilm in the mail. It had an expiration date of ’08 so I was super excited about the semi-freshness of it. Gridfilm is my ultimate favourite Polaroid film. It’s so magical looking to me, and I doubt that I’ll be able to find that much more of it before it goes completely extinct. Anyway, here’s what I shot for ‘roid week 2011:

Day 1

Polaroid Spectra System, double exposure

Polaroid Autofocus 660 with PX600 from The Impossible Project (this is a peel)

Day 2

Polaroid Autofocus 660 with PX600 from The Impossible Project

Day 3

Polaroid Spectra System, Gridfilm

Day 4

Polaroid Spectra System, Gridfilm

Polaroid Spectra System Macro shot, Gridfilm

Day 5

Polaroid Spectra System, Gridfilm

Polaroid Spectra System, Gridfilm

You can follow ‘roid week on Twitter HERE
View the group pool on flickr HERE
or join ‘roid week 2012 group on flickr HERE

If you love and miss taking Polaroid photos, there’s no reason why you can’t still do it. I often get surprised reactions from people when they find out that I shoot Polaroid still.. so many people don’t know that you can still purchase the film! Just go to www.the-impossible-project.com to see some of the many samples & test shots. Buy some! You’ll get that feeling that unicorns actually DO exist.

Mmmm, fresh Polaroids…

So, I finally purchased some PX70 PUSH! film from The Impossible Project and loaded up the dusty old SX70. I got some really great results, and I got some not so great results.. but we won’t talk about the not so great ones. Before I purchase any more, I’m going to scout out a different model camera. It’s obvious that I’m not using an SLR. #wahwah

Enough talking, onwards to the Polaroids!

Gypsy Hair Deer, corners peeled back to create a cracked border. This shot was taken indoors, which I found to create the best images. If you are shooting outdoors, you should definitely make sure you shield your photo from UV light from the moment it’s ejected from your camera, up until it’s fully developed.

Human Anatomy – this shot was my very first PX70 shot, taken outdoors, and not shielded

Rattle-can lineup. Shot outdoors in the shade

Skull

And this, ladies and gentleman, is my very first successful peel. This was shot at the Elk and Bison prairie at Land Between the Lakes in Paris. I didn’t like it until I peeled it.

This is actually my face

Second peel, getting better…

Lovin’ Spoonful Cafe, near my work. They have delicious meatloaf sandwiches, and the entire place is covered in paint-by-number paintings.. each booth with a different theme. I personally like to sit in the religious booth.

Final peel.

Well, that’s it, until I buy more film. Adieu!

Experimenting with Light & Long Exposure

I have been pretty out of it lately with the whole photography thing. Here and there I have done some work, but have been working more on writing instead. A few months ago, I started working on a project with Liam Lynch from Pretoria, South Africa called The Heart Is An Organ of Fire, which includes random photos from the past with a creative writing/prose narrative below each one. I’ve even considered compiling everything I’ve written in my lifetime into a book of sorts, but haven’t started.

A few nights ago, my roommate Chad Spann and I were playing around with a Vivitar Auto Thyristor 2800 and a Canon Rebel XTi (that somehow randomly appeared on my porch at 4 AM one day) & decided to do some long exposures. They may look like multiple exposures, but they’re not.

This is achieved when you click the shutter, and then zoom out.

This Place is Full of Ghosts – new works on film

Cave Johnson house – Polaroid Spectra (expired)

About a month ago, I read this book ‘Spook’ by Mary Roach (Science Tackles the Afterlife.. “…brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.”) .. in it there’s a chapter about seances. Who did them, what went on, and HOW they did them. When I found out the entire process that went on, I was utterly amazed.. and was especially interested in mimicking ectoplasm in a photo shoot. We had limited supplies, but cranked out a pretty stellar shoot with what we had.

Inside of the piano – PX 600 from The Impossible Project

The milk was just another idea that ended up sour. (har har) Regardless, I had a blast. I worked with my good friends Chad Spann and Kelsey Lange. Chad shot with his 50D, and I used a Canon EOS Rebel with Kodak Tri Max 400 black and white film, which I developed at home. (4 minutes @ 79 degrees F) All black and white images were shot at the Cave Johnson home at 916 Madison Street, right next door to me. Cave Johnson died in 1849 of Scurvy, and introduced the first postage stamp in 1846. (I’m such a mail nerd) The house has been abandoned since a family was poisoned with carbon monoxide.. I frequent it often, and it will soon be demolished.

Shot with Polaroid One Step express & expired 779 film

Here are a few of the digitals that Chad Spann shot from that day:

Moleskine, Moleskine!

I got another Moleskine notebook about a month ago. I’ve been filling it up with everything I can think of, and after I’m done with this one, I’ll do another – and another – and another. I want a bigger one, next time.. anyway, here’s a preview of what I’ve been up to in the art department:

View the rest of the Moleskine set on flickr HERE

Other things I’ve been up to: check out my May entry for THEARTOFWAITING – click here!