disconnect

Brohm Lake, British Columbia taken and edited on an iPhone 4S with Camera+

postcards

I just finished designing and ordering my swag for the upcoming Got Craft? show that's happening here in Vancouver in early May. A few limited edition postcards may be available in the Camp + Quarry shop soon, too. I designed one that said "GET LOST" but thought it could be read the wrong way. Here's to the upcoming summer of adventure!

picture day

I took this photo yesterday with my iPhone 4S. There is a dog park/dog beach close to my office and I walk there at lunch when it's warm and dry enough. I wanted to share this photo because I think there's something kinda magical being captured here. I'm still thinking about what the narrative might be. I hope you're all having a good week. Have you taken any photos lately? What camera do you like to use?

new camera...sort of

You guys might remember my little autumn to do list. Well, I didn't get to everything on the list, but I got to a lot of it, and had a fun fall travelling, making new things, and generally enjoying an autumn without school for the first time in three years.

One thing on my to do list was to take a photo with a new camera. I still haven't invested in the camera that I have my eye on, but in the meantime, I was way overdue for a new phone and I got the new iPhone 4S. I think this counts as getting a new camera, too, and I thought I'd share a picture that I took of Burrard Inlet and downtown Vancouver this afternoon. Yes, it is a grossly grey day here in Vancouver. (And, Danielle, I will try to refrain from sharing crappy Instagram photos here but I can't promise I won't try to get one past you every now and then...)

I'm not kidding when I say that I was overdue for a new phone. BABIES have much better phones than I did before last week. And with my new phone I was already able to contact a locksmith to get Jeff and I back into our apartment when our lock broke last weekend, take credit card payments at Got Craft? that were instantly authorized through PayPal's virtual terminal (so awesome and convenient), and share this photo with you. I don't want to talk about my new phone too much, so let's just say: I'm convinced.

And on that note, please tell me about your favourite apps...

some decorating advice, please

As you guys might have read, Jeff and I are moving next week and our new apartment has a gas fireplace in the living room. A fireplace requires some nice art to go over it and we currently only large black and white photographs that I got plotted at a local print shop that would suit that space, but we are thinking we'd like something a bit more colourful. So, if the above images were framed in a 20.5" x 20.5" frame, which one would you prefer as the focal point of your living room? Most of our furniture is neutral or dark wood. I was thinking the frame would be black, but perhaps white would be worth a try, too? All of these photos I took with either my Diana or my Holga. They were taken in Merritt, B.C., Vancouver, Millersylvania, WA, and Portland, OR, respectively. Thanks for the help, friends!

parker fitzgerald

I recently discovered the work of Portland, Oregon-based photographer Parker Fitzgerald. I love the colour and light and all of the greens that show up in his work. His photos remind me of everything that I love about living in the Pacific Northwest: dense forests, outdoorsy people, grey days that are easy to romanticize (and that we all come to dislike as winter sets in). You can check out Parker Fitzgerald's Flickr photostream and blog (all of the images above are from Flickr). You'll find page after page of amazing images like these ones. It was hard to choose favourites for this post.

In slightly less exciting news, Jeff and I have started watching Breaking Bad and we are really into it. I think I know what we're doing this weekend between packing and getting ready for some holiday craft shows. Enjoy the long weekend, Canadians! I'm assuming it isn't a long weekend south of the border since you lucky dudes get four days off for Thanksgiving soon!

double exposure september: take one

When was the last time that I mentioned that I'm not in school anymore? A while ago, right? And now I find that I have a bit more time for creative projects, between full-time work and getting married in two days! (Secret: I prepared this post in August because there is no way I would have time two days before the big day!) TWO DAYS!

Okay, that's out of my system now. So here's the deal...a little creative challenge for the month of September. I hope that you'll join me!

I love taking photographs and love playing with cameras that take multiple exposures or half frames. I have a Diana+, a Holga, and a Golden Half and I love them all, though I have to admit that the Holga is still my favourite. Above I've made a little list, the idea being that I will take a photograph every day through the month of September and get the whole roll printed at the end of the month. The trick is, I'll only advance the film every second day, making 15 double exposure images that capture the month. I'll be sure to share the results here and on Flickr. The project is set up to work really well with medium format cameras that take 16 photos to a roll, but feel free to use a half frame camera if you're lucky enough to have one, or a regular old camera that doesn't do double exposures if you want to join! I hope this project will give you some inspiration to get out there and take some photos this month!

