Mono Bank

Banks of Mono Lake, shot with Yashica Mat 124g, September 2017.

A bit of flare

A few more from Yosemite shot with my Yashica Mat medium format. I kinda like how the lens flare from the sun adds some weird element to the photos because the light in these situations was somewhat otherworldly and weird, especially when combined with the smoke from the camps mixing in with the stark light/dark contrast with the sunlight and the trees.

Moments

Stream in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, 2018

Seeing Humanity - Burning Man 2016

"Seeing Humanity for what it really is"
at Burning Man 2016
shot with Holga & black & white film

Trusting the Murder - Burning Man 2016

One of the Crows from Jack Champion's Murder
Shot with 120 (medium format) Holga Camera at Burning Man 2016

Breathe

Descanso Gardens is seriously the best. On one hand, I don't want to tell anyone because I want it to be nice and calm when I go, but on the other, it is so unique in LA in that it's a place where you can get that rare moment alone in nature. Breathe.

Maple Haze

The Diana + was my first toy camera about 3.5 yrs ago now and when I began scanning this roll today, I realized I've only shot 2 rolls of color film in it! The first was given to me as part of the purchase (craigslist). I think it was some sort of Fuji film & it was expired. I wasn't really sure exactly what to expect with the camera since I was buying it second hand, so I decided to shoot the expired roll as "pratice", which is kinda funny to me now. I didn't know where to develop it for years so it sat around (somewhat defeating the purpose of shooting it to make sure things were ok) and since then I've only shot black and white in the Diana+. In some ways, I think I've learned to love the black and white, and so I didn't really think much about it. It was just part of the Diana for me...  While I finally got the roll developed, I've still never scanned it... Recently I decided to let myself put a color roll in it again when we visited Descanso Gardens and try this out again.


I shot a roll of Lomo 100 color, which was a little slow for some of the circumstances I was in (shaded naturey areas), but I'm still pretty happy with some of the photos, including this double exposure of some of the Japanese Maples.

Burning Bits 2015

A few more from Burning Man 2015.


I have a few more rolls of 120 film from BM last year I need to develop, but work has been a little more mentally tiring recently, although I hope things can settle down in a couple weeks. We shall see... I'm still hoping things can pull together and I can get a ticket for Burning Man this year. I've been debating about filling out a form to show art at Center Camp again. On one hand, I have very few days left to fill out the form. On the other.... still no ticket : / I feel like I've hit a happy groove shooting film at Burning Man. I would very much love to go back again this year and continue, hopefully shooting more people (in a good way!!) Mentally, I know not having a ticket is part of what's keeping me from developing all of last year's film...

Note to Universe: help on this front is extremely appreciated !!!!

Akle the Dragon

Ministry of Random Events (MORE) drum circle: earlier in the week I had passed by this circle of trashcans, but didn't really bother to get close... then later in the week I stumbled into this drum circle. I snapped a few photos before jumping in. There's something really nice and meditative about participating in something like this since everyone can kinda create their own thing, yet still contribute to the whole.

 

Expired Film Day Moments

A couple of photos that I actually shot on Expired Film Day back in March (I finished off this roll at Forest Lawn.) I managed to lose most of the photos I shot on Expired Film Day itself, but I still managed to have a small selection for the actual Expired Film Day Contest so I had a couple things to enter. I didn't win anything, but I'm glad I did it given all the problems I had along the way!

From Expired to Alive

Valley Verandas

NESFV CicLAvia, things!

As seems to be my pattern, another CicLAvia means some more photos from the archives of past CicLAvias! This set is also from the most recent CicLAvia in the NE San Fernando Valley. Looking forward to it this Sunday in the "SouthEast Cities" and another chance to explore new areas of Los Angeles!

All shot with my Yashica Mat 124 G w/ Kodak Ektar

Burning Man 2015 - Joy of Caring

The Joy of Caring, Burning Man 2015
Shot with Holga 120


At Burning Man there's so many opportunities to expose yourself to new or different experiences and gifting and sharing with others is a huge one. This gives people new chances to engage and also think about how much joy there can be in giving as well as receiving.

I shot this particular photo on an afternoon mid week. A friend from my camp and I headed over to this camp with a little covered area with 2 lines of chairs and plastic bins, like a janky, Burning Man spa in some nice shade. People waited patiently, enjoying the shade and seat (when you have to bring all the things you need, you suddenly realize the value in simple things like this) for people that out of the goodness of their hearts and the spirit of gifting an incredibly thoughtful and needed gift, took time to patiently clean off your wonky Burning Man feet for a few minutes. Spa experience? Seriously, at the moment this feels like the ultimate spa experience when it comes with shade, cleanliness, caring, smiles and love from a random person.

