Thursday, April 28, 2016

Off Duty Details

I came across this blog post and it inspired me to dust off my Diana, load her up with some Kodak film and take her out for a night out around town. I forget how easy she can be: light as a feather, simple to shoot and extremely low maintenance; I can quickly toss her over my shoulder and off I go. If you've been following along on instagram, you'll notice I did this all of last week. While off duty I brought her along to capture details of my evenings. Last week was also the perfect week to do so; we had temperatures in the high 80's which meant lots of time spent outdoors walking around the city, dining out and drinking delicious summer drinks such as bubble tea!

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Notes on Double Exposure

I love shooting double exposure on the Diana after this beautiful mistake. You aren't quite sure what you'll get which builds much anticipation while waiting to get your scans back from the lab.

A double exposure is exactly what it sounds like: exposing the same frame with two different images. The first image I consider the base or foundation, is shot on a setting lower than I would normally shoot (under-expose) to capture the shadows. I will make a mental note of the shadows for the next image and this is important because the shadows or darker areas of the first photo will allow details on the second image to come through; I will usually over-expose the second image.

My favorite photo is the following double exposure of me and the Seattle Great Wheel. My beau took the first photo me against a red brick wall and when we reached Victor Steinbrueck Park, I took the second photo of the Seattle Great Wheel over his image. When I showed him this photo, he said, 'this is a great representation of a girl in the city', (among other inappropriate observations I will not mention on here). 


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Notes on *Camera Setting 

The Shutter Speed Switch located on the top of the Lens has two settings: "N" and "B". Use N mode when you are shooting in sunny conditions or switch the B mode when you are shooting indoors or in low light.

On the bottom of the Lens is the Aperture Setting. This controls how wide the shutter opens. There are four settings available. Three of them match the outdoor weather conditions: sun, partial clouds and full clouds. The fourth one, "P," is for pinhole shots.

My hands are not steady enough to shoot on bulb mode. Most of the photos I shot on bulb turned out blurry - not in the cool retro sort of way either - more as in, did a two year old get a hold of my camera? way. I think I will keep my shutter speed on Normal from now on. 



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The more I spend time shooting the more I realize how natural it is for me to observe my surroundings or moments through photography. It makes me so happy to be able to roam around the city with my camera in hand. There is always that little voice inside me nudging me to pick up my camera. The more I listen to it, the stronger it gets and the stronger my ability to do only those things I love become. 


Developed and Scanned at Panda Lab

Thursday, April 21, 2016

The Best Camera is the One You Have With You

In recent months I’ve lost the habit of continuously carrying my Pentax around. There are several reasons why but to sum it up, my priorities changed. I’ve been more focused on my day job than my daydreams. I go through these phases where I get really focused on one or the other but I hope to have some balance soon especially now that the weather is getting a lot nicer.

Without my Pentax with me, I’ve convinced myself to see this as a challenge: to use the camera I have with me, my iPhone. Over the weekend, my beau and I walked all over the city, 7.9 miles according to my Apple Health App. Typically I use my iPhone to snap details of things I may come across throughout my day that inspires me - a visual documentation to file away ideas for later. Using it to capture what my Pentax would was a little different. You realize things like the lens distortion, the control over the focus is different and the focal point of the lens at 28mm isn't what I prefer. But my end goal is to make images that tells a story or captures a moment in time and that shouldn't always depend on the type of camera I carry.

With that in mind, this past weekend I set out to capture images on my iPhone as I wandered around the city.

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Anemones

Which reminded me of this quote by Jim Carrey, "Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful."
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Brunch at The London Plane.
I could spend hours photographing the flowers and sometimes I give myself the pleasure of doing so.
A BIG Thank you to my Beau for his patience and ongoing support. He's the best creative partner I could ask for.



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The Frye Art MuseumaSaturdayOniPhone-20aSaturdayOniPhone-21
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In the back of the Frye is a gallery full of art collected by the founders, Charles and Emma Frye. It is one of my favorite place to visit on a Saturday. This painting is my all time favorite. I love the way lighting is used so strongly to illuminate areas drawing me to focus on. It's absolutely amazing in person! It inspires me to shoot my photos with this amount of detail on the light.


Views of Königssee, 1878
Dániel Somogyi (Hungarian, 1837-1892)
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In Seattle I can watch the light all year round (well, when the clouds decide to let the sun come out and play). In the winter the days are short and the sun seems to sit lower casting beautiful shadows all throughout the day. In the spring time the daylight begins to last longer letting us enjoy the light at our leisure.


Other random details  ... 

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Enjoying a glass of champagne at Matt's in the Market


It's hard to avoid the market especially now that we have warmer weather (79 degrees this day) and tourist are at high but I don't mind the crowd so much. On a beautiful day like today we lucked out and got a seat with a view. 



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Sal Floral Design

I'm really good at stopping to smell the roses, can you tell? Another one of my favorite floral boutiques I love to visit. The flower arranges vary each time I visit.






aSaturdayOniPhone-1 Retrofit Home in Capital Hill. 
A super cute furniture store stocked with fun and interesting pieces to decorate your home with. 

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Oddfellows Cafe

It was the first day of spring and the opening weekend of the Link Light Rail’s Capital Hill station so we thought it would be perfect to celebrate by going to brunch at Oddfellows. I was filled with excitement catching the Light Rail to Capital Hill. Gone are the days of walking up that hill on Pike Street burning my calves and leaving me panting like a dog out of breathe. Thank goodness for Babe who kindly holds my hand while ushering me slowly up the hill, like I’m an elderly woman needing assistance.

Brunch in this city is serious business. I’ve waited hours for brunch before, even having a meal elsewhere before actually sitting down to have brunch. Yes, I know that’s nuts. You’re probably thinking, ‘why not go home and throw your own damn eggs in a pan.’ I get it, it sounds simple enough to do but on my weekends I’m off duty so that means I don’t have to cook if I don’t want to (and when do I ever want to cook???), even if I wanted to try I wouldn’t be able to make what I was craving: Baked eggs, french toast, and biscuit with scrambled eggs! Yum yum!

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It was no surprise to learn that we had to wait for a table when we arrived at Oddfellows. I love that place so I obediently nod in agreement when the hostess asked if we’d be willing to wait 20 minutes. I don’t tell Babe that, no I bribe him with a drink at the Little Oddfellows while we wait. Twenty minutes isn’t that bad I silently tell myself but it turns out that it is. It’s especially long when you’re trying to entertain someone while you’re caffeine free with an empty stomach.

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I love the crowd and the layout at Oddfellows. Its open floor plan makes it feel like a cafeteria. Conversations are in full force making it difficult for our waitress to hear our order and at first I’m slightly irritated. Dang it people, I need my drip coffee and no I don’t need cream or sugar! But after the coffee comes I begin to lighten up and after the food comes the sound of chatter and clinking silverware becomes background noise as I immerse myself into my own conversation with Babe, almost matching the volume of others. This is brunch.