Burbank Panoramic

I honestly don't really exactly remember shooting these photos (I've been shooting with my 35mm Holga for about a month straight around now!), but based on what's in them, I can figure out I took them in Burbank... the 134 is visible over to the left. Otherwise though, this was a happy accident. Through 3 different (unintentionally overlapping) exposures in different areas, I ended up with what almost looks like a contiguous mountain line! And the sun appears 3 times (I obviously was enjoying the sky that morning)! The world of the Holga is cheap magic!

Studio City Farmers Market foodspy

From my first visit of 2015 to the Studio City Farmers Market earlier this month.....


All shot with the 35mm Holga with close up filters.

Alcatraz Morgue

Sometimes the Diana is a Diana and it makes me go crazy with unexpected exposure and textures and accidental overlaps and other times the Diana is a Diana and it's fucking awesome.... like in my roll from Alcatraz.

Half of the roll didn't even turn out at all... most of the rest has some degree of light damage from a fat roll (film didn't roll tightly around the spool in the camera, which meant light could leak in through the outside edges of the medium format roll once I pulled it out of the camera.) But this time the resulting imperfect edges added a perfect amount of creepiness to the resulting photos without photoshop or other techniques needed.

Morgue on Alcatraz

A red green adventure

Although I have my own version of the story of how I came to shoot all of these photos on a walk in December, I'd rather not tell it. Instead, I like this story much better with these photographic details as inspiration to fill in the rest on your own.....

Ciclavia 12/7/14 - South LA Holga #2

Second set from the South LA Ciclavia, shot with my 35mm Holga and, with more people!! I think this might finally be the last set, but the mysterious world of my cameras has surprises for me sometimes....

I love this one! It makes me want to yell "Yay, Ciclavia!!!"



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....and about 16 hours after I posted this, I was screaming "Yay, Ciclavia!!!!" (and possibly scaring people around me with my excitement) when I found out the next Ciclavia is around my birthday and THE ROUTE IS RIGHT OUTSIDE MY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! This will be the first San Fernando Valley route and goes through North Hollywood and Studio City and passes by the Red Line NoHo and Studio City/Universal City stations and the end of the Orange Line. There's also a few bike lanes that lead directly to the route (Orange Line path/Chandler, Vineland, Tujunga and I'm sure I am missing more.) I'm seriously thinking of doing a small birthday celebration outside in the street for my friends and whoever else wants to stop by. I have SO MANY ideas, way too many for a single day of things that could be done, but I also just want to ride the route and experience the streets I bike and walk all the time in a new way. This has been a dream of mine to have Ciclavia right outside my home because it's my favorite thing in Los Angeles and people are happy and people get to experience and explore the city and it's awesome for photography and gets people outside and biking and exercising and interacting with their friends and people they don't know at all, and and and and and!!!!!!!! It's so wonderful and I hope one day there is a Ciclavia every week in Los Angeles!! I'm so excited to talk with people in my neighborhood that say "it's scary to ride on the streets" and hope they can come out. SO EXCITED!

White Sands Life

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, September 2012 shot with Yashica Mat 124 g

If you look closely in the foreground you can see footprints from some of the little animals living in the area as well as black seeds from the yucca.

San Gabriel Mountain Mood

San Gabriel Mountains from Pasadena in December some time around some rain. Shot with Holga 35mm

Ciclavia 12/7/14 - South LA Holga

I picked up my Holga 135 the weekend of the December 2014 Ciclavia in South LA... to be truthful, part of the reason I decided to finally bite the bullet & buy one was because of Ciclavia. So these are the first pictures I shot with the Holga 35mm! Unfortunately I had some confusion about advancing (I didn't realize I would feel a locking of the advancing knob when I reached the next frame so I kinda stopped when I thought the number reflected a new frame.), but overall, I really like how they turned out. The camera  operation was relatively easily to pick up, especially after using the Holga 120. Yay! Ciclavia! Photos! Biking!

USC

this was supposed to be parrots... you can still kinda spot some especially on the left/non double exposed side

more of playing the "spot the parrot" game!

orange blooming

some agave/aloe/succulent type plant with a close-up filter on the 35mm Holga

Pasadena to Studio City, part 2

crossing the Arroyo from Pasadena to Highland Park & passing the first set of stables for the ride

Hansammul church

looking north along the LA River bike path...

