Category Archives: Personal

{Pan-o-rama-rama}

Last year, I picked up a Pentax 35mm SLR and posted about it on Shoot With Personality. While I have posted a few blogs featuring photos taken with my ZX-7,  I still haven’t  used that camera quite as much as I should have. I felt I needed to correct this, so I decided to be very intentional about putting some film through the Pentax. I took it a step further by committing myself to shooting at least one entire roll of film exclusively in panoramic mode. Which is to say, some cameras have a switch which will mask off the top and bottom of the film plane to give a panoramic look. My Pentax is one such camera! I’d never used this feature on my ZX-7, and I thought it was time to shake things up! So I outfitted this camera with the 18-55mm lens from my Pentax dSLR, for the widest possible angle of view (and circular vignetting) on these panoramic photos. Here are a few of them (including some from the New Year’s Eve party I attended and shot all in panorama!)

(these look better bigger – so you can click each image to view a larger version of it)

My sister’s living room at Christmas

Nala, my brother’s very sweet Pit Bull

New shoes, I

New shoes, II

John and Hayley on New Year’s Eve

Jason, looking triumphant on New Year’s Eve

Arm-length self-portraits are usually the only photographic evidence of my attendance to any sort of event where I’m doing most of the photography

Bottoms up on New Year’s Eve (look at Matt go with that sparkling juice!)

Skateboarding right into 2013

Smiley New Year

Happy 2013, everybody!

See, wasn’t that a bit of fun?? Think I might have to purpose myself to taking panoramic photos more often!

 Pentax ZX-7 • Pentax SMC P-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL II lens • black and white : Kodak BW400CN • Color: Kodak Gold 200

Tourist for a Day

I’m going to introduce you to Kayla today.  Kayla has lived here, there, and yon, being the child of a military family and all. She and I know one another because she lived here in the Mid-South for some years, and we ran in the same circles (hardcore circles.)


Flashback: Kayla, circa 2001/2002

Kayla and I hadn’t seen each other in years. MANY years. That might have something to do with the fact that she lives in England now with her British hubby. Though it’s been somewhere between 7 and 9 years since she and I have been in the same room, aren’t we lucky that social networking has worked wonders for our ability to keep in touch? I love her Tweets about her life “over yonder” and her cute baking ventures (many of which are up on her blog!) There may be 4000+ miles between us, but I’ve still got an open invitation to come over to her house for a baking date!

During Kayla’s most recent trip to ‘merica, she and I reunited over brekkie at Brother Juniper’s – my first time to hit that Memphis breakfast/brunch hot spot. It was awesome! Though I’m pretty sure our lengthy breakfast tête-à-tête nearly got us booted from our table! Are two and a half hour breakfast dates unusual??

Because Kayla’s parents have relocated to the Midwest, she isn’t sure how often she’ll be able to visit Memphis when she is able to make an appearance stateside.  She wanted to do some “touristy” things before she left town this time. I was happy to tag along for this! We took a jaunt downtown to see the Peabody ducks, to stop in at some of the souvenir shops on Beale, and to peek into the windows of the pretty shops on South Main. Kayla’s quest for just the right souvenir to take back to England for her husband led us to the Stax Museum – as well as to a new friend for Kayla and  my next opportunity to stare at Otis Redding’s jacket.

I am utterly shocked that these were essentially the only photos committed to film during the day Kayla and I spent together – considering how she’s photogenic and how our activities that day including many things that would fall into the category of being “photographically interesting.” I just didn’t feel like removing myself from “the moment” long enough to go into “documentary photographer” mode! Though there were too few frames of film spent on this glorious day, I think we really made ’em count! Playing the part of Memphis tourist was perfect fodder for some Polaroids taken with Impossible Project film! The perfect materials for tourist photos, in my humble opinion.

Oooooh, Memphis. A 1970 Caddy sitting in front of an establishment, advertising their brunch. There are normally a pair of longhorns attached to the front of the car, but someone took them off. No worries though, we were assured that the horns were back in the proper hands and WOULD be reattached. 

“What’s your sign?” Pshaw! Kayla asks, “What’s your punctuation mark?” Kayla actually felt like a semi-colon that day, but the camera turned her into more of an apostrophe. 

Luvbots

An unforgettable visit to the Stax Museum. Kayla’s tattoos and my hair were dubbed “swagnificent.”

I have to say that this was the ideal hang out session with a friend you haven’t seen in years. We brought each other up to speed on our respective lives, we reminisced about the past, and we forged new memories together. Success! England really is “home” for Kayla now, but I think it’s safe to say (in the words of Andrew Bryant) she “left her heart on the Tennessee border.”

Now. I think it’s MY turn to show up in Kayla’s town and play tourist…

Anyone interested in raising funds through a “Send Amanda to England Bake Sale and Crafts Bazaar”??

