Dreamy, Strange Winter

After working diligently with the through the view finder technique, I realized that maybe it wasn't the right process for this specific project. I needed to shoot a lot of photographs, and the TTV images did not lend themselves to shooting in the way that I needed to be able to. So, I decided that I loved all of the unpredictable elements within the image and thought that I should just use a camera that does this on its own. I bought a Diana camera (a new one, not an authentic one, but lovely just the same) and started shooting until my fingers were numb (well, that was because it was cold and it hurt to advance the film, but it did happen). In any event, I absolutely fell in love with these images. I know plastic toy cameras are trendy and carry the "gimmicky" stigma with them, but I think it's really all in what your subject is. But no matter what you're photographing, these images are essentially about seeing and how what you see changes into something completely strange and beautiful, even eerie at times, when it is on film.

FILM! That's the other thing about doing this project. I get to use film. Lots of it. So much film that I have more film in my refrigerator than I have food. The cheese drawer is now the film drawer. I love it. It really is a lot of work, but for some reason, it doesn't phase me at all and I could spend hours in the color darkroom. I'm just really excited about working toward the final project and creating a wonderful little book out of this work. Here are some of my favorites from what I've done in the last week or so.