photography
spent a few days in orlando for work & while florida is not high on my list of favourite states a walk around the resort grounds with my digicam one afternoon did make things seem a little better.
took my latest digicam on a drive through joshua tree national park in the late afternoon sun as storm clouds rolled in.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with the ricoh cx3’s “high contrast black & white” setting & I can’t wait to have some bright southern california spring days to play with.
my streak of buying old digital cameras continues...
spent an hour walking around hollywood testing out the latest digicam I’ve added to my collection, the nikon coolpix p7000 which was originally released in 2010. so far I’m finding this little thing pretty fun & I’m excited to experiment more with the build in ND filter & the full manual controls.
I spent a weekend in my favourite national park recently, death valley, which is known for being the “hottest, driest, lowest” national park in the united states. right now though, thanks to our strange summer hurricane, pluvial lake manly (the ancient lake which once covered most of death valley) has made a reappearance at the lowest point in north america – badwater basin.
I had thought most of the water would be gone by the time of my january visit but it turns out lake manly decided to stick around a bit longer than expected. the cloud streaked blue skies & mountains reflected in the pristine surface of the ankle deep water made the whole experience feel otherworldly. like visiting the inside of a kaleidoscope.
a bright afternoon on the mesquite flat dunes in death valley. I have been playing with photographing the desert in black & white recently. there is just something immortal about the way these came out.
one freezing saturday morning spent wandering along boston’s charles river esplanade.
a few weeks ago I went to boston for the weekend to check out the john singer sargent exhibition at the museum of fine arts. sargent is one of my favourite painters & I couldn’t pass up the chance to see so many of his works in one place. arriving in boston just before 7 am on a saturday morning meant I had a lot of time to wander. I layered on hiking clothes & windproof fleece in the logan airport bathroom before heading into the city to brave 27 degree temps.
it’s been quite a while since I’ve experienced “real” winter. the sharp cold air & ice gathering along the rivers edge fascinated me.
I’m not normally a year end review kind of person but I have been thinking about all the photos I’ve made this year & wanted to reflect on the ones I’m most proud of. these are probably not the best technical photos ever made, but they are images that I thought “that’s rad” when making & look back on fondly.
they run the gamut from landscapes to street photography & were made on a variety of cameras in a range of locations & on different formats, though I’m a bit surprised to realize there isn’t much film in the mix. I think this year I learned that the camera & the gear matters less than I believed it did when I first got back into photography even if I did still buy a whole new setup this year (the fujifilm xpro3) which I still haven’t fully explored.
here’s to more adventures in 2024!
installations from bombay beach on the shores of the salton sea.
bombay beach was a popular getaway until the 1980s when the increasing salinity & receding water line of the salton sea destroyed the lake’s ecosystem & drove away businesses. bombay beach remains with a population hovering around 200 & is the lowest community in the united states at 223 feet below sea level. it has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years as artists & intellectuals have moved in. the town is now home to numerous art installations & the annual bombay beach biennale.
spent a little time at the poetry house in bombay beach, along the salton sea in southern california. salton sea is one of my favourite places in the whole state & the art installations throughout the town of bombay beach are otherworldly & poignant surrounded by the silent desert & lightly lapping waters.
lomochrome turquoise in joshua tree.
I love bringing this film to the desert.
pentax auto 110 super // lomochrome turquoise 110
attended a fun photo walk / meetup with other woman & non-binary identifying photographers in santa monica this past weekend hosted by not your grandma’s camera club. I used it as an opportunity to play with my new (to me) fuji 35mm f1.4 lens. this lens has a kind of mythic cult following amongst fuji lovers & is well known for it’s “character”. I certainly have not figured out how to get the absolute best out of it, but when I managed to hit the focus (& exposure, I’m also still learning the xpro3) the shots are really nice.
a couple shots from a night out in downtown la with my 2009 casio.
a walk around the neighbourhood to clear my head with the fuji x30.
I’ve always loved street photography but never made serious attempts to try it. on my trip to nyc this past winter I was inspired by ming smith (I saw her show at moma while I was in the city) to try some black & white street shots using a new technique for me. I set my fujifilm x30 to all auto settings using a monochrome film simulation & shot from the hip without looking through the viewfinder. this was really exhilarating & something I’d never tried before. excited to try this way of shooting more.
a walk through the mt. hood national forest with my digicam.
moments from a night out on a 2009 casio exilim.
I spent a saturday at the orange county fair recently – walking around & people watching. I think fairs are the most quintessentially american experience: a place full of fried foods, sensory overload, sticky sweets, alcohol, over-consumption, price gouging, questionable fashion choices, screaming children, & farm animals.
all shot on my fujifilm x30.
journal:
the heat hung in the air like a weight. when you step out into it a hush surrounds you. the creaking of ancient hills barely registering above the hot breeze brushing through desert shrub & cactus. the roads glisten with warmth & all the creatures slow down to linger in the shade.
the desert is teeming with life, but it is a slow life. a quiet one.
a saturday spent wandering around joshua tree national park & morongo valley california with a 2010 sony bloggie mhs-pm5.
journal:
this is the core of the digicam/lofi/camcorder appeal. everything in our world got so polished & perfect & flat; the pressure to look like a glossy magazine life got to be so much that these frankly shitty early devices became irresistible. you literally cannot produce perfect glossed over documentation with a 2004 point & shoot digital camera. it is actually impossible. so the pressure to attempt to do so is lifted entirely. it’s a liberation from the confines of perfection.