🙂

(Polaroids were taken with the Polaroid Sun 660 AF and Impossible Project PX 680 Color Shade Gold Frame film)

Edited to add:

I had a roll of film in my Yashica Electro 35 GT the day Kayla and I spent together in Memphis. I didn’t get it developed until September, three months after the photos were taken. Turns out I had committed just a few more frames of film to the day than just the Polaroids I originally posted here! Woo-hoo!

Amanda STILL Loves…

Once upon a time, I had a photo-a-day blog called The “Amanda Loves” Project. I left that project sort of open-ended, bringing it to a halt at “Day 364/365.” I didn’t like the idea of that blog that was so full of self-indulgence positivity coming to an end. I may have put that project on hold for the time being, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still have the desire to publicly gush over people and things I love!

I made photographs of some items which I’d acquired in the past month, and it reminded me of the good ole “Amanda Loves” Project. If those photos had been posted on that blog, the posts would looks a little something like this:

  • I love my “new-to-me” Polaroid Sun 660 camera!

When I began using my Polaroid SX-70 camera again (thanks to the brilliant work being done by the Impossible Project), I also began to wish I had a camera that took TIP’s 600-series films. What I really want is a Polaroid 680, because it’s so much like my beloved SX-70. What I can afford at the moment is a Sun 660. I wanted Sonar auto focus, because the SX-70 and 680 and Spectra series cameras have that, and the Sun 660 met that requirement. I wanted the ability to stop the built-in flash from firing. The Sun 660 had that covered.

I bought this camera from eBay, from a seller in Canada. I consider myself a pretty patient person. Except, that is, when I’m waiting on a package to arrive in the mail. I didn’t know what to expect when receiving a parcel from Canada, so I was on pins and needles until the Sun 660’s arrival. It seemed to be taking for-ev-errrrrrrr. In fact, I was certain the camera had come to the US and been sent back to Canada, because I wasn’t familiar with that country’s online package tracking methods. Just when I’d given up hope, my postal carrier left a box on my porch! I was delighted! The camera was in good nick and good working order. I’m looking forward to the Sun 660 becoming a regular part of my “arsenal”!

In working order, indeed!

  


  • I love my new purse camera bag!

Confession: I hate most camera bags I’ve used. I usually end up casting them aside and throwing my cameras in my purse instead. That’s probably why I often look at purses and think, “Hey, that could be a camera bag!” I was at a thrift store and saw this bag hanging up in the “boutique” area of the store. I actually hoped it was a camera bag with a camera in it. Perhaps that Polaroid 680 I dream of finding at a thrift shop? No, that was not the case. I asked the store clerk if I could see the bag, and I found that it is supposedly an Etienne Aigner. Could be a knock-off for all I know. What I did know was that it was a pretty nice purse, had various pockets inside which I thought might hold compact cameras and film ,and had that front pouch that might come in handy – all that, and it was only $15. I thought, “I’d pay $15 for a purse at Target, and this is definitely a step above that!” I bought it. Obviously.

My instinct that I would be able to turn this into a bag for carrying little cameras around was correct. As evidenced by the photo below, it definitely fit my Olympus XA, my compact digital camera, and some film very comfortably.  As evidenced by the photo above, it even holds my non-Sonar Polaroid SX-70 (and looks quite fetching as it does so!)

Now  I have visions of myself walking around London (a girl can, dream can’t she?) wearing this camera bag crossbody-style strolling around the city, taking photographs at my leisure. Maybe this will be the year I make my triumphant return visit to England…


  • I love this vintage tin!

I have too much “stuff” – far too much to fill that little apartment in Memphis I used to have. Most of it is in storage now, so I’m trying really hard not to buy any more knick knacks. I found that my resolve weakened when I saw this tin at a “junk store” in my town. Believe me. Finding something this charming was like finding a needle in a haystack in that place….

My eyes fixed upon this charming tin, and I became even more taken with it when I turned it over and found that it was imprinted with the words “Coffret importé de Belgique.” I assumed that meant it was made in Belgium. Oh,so this tin is super cute AND it’s from Europe? Sold! Now, I know I just told you that I have too much stuff as it is, so I promise that I will take one item which is already in my collection of knick knacks, and donate to a thrift store in order to redress the balance. 😉

Items photographed with my Pentax ZX-7 and Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 lens!

Land of Grace {TCB}

This was a sunny spring break afternoon spent walking around Graceland Plaza. We didn’t go to the mansion itself, but this served as a way of introducing my niece to Graceland. She loved it. She held my hand, asked me questions about Elvis, picked out TCB items she wanted from the gift shop, and talked of planning a trip to the mansion with her Papa (my dad.) These photos are memories from one of our perfect days together. ♥

 

Pentax ZX-7 • Kodak Elitechrome 200 (expired), Cross-processed