Alex Baum Bike Bridge between Los Feliz & Atwater Village

Sunset, White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, September 2012.

Shot with Yashica Mat 124G.

Pasadena to Studio City, Part 1

I've been living in Studio City for a while and working in Pasadena for just as long. In that time I've gone from driving to work every day to pretty much not driving to work for the last 9 years. By that I don't mean I get to work from home (ha! what a nice dream....), but instead I've used countless other ways besides driving alone to get between home and work - carpooling, Metro trains, combination of Metro trains & buses, walking and bus, bike & bus... you get the idea. One thing I hadn't done though was bike all the way between my home and work. While you can drive fairly directly between my 2 destinations using freeways, biking requires some more indirect routes because of the freeways, mountains and other steep hills, so the distance between is ~20 miles, depending on your exact route. While I've biked over 30 miles on my hybrid bike in a single go, it wasn't the most comfortable experience in the world, & once I got my road bike last summer, I realized that it would probably be a great bike to use for this ride. I built myself up to riding longer distances on the road bike by going out for longer rides on the weekend. I explored and biked in some of the areas I knew I would have to use in getting between the 2 destinations including going on the LA River Bike path and biking around in North Glendale. Then I set the goal of biking home on a day that I got out of work early (for me, this means the days before holidays.) I had hoped to do this in July, but unfortunately I came down with a pretty intense case of the flu a couple days beforehand. For Labor Day I was at Burning Man, so the next possible option was before Thanksgiving. So, that's what I did!

The first time I rode it was little intense since we had 90+ degree temps that day. Between the unexpected heat and not knowing the areas or route I decided to take, I felt a little beat once I got home (I literally just barely took enough water in my camelbak along), but I made it home! It was awesome! I ended up biking west across Pasadena and crossed over the Arroyo to Highland Park. Then I went across Highland Park using the bike lane on York, through Gassell Park and then Atwater Village before hopping on the LA River bike path and riding that to Riverside drive and then home! I loved the LA river bike path, although the I-5 right next to it sucked, but I kinda already covered some of that last time I wrote about the LA River bike path. One thing I forgot though was a camera! Ack! So then I decided I would do the ride again, this time the day before Christmas Eve! This time unfortunately I was getting over a cold (hmm.. see a theme here?), so I wasn't sure if I wanted to bike all the way home or just hop on the train in Highland Park. When I was near the train I realized I wasn't ready to stop riding, so I biked the rest of the way home, but this time with my Holga still in hand.

biking down El Molino

Knowing better where I was going this time, I took this ride between Pasadena and Studio City a little more casually, stopping to explore and take photos with my Holga 35mm along the way. This first set is through Pasadena, where I stopped to explore an awesome little garden park called Arlington Park. The park doesn't look like much from the street where I approached, but once I got inside I enjoyed walking through the 3 acres of land, discovering all sorts of awesome things like the last orange grove in Pasadena (where you could pick 1 orange per a visit and the rest left in the late winter go towards marmalade that's sold to keep the park up!), a labyrinth and tons of little quiet garden rooms nestled within a variety of plant life with chairs, benches & tables for quiet relaxation. It was seriously one of the best little free parks I've ever been to. If I worked or lived closer, I would be there all of the time and volunteering. I would love to make a park like this where I live and I have so many ideas of things you could use the space for including classes for art like drawing, painting or photography & so many other things. WHY don't these exist everyplace?! Spaces like this are desperately missing from a city like Los Angeles with so many apartment/condo dwellers with no outside space of their own.

looking towards Pasadena Ave from Arlington Park.
The orange grove begins on the left of the path

labyrinth in Arlington Park

"I wish for passion to always preface work. Love Caitlin" A remnant from a wedding held in the park...

looking down the sidewalk on Orange Grove in Pasadena

Holga pre-Christmas biking, part 2

A continuation of photos from the pre-Christmas bike ride in this post, still with my Holga 35mm in the Toluca Lake/Studio City area.

This guy lives in a giant wooden box in a driveway during the year. The box says something to the effect of  "Tonight Show Jay Leno Santa on the Moon".

and the next day, it was gone.