The Automatic 220

Sheryl sent this lovely gift to me a month or so ago and I have been having so much fun with it. (Thanks again!!) It's actually one of the plastic models, including a plastic lens, but I tell you what, it takes some nice pictures. I've been playing around with the film speed settings and light/dark switch a lot and this experimentation has led to some interesting results. One of my faves, taken in Albuquerque with full sun, actually came out dark because I overestimated the power of the film. But I love the picture.


Looks like twilight with shining stars. But no, it's poorly exposed with specs on it. Nonetheless, a happy accident!

Another fave, and not an accident is this one.


I've used pack film before, but lately I've learned a lot more about it and while my first love is always going to be the integral films, I'm really into using pack film now. Which is particularly good since after all the Polaroid film is gone or too expensive for me, there will still be Fuji pack film.

Off to water the garden now. Here's hoping we get some rain soon!!

Mom's Garden (among other things)

Hello. I keep meaning to be a better blogger and it just ain't happening unless I am babbling about Polaroid something or other. I even tried to get back on the Twitter bandwagon, the way of a lazy blogger. But no, that fizzled out quickly.

Things are going well. It's been almost one year since we left Pittsburgh and we're still loving it out here. It's hard not to love it. I mean, how could I possibly complain about almost daily sunshine?! It definitely good for my spirits and well-being.

And Spring has officially Sprung out here and I can't get enough of the flowering trees and tulips and flowers galore. We had dinner with my parents at their house last week and so I had to take some shots of my mom's garden, always so very lovely.


Peach tree blossoms. Can't wait for more yummy peach jam that mom makes!!


The peach/apricot tree, absolutely spectacular! Half of it gets light pink blossoms and half of it gets dark pink almost red blossoms. It is really only noticeable from a distance and so I admire it every morning as I run along the river (as I can see my parents' property from there).


And tulips. I love tulips.

So yeah, you'll be seeing lots of mom's garden in the months ahead. I can't wait until the peonies bloom!

We took Rocky to the vet this morning for his blood work. If you recall, last November, we found out that he has a slight heart murmur so the vet recommended we have more tests done. Considering that he acts totally normally, healthy appetite (uh, we're talking about Rocky here!) and regular exercise, etc., the vet isn't too worried about it, but we need to be sure. On Friday we are taking him in for an ultrasound so we had to get his x-rays from our regular vet. Here's are two views of Rocky's insides:





Aww, my baby boy! Fingers crossed that we find out that he is totally fine!

So that's that for now. Let's see if I can try writing once or twice a week...

'Roid Week, Day Five

Alas, yesterday was the end of Spring 'Roid Week! Total photos submitted to the group - 2,084!! Awesome. This past week was the most fun I've had on Flickr. So many mind-blowing shots, lots of new Pola-lovers discovered. Here are my faves from yesterday.


1. float, 2. snow angel, 3. do not park, 4. .., 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. dodge ball, 8. Untitled, 9. golden days of spring and summer, 10. downtrodden, 11. King Kong, 12. Entrance, 13. Untitled, 14. omaha at night..., 15. Untitled, 16. RW #5: Faraway Lands, 17. Dome of the White Sulfur Spring, 18. rock on

Created with fd's flickr toys.

'Roid Week, Day Four

1,154 and counting! Lots of great kitty cat shots today.


1. feed me, 2. lake ontario, 3. tufted. polished. on tap., 4. Untitled, 5. lily glows, 6. Rainy Days and Mondays..., 7. a lonely day, 8. i heart petals, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

'Roid Week, Day Three

1,176 and counting...

1. Untitled, 2. one, 3. Stratified, 4. Untitled, 5. Dick's, 6. Untitled, 7. the black gate, 8. Untitled, 9. forsythia, 10. Untitled, 11. Store Front II, 12. Untitled, 13. sheep, 14. The Frontier, 15. Untitled, 16. miss kitty

Created with fd's flickr toys

'Roid Week, Day Two

At this very moment, there are already 756 submissions to the pool. Awesome! Here are some of my faves from the day.


1. I Love, 2. eagles-nest-trail, 3. Untitled, 4. lowest point in the western hemisphere, 5. The Reality of Spring, 6. lurve, 7. A week of Polaroids 3, 8. Skyline Blossoms, 9. day 151 : 365 april 22

(Number 7 won't show up in the mosaic for some reason, but you can click on the text link to view it.)

Created with fd's flickr toys

'Roid Week 2008!

It's 'Roid Week on Flickr, starting today, and I highly recommend that you dust off that Polaroid and start taking pictures! Even if you aren't a Flickr user, go buy one last pack of film (or two) and take some shots before it's all gone. There's nothing like a Polaroid.

Me, I have plenty of film for the time being, so in a way I am in denial about the whole thing. And then it hits me. Eventually, all the packs I have will be gone, I'll open the fridge and there will be NO MORE POLAROID FILM. Ahhhh, it breaks my heart.

Not to say that I am making great works of art, or even doing much more than taking photos of cats, flowers and Will like I always do, but you know, it makes me happy. So damn happy. And recently, it has pushed me to try new cameras and settings and films and it's all so good. So fun. It's really gotten the old creative juices flowing.

So I can't help repeating, if you have a Polaroid camera, go ahead and buy a couple of packs of film. Take pictures of your cat, your lover or at a rock show. Not only will it make you smile, it'll make the people with you smile too.

Okay, total dorkiness is over now.

Um, so yeah, here are a few of my faves from 'Roid Week posted today.


1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Exposed, 5. Diana_Holga_017, 6. desert gas station

Created with fd's flickr toys

flickr faves

1. Untitled, 2. The Expired Future, 3. Untitled, 4. light_shed, 5. Cambridge, Mass., March 2008, 6. Untitled, 7. Balcony (Santiago de Cuba), 8. Untitled, 9. RA BLER

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Day 19 Polaroid Project

I used to check into Day 19 regularly and then somewhere along the line, the link disappeared from my bookmarks and I forgot about it. Jeremy and Claire Weiss are wonderful photographers and so I was happy to be reminded of them again recently via a post on Flickr:

Started this about a year ago and have already shot over 150 people that we feel are doing cool shit in the world. We shoot 1 4x5 type 79 each (about $5 a shot). Rumour has it there will be other companies quickly filling the void of Polaroid leaving the instant film market, but then we'll have to call it the "instant film project".

Check out the fabulous series of 4x5 portraits.

Time Capsule

Another nifty little Photojojo thing to do if you have a Flickr account. Sign up for the Photojojo Time Capsule and every couple of weeks, you'll get an email with a selection of your most interesting photos from a year ago. Just to refresh your memory.

I've gotten two so far. The week of March 15 which reminded me that I used to sew...we went to Lulu's birthday party and wore masks...and that I *love* that picture of the glitter and chandelier. (I have to admit when I saw the title of the picture before the actual picture loaded, I was expecting to see T. Glitter and a chandelier!) The second one came this week and it contains some of my favorite pictures ever.

I wish it went further back than a year though. I've been on Flickr since June of 2004 and I'd be more curious to see pictures from 3 or 4 years ago. But oh well, the blast from the past year is fun too.