If you are playing a long, be sure to add me on Flickr or tweet me links to any posts you do about your photos. I'd love to see what you come up with. Oh, and back when it was still a few weeks before the wedding I created a simple printable checklist that I've shared here.

Okay, it's day one! I'm going to take a photo now! TWO DAYS and then I'm a married woman!

carrah's rad summer: dar es salaam, tanzania (part two)

Carrah's amazing post continues with some photos from the safari they went on. I want to see these animals!!!

Yup. We were that close.

The Maasai clothe themselves in deep red blankets making a striking figure against the dusty background of the plains they wander. They are an amazing people who still live a traditional nomadic lifestyle with a total rejection of comforts of the modern world.

Stone town in Zanzibar – known for its epically beautiful hand-carved wooden doors.

Zanzibar has paradise beaches that people take their pet monkeys for romantic walks along. (Look closely.)

Saying goodbye to the Indian Ocean and the equatorial sun.

(Back to Part One)

Thank you again for sharing your summer adventure, Carrah! See you in just a few days! I hope you all enjoyed this very special post, too. Check out a few more rad summer adventures here.

On a somewhat related note, the National Zoo in Washington DC has issued a press release about the way animals reacted to the earthquake on the East Coast yesterday. It's kind of awesome.

vintage double exposure

I found these amazing vintage double exposures in Christian Montone's Flickr photostream. I have a small collection of vintage photographs, but none this creepy and awesome! I think I'm going to start scouring flea markets and antique shops for happy photographic accidents like these. And these offer more evidence that many of the best double exposure images are portraits. Soon I'll share an accidental double exposure image with you in which my face is combined with the face of one of my friends. I have to warn you, though, it's difficult to understand and even harder to look at for prolonged periods of time. I'll be sure to post it later this week! In the mean time, check out Christian's photostream and let me know if you come across any other amazing double exposure images! (Oh yes, I just couldn't resist including the floating woman image in this post, too.)

apartamento

Apartamento is amazing. I've been pouring over the latest issue since I got it last week. It's completely packed with interior design, fashion, fabrics, jewelry, furniture, and especially photography inspiration. That light-blasted photo of the woman on the couch with her cat? It's pretty much the best photo that I have seen in a long time and makes me want to take some new photos right now. This magazine makes me want to redecorate my apartment, go vintage shopping in New York, cook an amazing dinner over an open fire, and live in a rural  part of Portugal with three cats and three dogs.

But it's not just the pictures that I'm hooked on. This issue is full of profiles on designers, creative homeowners, and even a pull-out section on studio style (including a family that weaves its own textile line) and a food zine called called "tutti frutti". My favourite interviews are the ones with older artists who can illuminate things like Italian furniture design in the '80s and legendary Sunday suppers in London. I love it and it's available here or if you live in Vancouver you can find it at the UBC Bookstore, Old Faithful in Gastown, or at the Inventory shop, which I have never even heard of and will have to check out now. Now to redecorate...after work, of course.

Oh yes, and I have a guest post at There & Here today. Take a look!

double trouble

A few days ago I mentioned a photography project that I have planned for the Sadie blog in September. The idea behind the project is to use a half frame camera or a camera that allows multiple exposures to come up with some amazing photographs around specific themes. I wanted to announce the basics of my plan a little early in the hopes that you could plan to participate. Of course, as I said before, regular old cameras will do the trick, too. The project is called "Double Exposure" so be on the lookout for those posts at the end of the month.
These photos were taken with a Golden Half, my awesome, tiny half frame camera that I got last year. I love the quality of the colour in these photos. I think I'm going to get our photographers or friends to use this camera a little bit at the wedding. Getting half frame prints back is exciting. You never know which juxtapositions are going to work until you see the finished photos and in the case I couldn't even remember what I'd photographed. More to share soon!
Oh, and for those of you who noticed on Twitter yesterday that someone had stolen Jeff's bike last night, thanks so much for your kind words. Lame lame lame. I just can't understand people who steal bikes. It is such a terrible, mean thing to do to someone. That bike had been with us for a while. Oh well, that's life in the big city, I guess. There will be more bikes and many more bike rides.

double exposure

Do you have a camera that takes multiple exposures?

