Film!

Recently my family traveled to Hot Springs.

With an emphasis on HOT. Like, really hot. Like melting asphalt hot (okay so I didn't exactly see this, but come on. It was definitely hot enough for that to happen).

While we were in Hot Springs I bought a $2 pair of canvas shoes from a consignment shop. I'm planning on pasting them with cartoons-- similar to the other shoes I created. I'll post some pictures when I get around to doing that :)

Another purchase I made while in Hot Springs was some film! As in, camera film. As in I finally got film for my oldddddd kodak camera! I've been thinking about this all summer, and there was a camera store in Hot Springs that sold film. Now my camera-- a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, if anyone is interested-- was meant to take 620 film, a film that is reallly hard to find nowadays.

However, it is relatively easy to find 120 film-- which apparently is enough like 620-- to use on my camera. I read horror stories online about how you have to clip the film, or do weird stuff to make it fit, but luckily for me, the film just snapped right into the camera.

Here's my baby! Not to be confused with my SLR, which I also refer to as my baby, or my car, which I am also prone to calling my baby. Skipping over what that may say about myself, the film was only slightly difficult to load. I may spray that thing down with WD-40 next time; there was something that didn't want to turn. I really have to yank at the wheel to advance the film.

I purchased the black and white film. Not only was it cheaper, it reflected the retro vibe that I was trying to achieve with my old camera. I want imperfections. I want dirty lenses, darkroom mishaps. What I don't want is perfection. I get crystal clear quality with my SLR; with my Brownie I want to feel as though the pictures were taken years ago. 

I accidentally skipped over my first exposure. The numbers are on their side, so the 'one' simply looked like a dashed line. I kept advancing the film until I stumbled upon a two, also on its side and I realized my mistake. D:

Still, this is my first time working with film! I mean sure, when I was younger, I had a disposable camera or two for field trips or church camps. Still, I was pretty far removed from its inner workings. I'm excited to see how my pictures will turn out. It's going to be difficult to work with the camera. It has a set shutter speed (1/25 I think), a set ISO(400), and a set aperture(f/22 I think).

This severely limits the types of pictures I can make. I may take my SLR along to meter whatever scene I want to photograph. Yeah, yeah, it is kind of like cheating. But, hopefully, if I can figure out what lighting my camera is meant for, I can get better results.

While the heat was pretty miserable, the clouds were gorgeous. I didn't have my SLR on me, so I snapped away with my iPhone. Not the best camera, but a pretty good one-- and a pretty convenient one.

On our way back home my family and I drove through Little Rock. We visited the Heifer International Headquarters-- a pretty impressive building, and an amazing organization. If I wasn't set on becoming an Astrophysicist, I would love to work for a non-for-profit organization like Heifer International. On our way out, we asked a volunteer working there where was the best place to get lunch. He recommended The Root Cafe. It's a little hippie restaurant that serves locally grown food. There was a map of Arkansas by the door, with pushpins locating all the organic farms that they bought food from. They had reusable glasses (mason jars! love those things) and an eclectic group of cloth napkins. Overall they strove to be environmentally friendly, and served amazing food! I love eating food that has been grown locally, especially when it was as tasty as it was. I'll have to go back sometime :)

Haha my first plug! Too bad I don't get paid for it. ;) Oh well, it's the cutest little restaurant with amazing food so I had to mention them.

Dreams of Film

I found a new use for leg warmers! Arm warmers! I was reading my '101 Quantum Questions' outside and was little chilly.



I'm telling ya, comfort at its finest! ((and yes, my parents are not so secretly trying to nominate me for What Not to Wear))



So I took this picture on our way back from the mission trip in Colorado and just had to post it. Because, ya know, see-saws are quite dangerous for drivers. ;)



We have a local farmer's market, and get fresh, local grown produce once a week. The thing is, you get whatever happens to be in season-- whatever they just harvested. This week it was collard greens. It was my mother's first time ever cooking with collard greens, so she was quite happy when they turned out well and had me take photos. ;)



After waking up at 6:30 every morning, it felt wonderful to sleep in this morning. Of course, 'sleeping in' means waking up at 8:30. 'Cause that's just how I roll apparently. Anyway, getting up early meant that I got to capture the beautiful morning light.

And now for the actual title of the post! At Christmas I got my first film camera! It's an old Brownie Flash, and I've been waiting till summer to actual buy film and experiment with it. It's going to take some getting used to. Not only is the camera fully automatic, it also takes film. Film. I'm too young to know the first thing about a film camera but I'm excited to learn.

The camera is as basic as you can get-- and that makes it really interesting. There is a lens and then just a box, where the film wraps around it. You hit the shutter, the lens opens, the light hits the film-- and that's it. Nothing fancy about it; it's the bare bones of photography and I find that really interesting.

I'm also excited to try authentic double exposures. With digital photography you have to simulate double exposures with Photoshop but with a film camera I just don't advance the film ;) I'm a little curious how the photos will turn out. I'll have a set ISO, a set shutter speed, and a set aperture. This means that I can only take correctly exposed photos of certain things in certain light.

The camera takes 620 film; a reallyyyyy old type of film that I have to buy online. So it'll take a while to get here but I can't wait to use it when it does finally arrive. :)

As I write this post I'm nervously waiting by my cell phone. I had my first interview on Tuesday and I'll know whether or not I'm hired today. Wish me luck!