We dog-sat this cutie, Coraline, last week and I really miss having her nap with me—toxic farts and all.
My film retrieval mission from the camera was kind of successful: once the lights were off and BJ threw the towel under the door, it felt like I was back in Photo I, fumbling and swearing at the film in the dark. The rest of the pictures that I took from our trip are here.
I had the first roll of film from our NW trip processed, and tomorrow I’m going to attempt to pull the second roll out of the camera and place it back in the canister. There are definitely light leaks, but I’m crossing my fingers that the rest will turn out. A huge thank you to Ameet for the camera (Canon AE-1), it feels great to shot again! More pictures and info here.
This is my father in law, Bill, an appreciator of fountain pens, typewriters, classic Hollywood, analog photography, pocket watches, etc. Lately, we seem to have a bit of bad luck with our cameras: his dropped and the back won’t close while my last roll of film is out of its spool and stuck in the camera (yikes!). But I love these shots he took during our trip before the camera drop, and I hope these glitches are just minor setbacks.
It’s been a long week, but I’m looking forward to getting some rest before returning to school. In between work, commutes, and all the busy stuff we’ve found some time to visit Igby (btw, she’s not that obedient: her eyes are fixed on my cookie), finally put up curtains and organize our place, indulge in yummy chocolate chip pancakes from Max’s Wine Dive, get hooked on Gossip Girl (I heart Blair), and drink lots of sparkling cider!
I definitely got a little teary-eyed when the Dome came into view on our drive from Chicago to South Bend. This trip back to Notre Dame was a long time coming. It was my first time back in more than 3 years, and I’ve been thinking about when I’d return ever since the day I left. Finally, many things (a friend’s wedding, the holidays, my sister’s vacation, collaborations, etc.) fell into place and we got the opportunity to spend an entire week visiting all our favorite spots (a.k.a. restaurants/bars) and people (a.k.a. teachers, bosses, family members, and fellow married couples). We could go on and on about how special this place is to us, but I’ll try to sum it up: this is where we met, where we forged lasting bonds and planted the seeds for later friendships
more pictures here. I took a disposable for our trip and I’m not too happy with how the first one was developed and scanned (lots of scratches and dust), but the second roll will be up once it’s finished.
(photo by Bill)
Last weekend, we made our trip up to the northeast for a backyard wedding party. BJ’s mom went all out with the decorations, cooking, and assorted prep work. She even had a cartoonishly enlarged close-up of us that BJ half-jokingly referred to as the Asian funeral poster. We were so lucky to see many of his relatives and parents’ friends and to have Uncle Bob sing and play his accordion during the party.
We badly needed a break, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, which was surprisingly chilly at times and much much drier than Houston’s (hello, smooth hair!) Saturday morning, as we walked from his dad’s to his mom’s and toured the town with the windows rolled down, I was like a broken record expressing how awesome the weather was. I loved being in the valley surrounded by all the hills, and the drive back to Seattle was picturesque with the evergreens, low clouds slash thick fog, fly-fishermen, orchards, and rocky cliffs.
BJ’s dad also let me test-drive an old Canon of his and—ahhhh!—I thought I took a good amount of nice portraits, only to discover I left the flash on. Those flash-on photos were washed out and gave people unhealthy, morgue-like complexions. Above are a few sun-kissed photos that I liked. With all that light in the lens, they suggest amateur versions of Fader photos. The girl in the second photo is Carly, my fellow cake lover and a little friend of the family. (And daughter of the sultan of Brunei’s former oral surgeon.)
I had a nice weekend. I only wish there were more hours in the day! On Saturday, I bought several rolls of film and fell in love with a Mamiya 645, picked out fabric and ribbon, went to the bookstore, ate a delicious dinner at Empire café, and got beignets for dessert. Oh and I added a shirt to my collection of all things striped. Thanks BJ and Thuy for spending the day with me!