Or half frame shots?

Or maybe you've been thinking about getting one? Well, I'm preparing a little creative challenge for the month of September, so if you've been thinking about getting a half frame camera or a camera that allows for double exposures or if you've got one that you'd like to use, get ready. On September 1st I'll be posting about a photography project that you can participate in and I hope that you will! Of course, regular cameras (digital or film) will work, too, if that's what you've got and you'd like to play along.

If you're interested in trying a new camera, I can recommend the Golden Half, which is a 35mm half frame camera, or the medium format (120mm film) Holga or Diana+ (both of which, I believe are also made in 35mm format, making it easier to find film and a developer). Those are the ones that I have experience with and they're all really easy and fun to use. Half frame cameras allow you to take two pictures in each frame, effectively doubling the amount of images that you get out of a single roll of film or making for some unexpected juxtapositions of shots.

I hope you'll join me on this one! I'm going to share some more photos that I've taken with these cameras throughout August and if you have any questions about these cameras or film formats, feel free to tweet me! More details to come at the beginning of September! I'm excited to start a new photography project and hope that you'll find some inspiration in it all, too. What's your favourite camera?

beaches now

Okay, okay, just for you guys I went to three of Vancouver's beaches (yes, there are more...we're jerks over here) in the last two days to attempt to recreate the historical photos in the post I put up a day ago. 

At the top is English Bay now, 90 years later. You can just barely see the Sylvia Hotel (which is the building in the old photo) behind the big trees. That's where many of our wedding guests are staying while they're here in Van. Next is Kits Beach. It's kind of about hook-ups and volleyball there, but it's also not too far from our house, so we tend to hit this beach the most often. You can see that Kits point is no longer forest and that the West End across the water, um, exists. There were about 103 years between photos. 

Finally, maybe my favourite Vancouver beach, though I don't get there nearly enough. Right in Stanley Park, Third Beach is way less busy than the others and so so so beautiful. Here it is, without all of the woody debris, 121 years after the photo I previously posted was taken. You can see all of the West Van/British Properties/North Van development and just barely (probably easier if you're familiar with Vancouver and Stanley Park) see Siwash Rock at the end of the treed bluff. Of course, a few years ago this hillside would have been way more heavily forested, but a huge windstorm took down a lot of old trees in the park. FYI: Stanley Park is bigger than Central Park in NYC and is a magical place.

This was pretty fun to do. I hope to soon find even more reasons to go to even more beaches. Do you have any pictures of beautiful places in your part of the world? Where do you go to relax in your city?

UPDATE: Jeff and I've been looking at those Kits Beach photos and we think that Kits Point maybe doesn't even exist, and that what we're really seeing is the forest that is now the West End. A lot of Kits Point/Vanier Park is fill from downtown building excavations. This city sure has changed!

more

More amazing photos of the Sadie collection by Ryan. Hazel with a pendulum necklace, Emily looking amazing on a cliff face over the pacific ocean, red arms. I love these photos. Thanks for all of your comments. I definitely hope that Ryan and I can take more photos together in the future!

rooftop

I'm pretty excited right now. So excited, in fact, that I'm publishing a rare, portrait-oriented photo here on the blog. This photo from my Flickr photostream is going to be published in a book about sustainable communities next year. I took it when my job as a research assistant at UBC got me on top of the Vancouver Public Library downtown with the staff of the landscape architect who designed it. It was a rare, sunny winter day and the light was perfect.

In other photography related news I'm planning on purchasing a new camera in the next month or so. I'll share more details when I've got it in my hands. After a few years of using my most-beloved Cannon point-and-shoot, (gold with a wide angle lens, no less...) it's time to move up a little bit in the camera world. Oh, and be sure to check out my guest post on Micaela's blog tomorrow!

melanie bonajo

source

source

source

source

I wanted to share some photos from one of my new favourite photographers, Melanie Bonajo. I ran across her work in Portland when I saw her book I Have a Room With Everything. I wanted to share some of her work here because she's amazing. This is really what I wish that all of my photos conveyed: my desire to cover everything with plants and set up make shift shrines in the forest and spend all of my time outside and not thinking about city things. I like to think that I have biophilia. I just love nature and the outdoors so much and these photos capture that emotion better than any others I've seen. Her other work is pretty rad, too.