Las hermosas lomas virgenes

I knew I wanted to go someplace special to shoot at least one roll from the Emulsive/PrintFile giveaway, so I held off for a little while since I knew it wasn't happening on expired film day itself. When the stars aligned, we ended up at Las Virgenes Canyon again, and more specificlly during sunset again. I shot the T-Max roll using my Yashica Mat 124-G & a tripod. I attempted to treat it as 64 ISO film since that's the lowest my Yashica Mat went, but let's also be honest and mentioned again that my light meter doesn't work... so it's all a bit of a guessing game anyway.

I wanted to wait to see how the previous roll I shot turned out and after some very expired looking results from the color expired film roll, I was somewhat hesitant to develop the roll of 20+ year old T-Max. I kept delaying the development, being productive and developing multiple other rolls  of film before sucking it up earlier this week.

As I sat in the dark bathroom fiddling with the film, my heart dropped as I tried to detach the roll of 120 film from the paper backing and the film RIPPED, which has never happened, but I also had never tried to develop 20+ year old film. The film was stiff and resistant to being flattened and kept curling and slipping out from under the clip of the spool. Sigh. Silent struggles in the dark and finally I got everything situated and developed it in 1:1 diluted Kodak D-67. I have to say, I was much happier with my result than I thought I would be. I'm still in the process of scanning, but here's a little taste....

Arched

It might be apparent from some recent posts that I've been developing some black and white film recently... although I ultimately have 1 roll I NEED to develop now, I'm doing the "procrastination by filling time with other long time to-do list items" and even manged to develop a roll of film from Burning Man last year! This is one of the ones I shot with my Medium Format Holga that has already made 3 trips to Burning Man! (the 35 mm on the other hand didn't even make it through 1 Burning Man. RIP 35mm Holga. :( Back in those days when Holgas were still made and one could be so reckless...) Unfortunately I was unable to get Burning Man tickets in the sale this year, so I'm trying to keep my options and eyes open to see if I can make it happen this year. I feel like I keep doing more and pushing myself each year that I've gone, even to the point of finally showing my own art there, that I really would like to go back.....

I know I've taken these types of photos before, but I do love shooting these laser cut domey things with the black and white film....  so pretty!

Burning Man 2015, BRC, Nevada
shot with Holga 120

Sharp Line

Building in the Burbank Media District, Burbank, CA
Shot with Diana+ & arista.edu 400 film

2 Halves

Diana!!!! I go through phases with my camera and recently I revisited the Diana and although it caused some frustrations for me recently, then I shot most of a roll at Huntington Gardens, although I need to sleep, so here's just one photo tonight.This is why I love this camera. So light and simple and yet such nice pictures when it all comes together and cooperates.....

Bridge at the Chinese Garden at Huntington Gardens, San Marino, CA
March, 2016

Further Expired

So back in the beginning of March I received some expired film as part of a giveaway held by PrintFile and Emulsive. Both rolls expired in the early 1990's including 1 TMax and Ektachrome. I wasn't able to shoot it on Expired Film day, but I took out the Etkachrome in my Yashica Mat 124 G to the Glendale Forest Lawn Cemetery. I feel like I was setting myself up for this, but I guess between the lack of a working light meter and the expired film and the film being expired, it didn't turn out ideally, but you do what you can. I do kinda like the weird effect combined with the sculptures of people in the cemetery.

Follow at Forest Lawn Glendale

I'm super behind in getting some of my medium format film developed & scanned, but I'm getting there! I scanned an entire roll tonight! This photo is from a roll of expired (I think 2003?) Kodak Portra 400 film I got in the Emulsive Secret Santa Swap! I loaded it in my Yashica Mat camera for Expired Film Day on March 15, although I didn't get a chance to shoot many photos because of work on that day, blah, blah, I ended up shooting the rest of the roll when we went to Forest Lawn in Glendale the weekend afterward. Secret/not secret? The light meter in my Yashica Mat doesn't work and I just do a best guess on exposure settings. I was pretty happy with how these turned out given the parameters I was working with! This one in particular was a little bit of a challenge to shoot with the TLR for me just due to the angles and how the camera functions.

People of LA: CicLAvia NESFV

People of LA at CicLAvia NE San Fernando Valley on March 6, 2016
The celebrity, ex-drug addict & ex-criminal, normal families doing normal family stuff, the homeless, the artists and people of all sorts of ethnicities. People of LA.

Yashica Mat 2014-G & Kodak Ektar
Danny Trejo mural by Levi Pónce

Refugio 9/2015

Refugio State Beach, September 2015
Shot with Yashica Mat 124g. First photo of the roll = incomplete photo

CicLAvia #16 NE SFV - friends

CicLAvia -  NE SFV, 3/6/16
Yashica Mat 124-g & kodak ektar